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Further Reading

Lavochkin La-250 Anakonda

The Lavochkin La-250A "Anakonda" was a twin-engine, two-seat delta-wing interceptor designed to fly long-range missions at high altitude, armed with two large missiles. Four of these aircraft were built between 1956 and 1958 in a competition with the Tu-28, which the later won.

The LA-250 long-range supersonic all-weather fighter-missile carrier was one of the first in this class. This loitering interceptor designed to intercept aircraft or cruise missiles from the situation "on duty in the air." The two AL-7F engines, of 6500 kgf thrust, were installed on the sides of a very long fuselage with air intakes, separated from the fuselage for supersonic flight. The airplane was nicknamed "Anaconda". The "275" missiles were to become one of the first armament systems.

The first flight was conducted in July 1956. On the first take-off on July 16, there was an accident, but the pilot remained almost unscathed. Immediately after the take off, the plane began a vigorous swinging of the wing on the wing, and because the chassis had already been removed, Kochetkov landed on its belly, damaging the wing, fuselage and landing gear.

It was found that the main reason it was the fact that the moment of inertia of the aircraft because of the small magnitude was several times the great length of the aircraft. Therefore, the motion of the roll developed in eight times faster than the movement of yaw on takeoff and it was difficult to extinguish in time arises roll and lateral sway. For the first time in the USSR was built an electronically simulation stand in the hangar, which brought the nose of the aircraft for a very long study of irreversible hydraulic control system. This revealed the phase shift between the movements of the knobs and controls in this system.

Three La-250A were built in 1957 by Lavochkin to expand the initial tests with a modified flight control system. The the banana-nosed La-250A featured delta wings instead of the earlier La-250 swept wings. This plane was flown by AG Kochetkov, followed by AP Bogorodsky, who made dozens quite successful flights, because now management system has been redone (and especially with regard to the laws of damping). However, a regular flight by Kochetkova 28 November 1957 ended in a heavy accident during landing due to fog and suddenly coming out of engines. One of the main causes of the accident was poor visibility, especially during landing, marked and Air Chief Marshal KA Vershinin. To improve the view the canopy was elevated and the nose lowered by 6 degrees. On September 8, 1958 test flight of the third instance also ended an accident during landing, although not serious, caused by manufacturing defects.

The plane is made by the normal aerodynamic scheme and mid-delta wing and tselnopovorotnym triangular horizontal tail surface. The control system of irreversible boosters have been applied to all government and each booster (for reliability) - with a two-power two hydraulic systems.

Despite the accident, the aircraft was considered good and promising. It was still hampered by unreliable AL-7F engines. In the end, because of the amount of difficulties and complications, the trial dragged on, and La-250 had not passed them. The flying qualities were not completely fixed. Lavochkin, after June 9, 1960, evidently, caused a cessation of tests. By 1960 the speed of 2000 km / h and a ceiling of 16 (18) miles were considered inadequate to effectively intercept supersonic aircraft carrying nuclear weapons, such as the American B-70. Nevertheless, in 1961 serial production began of the Tu-28P (Tu-128) loitering interceptor.

The third copy of the La-250 is located in the Museum of Air Force aircraft at the Air Force Academy in im.Gagarina g.Monino. This was the last plane designed by Lavochkin, which thereafter worked on spacecraft projects. Design of the lunar and planetary spacecraft in the Lavochkin design bureau was headed by G.N Babakin, the main designer of the Lavochkin design bureau. The design team of the Lavochkin design bureau had extensive experience in the development of automatic aircraft, particularly intercontinental ballistic cruise missiles and unmanned airplanes. Few of these designers had any experience in the design of spacecraft. In June 1960, after Lavochkin passed away, to continue to be employed, the designers from the Lavochkin design bureau should recall how to design spacecraft and combine this knowledge with the skills acquired in the design of unmanned aircraft.

