La-7s of 790 iap
by Massimo Tessitori
Updated on May 4, 2017
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La-7 '27' of Major A.K.Sannikov, commander of the 1st squadron of the 790 iap, at the airport Shchuchin in Belarus, autumn 1945.

http://soviet-aces-1936-53.ru/abc/s/sannikov.htm

On the engine cowling, we see a white chevron (mark of 790 iap) and the Order of Kutuzov.

The men appearing on the plane are:

  • st.serzhant Jacob Rosenbaum,
  • st.serzhant Akhtam Kasimov,
  • st.serzhant Nikolai Eremin.


Aviation and Space 2007-07 / M.Nikolsky - 790 th Fighter III degree Order of Kutuzov Regiment"

 

http://aviadejavu.ru/Site/Arts/Art4628.htm

 

Image via Aleksandr Ruchkovsky

 

 

An interpretation of the plane of the photo above.

Being armed with 3 B-20 guns, it was produced in 368 machines at Zavod 381 in late 1944/early 1945, but this armament was unreliable and didn't replaced the usual one of two ShVAK 20 mm guns on the production line.

So, the drawing has to show the style of red stars and of numbers typical of Z.381, with the tail star largerthan on planes built in Z.21, and a bit thinner and more squared fonts of numbers.

The whte chevron has an imperfection on its point, due to bad adhesion of the stencil.

An interesting characteristic shown by the photo is an apparently black repainting of the spinner and of part of the nose. I've drawn it as real, but it could also be due to a defect of the photo or of the print.

Some images of noses of La-7 of the same unit. The images on the left could be of the same plane. The spinner, roughly repainted in white, is noteworthy. The plane looks a 2-guns one.

Another 2-guns La-7.

Here it seems to see a discontinuity in the color of the front ring and that of the lateral panels of the cowling, that look darker. They could be two shades of grey of the camouflage.

Images from http://goskatalog.ru/portal/#/collections?id=5287984