La-200
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The Lavochkin La-200 (a.k.a. Aircraft 200) was a two-seater,
swept wing A swept wing is a wing angled either backward or occasionally forward from its root rather than perpendicular to the fuselage. Swept wings have been flown since the pioneer days of aviation. Wing sweep at high speeds was first investigated in Ge ...
ed,
night Night, or nighttime, is the period of darkness when the Sun is below the horizon. Sunlight illuminates one side of the Earth, leaving the other in darkness. The opposite of nighttime is daytime. Earth's rotation causes the appearance of ...
/all-weather jet prototype designed as an
interceptor Interceptor may refer to: Arts and entertainment Film and television * ''The Interceptor'', a British drama series on BBC One * Interceptor (game show), ''Interceptor'' (game show), a British television game show that ran during 1989 * Interc ...
and manufactured by the Soviet Union's Lavochkin Design Bureau from 1948.


Design and development

In response to a requirement for a high performance
night Night, or nighttime, is the period of darkness when the Sun is below the horizon. Sunlight illuminates one side of the Earth, leaving the other in darkness. The opposite of nighttime is daytime. Earth's rotation causes the appearance of ...
and all-weather interceptor, Lavochkin (OKB-310),
Sukhoi The JSC Sukhoi Company (, ) is a Russian aircraft manufacturer headquartered in Begovoy District, Northern Administrative Okrug, Moscow, that designs both civilian and military aircraft. Sukhoi was founded in the Soviet Union by Pavel Sukhoi ...
( OKB-134) and
Mikoyan-Gurevich Russian Aircraft Corporation "MiG" (), commonly known as Mikoyan and MiG, is a Russian aerospace and defence company headquartered in Begovoy District, Moscow. Mikoyan was the successor to the Soviet Mikoyan and Gurevich Design Bureau (Мик ...
(OKB-155)
design bureau OKB () is a transliteration of the Russian initials for "" (), which translates to "Experimental Design Bureau." It could also mean or "Special Design Bureau" in english. During the Soviet era, OKBs were closed institutions working on design and ...
developed the La-200,
Su-15 The Sukhoi Su-15 (NATO reporting name: Flagon) is a twinjet supersonic interceptor aircraft developed by the Soviet Union. It entered service in 1965 and remained one of the front-line designs into the 1990s. The Su-15 was designed to replace t ...
, and I-320 (where the I stands for ''Istrebitel'', or "Fighter") respectively. A key component of the three competing aircraft, was the "Toriy" ("Thorium") centimetre waveband NII-17
radar Radar is a system that uses radio waves to determine the distance ('' ranging''), direction ( azimuth and elevation angles), and radial velocity of objects relative to the site. It is a radiodetermination method used to detect and track ...
at Tikhomirnov NIIP - (NIIP for ''Nauchno-Issledovatel'skiy Institut Priborostroyeniya'', or "
Research Research is creative and systematic work undertaken to increase the stock of knowledge. It involves the collection, organization, and analysis of evidence to increase understanding of a topic, characterized by a particular attentiveness to ...
Institute An institute is an organizational body created for a certain purpose. They are often research organisations (research institutes) created to do research on specific topics, or can also be a professional body. In some countries, institutes ca ...
of Instrument Engineering"), which was capable of detecting a
Boeing B-29 Superfortress The Boeing B-29 Superfortress is a retired American four-engined propeller-driven heavy bomber, designed by Boeing and flown primarily by the United States during World War II and the Korean War. Named in allusion to its predecessor, the Bo ...
bomber A bomber is a military combat aircraft that utilizes air-to-ground weaponry to drop bombs, launch aerial torpedo, torpedoes, or deploy air-launched cruise missiles. There are two major classifications of bomber: strategic and tactical. Strateg ...
at a range of . The La-200 was an all-metal, two seater, twin-engined jet aircraft, with a
tricycle undercarriage Tricycle gear is a type of aircraft undercarriage, or ''landing gear'', that is arranged in a tricycle fashion. The tricycle arrangement has one or more nose wheels in a single front undercarriage and two or more main wheels slightly aft of th ...
and mid set wings with 40°
sweep Sweep or swept may refer to: Cleaning * Sweep, the action of using a brush to clean * Chimney sweep, a worker who clears ash and soot from chimneys * Street sweeper, a person's occupation, or a machine that cleans streets * Swept quartz, a cle ...
at 1/4 chord. The two
Klimov UEC-Klimov () is a Russian manufacturer of gas turbine engines, main gearboxes and accessory drive gearboxes for transport aircraft. Originally established as ''Kirill Klimov Experimental Design Bureau'' in Saint-Petersburg under the directio ...