Scientific Production Association (NPO), named after S.A. Lavochkin (Lavochkin design bureau) Destined to be the last aircraft produced by the Lavochkin design bureau, the La-250, known unofficially as the Anaconda, was designed to meet a very demanding 1954 requirement for an ultra long-range, high-altitude single-seat super interceptor armed exclusively with missiles. Featuring a 57° delta wing and an enormous fuselage of near-constant cross section, the La-250 was powered by two Lyulka AL-7F turbojets each rated at 6500kg which were later to be fitted with afterburners boosting thrust to 9000kg. All control surfaces were fully powered with duplex systems and without manual reversion. Intended to carry the 30km acquisition- range Uragan (Hurricane) radar, the La-250 had a planned armament of two large K-15 beam-riding missiles. Although the La-250 was intended as a single-seater in operational form, prototypes were completed as two-seaters to provide accommodation for a test observer, and the first of three flying examples was completed in July 1956. The first flight was attempted on 16 July, but the test pilot, A G Kochetkov, encountered an unexpectedly rapid roll moment and lost control. Extensive testing of a systems rig followed before acceptable characteristics were attained and flight testing could be resumed. The second aircraft was lost in a landing accident on 28 November 1957, and the third aircraft also suffered a landing accident on 8 September 1958. The flight test programme suffered continual delays as a result of poor engine reliability and the full testing had not been completed when the programme was cancelled. By mid-1950s, it became obvious that subsonic cannon-armed fighters like Yakovlev Yak-25 would be unable to intercept fast high-altitude targets like the upcoming generation of strategic jet bombers. As the result, in 1953 Lavochkin OKB proposed addition of an air-to-air missile system to the Berkut air-defense system. Tasked with defence of Moscow, the Berkut system consisted of a large network of radars and surface-to-air missile sites as well as ground-controlled interceptor aircraft. Lavochkin's proposed missile G-300 utilized a guidance system based on vacuum tubes and was so heavy (about 1,000 kg (2,200 lb)) that no fighter in Soviet arsenal could carry it. Instead, a Tupolev Tu-4 bomber (Soviet version of the Boeing B-29 Superfortress) was modified to carry four G-300 under the wings, with the whole system receiving designation G-310. For all this trouble, G-300 was expected to have a range of only 15 km (9 mi) and a ceiling of 20,000 m (65,600 ft). Although G-310 made ten flights in 1952, the system was abandoned as impractical. In November 1952, Soviet government ordered development of Kompleks K-15 (Complex K-15, a notion analogous to USAF's "weapon system" concept). K-15 was to consist of an interceptor "250" (later designated La-250) carrying "275" guided missiles. La-250 had to be able to intercept targets flying at 1,250 km/h (777 mph, Mach 1.18) at 20,000 m (65,600 ft) and up to 500 km (310 mi) from the airbase. Initial guidance was to be from Vozdukh-1 ground control with terminal onboard radar guidance for the last 40 km (25 mi) and automatic missile firing by the fire control system when in range. Missile "275" was projected to weigh 870 kg (1,915 lb) and, powered by a liquid fuel rocket motor, its top speed was to exceed 3,900 km/h (2,425 mph). With a 125 kg (275 lb) conventional warhead, it had a projected lethal radius of 50 m (165 ft). La-250 was to carry two "275" missiles semi-recessed into the underside of the fuselage in a tandem arrangement. Problems with the K-15U radar and Klimov VK-9 engines forced a radical redesign of the aircraft to use the K-15M radar and, more importantly, much less powerful Lyulka AL-7F engines. This, in turn, led to the need to change "275" missiles to the lighter "275A" (interestingly, although total missile weight decreased to 800 kg (1,760 lb), the warhead actually grew to 140 kg (308 lb)). The new airframe with a smaller fuselage and a delta wing instead of the earlier swept wing was designated La-250A. The "275" missiles were now carried on underwing pylons. The lighter airframe was not enough to overcome weaker engines and projected performance suffered compared to La-250. While busy redesigning the aircraft, Lavochkin OKB also had to develop new variants of the "275" missile -- the semi-active radar homing "277," the nuclear-armed "279," and solid fuel rocket-powered "280." The first La-250A prototype was finally rolled out on June 16, 1956. Test flights of the five prototypes were plagued by crashes caused by failures of the hydraulic boost system and landing gear as well as poor forward visibility (the latter was corrected with fitting of a new slightly "drooped" nose). La-250A made a signle test flight in 1956, only 6 flights in 1957, and a mere 14 flights in 1958. Frustrated by the lack of progress, VVS stopped all work on the K-15 system in 1959. Lessons learned with K-15 were used to develop new interceptor system requirements which lead to Tupolev Tu-28 interceptor. Since the American adversary had large numbers of strategic bombers capable of delivering nuclear weapons (including stand-off air-to-surface missiles), Soviet leaders urged the priority development of long range, high altitude and high speed air defence systems. Nikita Sergeyevich Khruschchev maintained a very close interest in SAM systems. Thus, the S-75 Tunguska' (ASCC SA-2 'Guideline') missile system was developed and fielded in the late 1950s after successfully completing the trials programme. It was this missile which shot down Gary Powers' U-2. Meanwhile, the aircraft designers kept on searching for new ideas. By the early 1960s they succeeded in creating a new class of fighter aircraft - the so-called heavy interceptors. These aircraft the customary gun armament and were not designed for dogfighting. Instead, they were to destroy enemy strategic bombers a long way off from state borders with mediumto-long range air-to-air missiles (AAMs). The first major effort in this direction came from the design bureau led by Semyon Alekseyevich Lavochkin with the La-250 heavy interceptor (dubbed 'Anaconda' by its pilots), a component of the La-250-15 weapon system. The production La-250A was to carry two newly-developed K-15 medium range AAMs (which never entered production). The 'Anaconda' entered flight test but the advent of the S-75 missile system and Khruschchev's bias towards rocketry killed off the aircraft. A while later, in the late 1950s, various Mikoyan designs - the I-75, Ye-150 and particularly the Ye-152, 'A and 'M - suffered the same ignominious fate. These were remarkable aircraft capable of destroying almost any target at altitudes of up to 22,000m (72,180ft) and ranges of up to 1,000km (625 miles) shortly after take-off. Like the 'Anaconda', they did not progress beyond the prototype stage. The S75's success on 1 st May 1960 was undoubtedly a major contributing factor. The T-37 heavy interceptor developed by Sukhoi, an innovative design which made use