La-15

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La-15
la-15.png
La-15
AB RB SB
8.0 8.0 8.0
Research:61 000 Specs-Card-Exp.png
Purchase:340 000 Specs-Card-Lion.png
Show in game

Description

GarageImage La-15.jpg


The La-15 is a Rank V Soviet jet fighter with a battle rating 8.0. It was introduced in Update 1.39.

Due to it being one of the fastest jets at its battle rating, the La-15 should apply boom and zoom tactics. Gain altitude (and thus energy), and use this energy to execute hit-and-runs on opposing aircraft. Your powerful 23 mm NR-23 cannons will help you kill targets in minimal time. Though it is not the worst jet at turning, it suffers from the issue of having incredibly weak wings, and they will likely snap if you attempt to turn fight other jets at high speed. However, if it needs to turn, it can hold its energy for an extended period of time and come out of a turn at a higher speed than most opponents.

General info

Flight Performance

Characteristics
Stock
Max Speed
(km/h at 3,000 m)
Max altitude
(meters)
Turn time
(seconds)
Rate of climb
(meters/second)
Take-off run
(meters)
AB RB AB RB AB RB
999 971 13,500 24.0 25.2 25.6 23.9 650
Upgraded
Max Speed
(km/h at 3,000 m)
Max altitude (meters) Turn time (seconds) Rate of climb
(meters/second)
Take-off run (meters)
AB RB AB RB AB RB
1,037 1,022 13,500 23.2 23.5 38.4 31.7 650

Details

Features
Combat flap Take-off flap Landing flap Air brakes Arrestor gear
X X
Limits
Wing-break speed
(km/h)
Gear limit
(km/h)
Combat flap
(km/h)
Max Static G
+ -
945 450 520 ~25 ~12
Optimal velocities
Ailerons
(km/h)
Rudder
(km/h)
Elevators
(km/h)
Radiator
(km/h)
< 640 < 535 < 630 > 140
Compressor (RB/SB)
Setting 1
Optimal altitude 100% Engine power WEP Engine power
 ?,??? m  ??? hp  ?,??? hp

Survivability and armour

  • 105 mm Bulletproof glass in cockpit front
  • 8 mm Steel plate behind the pilot
  • 6 mm Steel plate in the nose

Armaments

Offensive armament

Main article: NR-23 (23 mm)

The La-15 is armed with:

  • 3 x 23 mm NR-23 cannon, chin-mounted (100 rpg = 300 total)

Usage in the battles

The La-15 is the second fastest jet at 8.0, with a top speed of 1,022 KPH achieved at 3000 meters using SPD/TAS. This aircraft has good energy retention, maneuverability and decent armament. When down-tiered, rushing is a very good tactic on Korea as no Allied fighter matches your high top speed. Take off from the very back then rush to the enemy airfield. This is a viable tactic because your aircraft is faster than all of them, potentially catching the enemy off-guard for easy kills. It is also possible to cause chaos throughout the enemy team - since all of them would be slow due to climbing, a fast-rushing enemy aircraft would cause them to scatter around and have little space to accelerate.

When up-tiered to facing top tier jets, it is best to normally take off from the runway (not to takeoff from the back) and side climb to 3000 meters or so. Do not chase after top tier jets unless you find one without energy and you could take advantage of it otherwise your best bet is to go after 8.0 jets. The La-15's roll rate is good, making it a good aircraft at defensive flying in the right hands. At first, the guns are difficult to lead due to their placement under the fuselage - so if you think you're leading enough, lead a lot more. Despite having good maneuverability, this aircraft should be used as a Boom-And-Zoomer as it's not the best at turn fighting against everything.

Specific enemies worth noting

F-86 Sabre/CL-13A Sabre:

The F-86 Sabre is the one of the main rivals of the La-15 if up-teired and facing allied teams. The Sabre can easily out maneuver, out run, and out climb the La-15. The best way to counter the Sabre is to attack it when it is at its most vulnerable position (low on energy, or damaged) or force it into a low speed maneuvering fight. Do not try to engage a F-86/CL-13A Sabre in any high speed maneuvers or any high speed dog fighting in general as the Sabre will come out on top. In any low speed manoeuvers, the Sabre will lose to the La-15 in any manoeuvering engagements.