RD-45 The Klimov VK-1 was the first Soviet jet engine to see significant production. It was developed by and first produced by the GAZ 116 works. Derived from the Rolls-Royce Nene, the engine was also built under licence in China as the Wopen WP-5. ...
F centrifugal flow
turbojet The turbojet is an airbreathing jet engine which is typically used in aircraft. It consists of a gas turbine with a propelling nozzle. The gas turbine has an air inlet which includes inlet guide vanes, a compressor, a combustion chamber, and ...
engines were to be fitted in
tandem Tandem, or in tandem, is an arrangement in which two or more animals, machines, or people are lined up one behind another, all facing in the same direction. ''Tandem'' can also be used more generally to refer to any group of persons or objects w ...
inside the front and rear
fuselage The fuselage (; from the French language, French ''fuselé'' "spindle-shaped") is an aircraft's main body section. It holds Aircrew, crew, passengers, or cargo. In single-engine aircraft, it will usually contain an Aircraft engine, engine as wel ...
with the
air intake An intake (also inlet) is an opening, structure or system through which a fluid is admitted to a space or machine as a consequence of a pressure differential between the outside and the inside. The pressure difference may be generated on the ins ...
at the extreme nose. The forward engine exhausted under the centre fuselage and the rear engine exhausted at the end of the rear fuselage. Access to the engines for
maintenance The technical meaning of maintenance involves functional checks, servicing, repairing or replacing of necessary devices, equipment, machinery, building infrastructure and supporting utilities in industrial, business, and residential installa ...
and removal was gained by removing the forward fuselage forward of the nose
undercarriage Undercarriage is the part of a moving vehicle that is underneath the main body of the vehicle. The term originally applied to this part of a horse-drawn carriage, and usage has since broadened to include: *The landing gear of an aircraft. *The ch ...
and the rear fuselage forward of the
fin A fin is a thin component or appendage attached to a larger body or structure. Fins typically function as foils that produce lift or thrust, or provide the ability to steer or stabilize motion while traveling in water, air, or other fluids. F ...
. The main and nose undercarriages were housed entirely within the fuselage. The nose undercarriage rotated 90° to lie flat under the forward engine, and the twin wheeled main undercarriage legs, with long travel levered suspension, retracted into the centre fuselage above the forward jet pipe and astride the fuel tank and intake trunking for the rear engine. The swept wings were of constant chord with 2/3 span flaps, 1/3 span
aileron An aileron (French for "little wing" or "fin") is a hinged flight control surface usually forming part of the trailing edge of each wing of a fixed-wing aircraft. Ailerons are used in pairs to control the aircraft in roll (or movement aroun ...
s, and
wing fence A wing is a type of fin that produces both lift and drag while moving through air. Wings are defined by two shape characteristics, an airfoil section and a planform. Wing efficiency is expressed as lift-to-drag ratio, which compares the bene ...
s at approximately 1/4 and 1/2 span. The tail unit comprised a sharply swept broad chord tapered fin with a sharply swept tapered
tailplane A tailplane, also known as a horizontal stabilizer, is a small lift (force), lifting surface located on the tail (empennage) behind the main lifting surfaces of a fixed-wing aircraft as well as other non-fixed-wing aircraft such as helicopters ...
at 2/3 fin length. The swept wings maximised the speed performance but imposed a higher
wing loading In aerodynamics, wing loading is the total weight of an aircraft or flying animal divided by the area of its wing. The stalling speed, takeoff speed and landing speed of an aircraft are partly determined by its wing loading. The faster an airc ...
than specified by the
Soviet Air Force The Soviet Air Forces (, VVS SSSR; literally "Military Air Forces of the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics"; initialism VVS, sometimes referred to as the "Red Air Force") were one of the air forces of the Soviet Union. The other was the Sovie ...
, thus the RD-45F engines were replaced with
Klimov VK-1 The Klimov VK-1 was the first Soviet jet engine to see significant production. It was developed by and first produced by the GAZ 116 works. Derived from the Rolls-Royce Nene, the engine was also built under licence in China as the Wopen WP-5. ...
engines, (up-rated RD-45F's). The "Toriy" radar was initially fitted in an ogival
radome A radome (a portmanteau of "radar" and "dome") is a structural, weatherproof enclosure that protects a radar antenna (radio), antenna. The radome is constructed of material transparent to radio waves. Radomes protect the antenna from weathe ...
in the centre of the air intake.


