2 photos from Wikimedia Commons · credits & licences
- 1. UMMC Museum Complex 365: Msgevans00· CC BY 4.0
- 2. La-5 Moscow: Mike1979 Russia· CC BY-SA 4.0
what is it?
The Lavochkin La-5 (Лавочкин Ла-5) was a Soviet fighter aircraft of World War II. It was a development and refinement of the LaGG-3, replacing the earlier model's inline engine with the much more powerful Shvetsov ASh-82 radial engine. During its time in service, it was one of the Soviet Air Force's most capable types of warplane, able to fight German designs on almost equal footing.
How to recognise it: 1 piston engine with propeller · 9.8 m wingspan
base stats
Bars compare against all aircraft: 3,500 km/h, 20,000 km, 850 seats; size and number built on a log scale up to 640 t (An-225) and 45,000 built (Cessna 172).
fun facts
- First flew 84 years ago, in 1942.
- Top speed is 5.0× a car on the Dutch motorway (130 km/h).
- Wingspan of 9.8 m: about 2 cars parked nose to tail.
- Can fly 1.2× higher than Mount Everest (8,849 m).
piston: A car-like piston engine turning a propeller: simple and cheap, the classic small plane.
spec sheet
- first flight
- 1942-03
- introduced
- 1942
- number built
- 9,920
- role
- fighter aircraft
- origin
- 🇷🇺 Soviet Union
- makers
- NPO Lavochkin
- engines
- 1× Shvetsov M-82FN
- length
- 8.7 m
- wingspan
- 9.8 m
- height
- 2.5 m
- max take-off weight
- 3,402 kg
- top speed
- 648 km/h
- cruise speed
- 560 km/h
- range
- 765 km
- ceiling
- 11,000 m
Specs are for the version in the Wikipedia article's specification section. Blank means the sources don't say.
Sources: Wikidata Q846989, Wikipedia: Lavochkin La-5 (CC BY-SA 4.0).Updated 2026-10-24.