The Mustang is a P-51 H (Top speed 465 MPH).
Soviet wartime fighters were notoriously developed "on the fly", and some were more lethal to their pilots than the enemy. (Lagg-1, Yak-1a, Mig-1).
The Lagg-3 was notorious for unrecoverable tail spins, despite lead being packed into the nose.
Like all Soviet fighters, the aircraft have zero armour protection, as the Russians seem to have plastered it all over the IL-2 and IL-10 Stormoviks.
There were also no self sealing fuel tanks either.
With the exception of the all metal La-7, the LaGG-1, LaGG-3, and La-5 are all constructed of brittle resin impregnated Birchwood. The Yak series is constructed of resin impregnated Birchwood with wire reinforcement.
It took a special kind of courage to climb into a Soviet fighter that was a true "one-hit-wonder" and face the Luftwaffe or even worst, the Finnish Airforce.
German aces, such as Molders, found it easy to chalk up such amazing tallies over Russia mainly because Soviet pilots were having to fly vastly handicapped and weak fighters. Throw in poor training and an German ace's job become even easier.
The same goes for the Finnish aces.
|