La-7 n.36 on show
by Massimo Tessitori
Updated on January 10, 2017
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The caption of this image from the web says :' Dedicated to the 15th anniversary of the Great Victory military equipment exhibition in the CDSA park'

the 15th Victory anniversary was in year 1960. Did this plane survive in so good state up to 1960, to disappear after this?

The caption could mean that this photo was placed on the wall in some museum or exhibition room when celebrating the 15th Victory anniversary in 1960 , but this does not mean the photo was taken in 1960.

The CDSA (Central House of Soviet Army) name was introduced in 1951, before that it was CDKA (Central Club of Red Army), so the photo could have taken after 1951, that would be coherent with the clothes of the people shown.

Of course, the photo could have taken some year before, and the place could have been described with its later name CDSA in use when the photo was put on the wall of some exposition or museum.

On the lower part of the photo, we see another plane that could be a Yak-9T.

Aside: the same image, perspectically corrected.

The plane seems to have still its original painting in good state; the steel plate after the exhaust pipes wasn't repainted and has still the original stains.

All this seems strange if the photo was shot too many years after the war's end.

On the image below, The paint of the plane looks much more matt than in the previous image. This suggests that the plane was exhibited for a long time in this place.

The spinner only looks to have been roughly oversprayed in glossy black; the work was crudely made without any masking, because some black paint appears on the front shutters ant on the roots of the prop blades.

Images and informations via Aleksandr Ruchkovsky