Would anyone have any photographic evidence as to the variant with the dedication to Koniyev painted on the side? The Osprey book lables "white 14" as a FN, but I've seen another profile which shows it as a plain "F" model. Thanks in advance for any input.
Whatever you do, *don't* look at "Wings Palette" for profiles of this aircraft. I did, and it nearly brought me to tears - Kozhedub's "White 14" has been profiled many, many times, both as a La-5F and as a La-5FN. Once again we see how unreliable these things can be! However, on page 15 of the Squadron "La-5/7 Fighters in Action" book, there is a photo of this aircraft. Of course, the nose of the aircraft is covered with a tarpaulin, so you can't see any cowling details - that would be too easy! However, the La-5FN had a sheetmetal reinforcing plate with a diagonal upper edge on each side of the fuselage, immediately behind the exhaust outlet heat shields (below the cockpit, in other words). The La-5F did not. This plate, as subtle a detail as it is, is frequently visible on good photos of the La-5FN. The lighting and exposure in this photo seem quite good, especially in this area of the fuselage side, and the La-5FN reinforcing plate is NOT visible, so it would seem that the aircraft in the photo is, in fact, a La-5F, not an FN. In my humble opinion, anyway... (if I was building it myself, I'd certainly go with La-5F!)
A quick edit, after looking at Erik Pilawskii's "Radial-Engined Lavochkins of WW2" CD: This reference shows Kozhedub's plane as a La-5F, in overall "mixed grey" - 50% each of AMT-11 and AMT-12. There is also a photo of Kozhedub leaning out of the cockpit of the aircraft, and, once again, the La-5FN reinforcing plate that I mentioned is not visible.
There is also *another* "White 14", Konev-collective-inscribed Lavochkin - a
La-5FN, attributed to two-time HSU K.A. Evstigneev! (I hope I'm not confusing anyone except myself here...) A photo shows this one to be very clearly a La-5FN, with a different style of presentation inscription on the left side of the fuselage. So far I haven't seen photos of *both* sides of either of these aircraft - the photos referred to are right side only for Kozhedub, and left side only for Evstigneev!
John