Operational history

The La-200 incorporated many innovative systems, including powered flying controls, high capacity
hydraulic Hydraulics () is a technology and applied science using engineering, chemistry, and other sciences involving the mechanical properties and use of liquids. At a very basic level, hydraulics is the liquid counterpart of pneumatics, which concer ...
and
pneumatic Pneumatics (from Greek 'wind, breath') is the use of gas or pressurized air in mechanical systems. Pneumatic systems used in Industrial sector, industry are commonly powered by compressed air or compressed inert gases. A centrally located a ...
systems,
high voltage High voltage electricity refers to electrical potential large enough to cause injury or damage. In certain industries, ''high voltage'' refers to voltage above a certain threshold. Equipment and conductors that carry high voltage warrant sp ...
AC
electrical power Electric power is the rate of transfer of electrical energy within a electric circuit, circuit. Its SI unit is the watt, the general unit of power (physics), power, defined as one joule per second. Standard prefixes apply to watts as with oth ...
system and a comprehensive
avionics Avionics (a portmanteau of ''aviation'' and ''electronics'') are the Electronics, electronic systems used on aircraft. Avionic systems include communications, Air navigation, navigation, the display and management of multiple systems, and the ...
suite. OKB-301 carried out extensive ground tests, allowing problems revealed in the tests to be addressed before the first flight. For initial tests the aircraft was fitted with dual controls in the side by side
cockpit A cockpit or flight deck is the area, on the front part of an aircraft, spacecraft, or submersible, from which a pilot controls the vehicle. The cockpit of an aircraft contains flight instruments on an instrument panel, and the controls th ...
. Flight trials were relatively successful, but revealed a tendency to drop the
starboard Port and starboard are Glossary of nautical terms (M-Z), nautical terms for watercraft and spacecraft, referring respectively to the left and right sides of the vessel, when aboard and facing the Bow (watercraft), bow (front). Vessels with bil ...
wing at high speeds (known colloquially as ''val'ozhka''). Other problems included vibrations of the rear fuselage with the rear engine throttled back and the front engine at maximum power, the twin mainwheels proved troublesome as well as unreliable radio and very poor performance from the radar. To help cure the problems the starboard wing incidence was increased by 1° 30', and the twin mainwheels were replaced by single wheel units. Spill doors were fitted to the rear fuselage, arranged to open automatically when the rear engine was throttled back. The flaps and wings were stiffened, and separate aileron hydraulic actuators were installed in the wings rather than a single actuator behind the cockpit seats. Cooling air was provided for the radio which was located close to the front engine jetpipe. To address the failings of the radar, it was decided to replace it with the Korshun -(Kite) radar also developed by NII-17. The single antenna was moved to the top lip of a redesigned air intake. By the spring of 1951 Aircraft 200 was the only one of the three competitors to survive and pass State acceptance trials. Production was provisionally ordered as the La-17, but the production directive was not endorsed so production was abandoned. While other OKB's were designing the next generation of all-weather interceptors, OKB-301 was tasked with fitting the new Sokol (Falcon) radar into the La-200. The result was Aircraft 200B, with a new fuselage nose housing the radar behind a large radome with three air intakes surrounding the radome. By mid 1953 the radar was working adequately but Aircraft 200B's performance was no longer good enough and further work was abandoned.


Variants

* - 200 with Toriy (Thorium) radar * - 200 with Korshun (Kite) radar * - La-17 the proposed production version of the 200 with Korshun radar was not produced but designation re-used later for a target drone. * - 200B with Sokol (Falcon) radar


Specifications (La-200B)


See also


References

* Gunston, Bill. ''The Osprey Encyclopedia of Russian Aircraft 1875–1995''. London:Osprey, 1995. . *Gordon,Yefim. ''Lavochkin's Last Jets''. Midland Publishing. Hinkley. 2007.


External links


Ugolok Neba
(also photos and drawings) {{Lavochkin aircraft Abandoned military aircraft projects of the Soviet Union
200 Year 200 ( CC) was a leap year starting on Tuesday of the Julian calendar. At the time, it was known as the Year of the Consulship of Severus and Victorinus (or, less frequently, year 953 ''Ab urbe condita''). The denomination 200 for this y ...
1940s Soviet fighter aircraft Twinjets Mid-wing aircraft Aircraft first flown in 1949 Cruciform tail aircraft Aircraft with retractable tricycle landing gear