LaGG-3 is a single-engine monoplane fighter that was in service with the Red Army Air Force during the Great Patriotic War. It was used as a fighter, fighter-interceptor, fighter-bomber, scout aircraft and was produced in 1941-1944. One of three new generation fighters adopted before German invasion of the USSR (the other two are MiG-3 and Yak-1).
V.P. Gorbunov was the project manager and head of the Design Bureau-301 to create LaGG-3, however, the plane was named after V.P. Gorbunov, not only the project manager, but also his closest employees: S. Lavochkin. A. and Gudkov M.I. – LAGG.
Positive qualities: powerful weapon on the first series, high survivability, minimal use of scarce materials – the main material of pine, birch veneer, plywood and resin-modified wood (delta wood), fire resistance.
Disadvantages: a weak engine and, as a result, poor traction, design flaws due to record short development time, excessive weight due to the use of poorly studied material (delta wood), which forced the calculations to use large coefficients of safety margin. When production quality dropped sharply, the pilots gave him a nickname: Летающий Авиационный Гарантированный Гроб, which is a “Flying Aircrew Guaranteed Coffin”.
In September 1941, the Design Bureau-301 under the leadership of M.I. Gudkov first equipped LAGG-3 with an air-cooled star engine ASH-82 and successfully tested it (Gu-82), but according to the strange position of NKAP it was not put into mass production.
An attempt to install this engine on LAGG-3 was made and OKB-31 under the leadership of Gorbunov V.P. (Taganrog), but it was not completed due to urgent evacuation. Later, already in Tbilisi, Gorbunov managed to install the engine on LAGG-3, but its variant (G-1) was inferior in speed characteristics to other modifications of LAGG-3 with ASh-82.
Six months after the Design Bureau-301, Design Bureau-21 under the leadership of S. Lavochkin. А. (Gorky city) after a similar operation – installation of the air-cooled engine ASH-82 on LAGG-3, it was possible to launch its aircraft under the name of La-5, which became the basis for the family of fighters La-5F, La-5FN, La-7.