Gudkov GU-82

History

Lavochkin-Gorbuniv-Gudkov (LaGG) designed, developed and produced the LaGG-3, an efficient single-seat, single-engine monoplane, for the Soviet Union during World War II (1939-1945). The inline LaGG-3 was a development of the earlier LaGG-1, an aircraft that existed in only 100 complete examples and formed the framework for the subsequent fighter series LaGG-3, La-5 and La-7. Given its role in the war, the LaGG-3 completed a total of 6,528 prototypes and served the Soviet Air Force well.

Introduced in early 1941, it was phased out as early as 1944, and production spanned those war years.

In 1941, when the LaGG-3 established itself as a role in long-range warfare, an offshoot of this artillery platform was considered that would employ air-cooled radial units in place of the more vulnerable in-line systems currently in use. This prompted Gudkov to develop the "Gu-82," which would be powered by the Shvetsov M-82, a 1,540-horsepower, 14-cylinder radial engine.

The three-blade propeller unit with the large spinner will be retained, and the weapons will mimic those of the original LaGG-3 (1 x 20mm autocannon and 2 x 12.7mm machine guns in the propeller hub). Much of the form and function of the original has been preserved.

The M-82 engine is a legacy of the Sukhoi Su-4 project, which combined the Su-4 airframe with the 2,100 hp Urmin M-90 engine. When this intention failed, the plan was to replace the M-82 to create a "wood-wing attack aircraft" armed with 2 x 12.7mm heavy machine guns.

A prototype of the aircraft was tested, but there was no option to produce the product.

In any case, the M-82 was intended to be mounted to the LaGG-3 airframe to produce the Gu-82 to provide better performance and economy than the original, while maintaining survivability through the use of air-cooled radials. The project was severely delayed by the German invasion of the Soviet Union (Operation Barbarossa) in June 1941, as resources were used to ultimately defend the Soviet homeland.

To make matters worse, the factory was in danger of being occupied by the enemy, forcing the factory to move eastward in October of that year. At the time, only one of the two contract prototypes was available, and this example did not begin flight testing until mid-1942.

During this period, further development of the LaGG-3 successor, which became Lavochkin's La-5, eventually surpassed the no longer required Gu-82 program. Therefore, the development of the Gu-82 aircraft was soon stopped.

However, the resulting La???-5 had a stellar wartime and post-war career, with nearly 10,000 units each produced in a handful of global operators in the Soviet Union, Czechoslovakia, Mongolia and Poland.

Some of the Gu-82 performance figures on this page are estimated by the author based on existing LaGG-3 series fighters.

Specification

Basic

Production

Roles

Dimensions

Weight

Performance

Performance

Armor

VARIANTS