Fighter designer who secured Soviet air supremacy with the La-5 and La-7
"Wherever I was, whatever I did, I always thought about the airplane — not the one that already flies, but the one that doesn't yet exist."
Semyon Lavochkin was a Soviet aircraft designer whose La-5 and La-7 fighters, over 22,000 produced, formed the backbone of the Soviet Air Force in WWII and helped secure air supremacy on the Eastern Front. His La-7 was flown by the Allies' top-scoring ace Ivan Kozhedub. After the war, his OKB-301 produced the La-176, the first Soviet aircraft to break the sound barrier (1948), and the La-15 jet fighter. In the 1950s the bureau pivoted to air defense and space: the S-25 Berkut system, the SA-2 surface-to-air missile, and the Burya cruise missile. The SA-2 became the backbone of Soviet air defense and downed Gary Powers' U-2 in 1960. Twice Hero of Socialist Labour, four-time Stalin laureate, Academician, and Major-General, he died of heart failure at a test range in 1960.
Activities and affiliations
Career Timeline
- 1918–1920Served in the Red Army during the Russian Civil War
- 1920–1927Studied at Moscow Bauman Higher Technical School, qualified as aeromechanics engineer
- 1927–1939Worked at various aircraft design bureaus; Chief Designer rank for aircraft building, 1939
- 1939–1940Co-developed LaGG-3 fighter with Gorbunov and Gudkov at OKB-301
- 1940–1945Chief Designer of OKB-21 in Gorky; designed La-5 and La-7 fighters, over 22,000 produced
- 1945–1960Head of OKB-301 in Khimki; led development of La-15 jet fighter, S-25, SA-2 and Burya missiles
Related historical events
- 1918–1922The Civil War and Foreign InterventionCivil War participant
- 1941–1945The Great Patriotic WarDesigner of the La-5 and La-7 fightersAs Chief Designer of OKB-21 he developed the La-5 and La-7. Over 22,000 of his fighters were produced in 1941–1945 (37% of all Soviet wartime fighter output), forming the backbone of Soviet air power on the Eastern Front. Ivan Kozhedub scored 62 of his kills in Lavochkin fighters.
Chief designer in air defence and rocketry: from Berkut to Burya (1950-1960)
In the 1950s Lavochkin moved from fighter design to air-defence missiles and rocket systems. In 1950 the Soviet government assigned his OKB-301 the design of the guided missiles for Berkut (later the S-25), the first Soviet surface-to-air missile system, built to defend Moscow.
The project was run as a task on the scale of the atomic programme. Overall direction lay with a new Main Directorate under the Council of Ministers; financing went through the atomic directorate, and both directorates were overseen by Lavrentiy Beria. The military was not the customer, and even the top military leadership was not briefed on the details, while officers of state security were appointed to head the major departments of the lead design bureau KB-1.
The S-25 entered service in 1955. It consisted of 22 long-range radar stations and 56 missile complexes in two rings around Moscow, and was the first guided surface-to-air weapon accepted by the Soviet armed forces. The inner ring lay 45-50 km and the outer ring 85-90 km from the centre, and the system defended the capital for about thirty years. The deployed missiles were Lavochkin's 217M and 218. The system was required to repel a massed raid of up to 1,200 aircraft, and the multifunction complex was designed to engage up to 20 targets simultaneously.
Lavochkin's bureau designed the V-300 (item 205), V-500 and V-600 (item 220) missiles for Berkut, and the first launch of item 205 took place on 25 July 1951 at the state central test range. It received missile research results and a group of engineers led by Georgy Babakin from OKB-2 of NII-88, and it also developed the G-300 air-to-air missile for the aircraft component of the system. The central multifunction guidance radar B-200, the most complex element of the system, was developed by A. A. Raspletin's team.
Work on the mobile S-75 (SA-2) system began under a decision of 20 November 1953 and drew on the experience gained with the S-25. From 1955 Lavochkin's bureau designed the missile (item 400) for Dal, a successor to the S-25; tested in 1958-1962, it was never accepted for service.
In 1954 the same bureau was assigned the Burya (La-350), recorded as the first supersonic intercontinental cruise missile. Lavochkin's deputy and chief designer Nikolai Chernyakov directed the work, which introduced Soviet supersonic ramjet propulsion, an astro-navigation guidance system, and the machining and welding of titanium alloys. But when the R-7 ballistic missile passed state trials in 1957, the strategic case for a cruise missile weakened, and work on the Burya was halted in 1960. In 1956 Lavochkin received the title of general designer for aircraft construction.