Meteor:

The Meteor is another main rival of the La-15 as the La-15 can meet the Meteor at any time from being down-teired to up-tiered. While the La-15 can out run and out climb early variants of the Meteors, the later variants are far harder to out run and out climb as they can easily catch the La-15. The best way to deal with Meteors is to apply boom and zoom tactics, but do remember a skilled Meteor pilot will have no issue avoiding a La-15 that is attacking with boom and zoom tactics. Avoid any maneuvering fights with any variant of the Meteor as they will out maneuver you with no issues at all.

Counter-tactics

The La-15 has, at best, a speed limit of 1000 km/h. Be aware of this and, if possible, try to out dive or out run the La-15, as it can break it's wings easily in a dive and in level flight. It's airbrake is ineffective in a hard dive unless the engine is turned off, so turn on an afterburner and keep it on until you have gotten into level flight. If you are slower than the La-15, Do not try to climb or use an airbrake, the La-15 has very good energy retention in a climb and it's airbrake is more effective at level flight, so refrain from these types of defensive flying.

Modules

Tier Flight performance Survivability Weaponry
I Fuselage Repair Compressor Offensive 23 mm
II New Boosters Airframe
III Wings Repair New 23 mm Cannons
IV Engine Cover

Pros and cons

Pros:

  • Cannons have decent rate of fire and punch.
  • Good energy retention.
  • Decent acceleration.
  • Cockpit visibility is above average.
  • Decent maneuverability around 500-700 kph/310-435 mph.
  • Good roll rate.
  • good top speed for its rank

Cons:

  • Low top speed for a swept wing jet.
  • Can rip its wings off in level flight (speed warning at approximately 945 kph/587 mph, wings rip at 955 kph/593 mph).
  • Ineffective airbrake.
  • Guns have poor accuracy and very low muzzle velocity. Hitting a target can be difficult.
  • Ammunition is limited, restricted to firing short accurate bursts from close range.
  • Doesn’t take battle damage very well especially to the wings of the aircraft.

History

Describe the history of the creation and combat usage of the aircraft in more detail than in the introduction. If the historical reference turns out to be too big, take it to a separate article, taking a link to an article about the vehicle and adding a block "/ historical reference" (example: https://wiki.warthunder.com/Name-vehicles/historical reference) and add a link to it here using the main template. Be sure to include links to sources at the end of the article.

Media

An excellent addition to the article will be video guides, as well as screenshots from the game and photos.

Read also

Links to the articles on the War Thunder Wiki that you think will be useful for the reader, for example,

  • reference to the series of the aircraft;
  • links to approximate analogues of other nations and research trees.

Sources

Paste links to sources and external resources, such as:

  • topic on the official game forum;
  • page on aircraft encyclopedia;
  • other literature.


USSR jet aircraft
Bereznyak-Isayev  BI
Yakovlev  Yak-15 · Yak-15P · Yak-17 · Yak-23 · Yak-28B · Yak-30D · Yak-38 · Yak-38M · Yak-141
Mikoyan-Gurevich  MiG-9 · MiG-9 (l) · MiG-15 · MiG-15bis · MiG-15bis ISh · MiG-17 · MiG-17AS · MiG-19PT
  MiG-21F-13 · MiG-21PFM · MiG-21S (R-13-300) · MiG-21SMT · MiG-21bis
  MiG-23M · MiG-23ML · MiG-23MLD · MiG-27M · MiG-27K
  MiG-29 · MiG-29SMT
Lavochkin  La-174 · La-15 · La-200
Sukhoi  Su-9 · Su-11
  Su-7B · Su-7BKL · Su-7BMK · Su-17M2 · Su-17M4 · Su-22M3
  Su-24M
  Su-25 · Su-25BM · Su-25K · Su-25T · Su-25SM3 · Su-39
  Su-27 · Su-27SM
  Su-34
Ilyushin  IL-28 · IL-28Sh
Tupolev  Tu-14T