The
Lavochkin La-7 was a piston-engined
Soviet fighter developed during
World War II by the
Lavochkin Design Bureau (
OKB). It was a development and refinement of the
Lavochkin La-5, and the last in a family of aircraft that had begun with the
LaGG-1 in 1938. Its
first flight was in early 1944 and it entered service with the
Soviet Air Forces later in the year. A small batch of La-7s was given to the
Czechoslovak Air Force the following year, but it was otherwise not exported. Armed with two or three cannon, it had a top speed of . The La-7 was felt by its pilots to be at least the equal of any German piston-engined fighter and even shot down a
Messerschmitt Me 262 jet fighter. It was phased out in 1947 by the Soviet Air Force, but served until 1950 with the Czechoslovak Air Force.