La-5/7 vs Fw 190 Format: Paperback

Soviet fighter aviation suffered terribly at the hands of the Jagdwaffe in the first year of the war in the east, and with the arrival of JG 51 and its Fw 190s on the Stalingrad Front in September 1942 things only got worse for the hard-pressed Red Army Air Force pilots. However, help was on its way in the form of the re-engined LaGG-3 fighter, which was fitted with a powerful air-cooled M-82 radial engine. Designated the La-5, the new fighter was capable of withstanding more punishment than the fragile LaGG-3, and it was also appreciably faster and had a greater rate of climb. It was more of a handful to fly, however, but the new generation of better trained pilots who were led into combat by the survivors of 1941-42 quickly found the La-5 (and, later, the improved La-7) very much to their liking. Arriving in the frontline in August 1942, the new Lavochkin fighters soon found themselves pitted into action on the Central Sector against the equally new Fw 190As of JG 51. The first clashes took place in November of that year, and from then on the Focke-Wulf fighter would regularly clash with its counterpart from Lavochkin.

Dmitriy Khazanov is one of Russia's leading experts on the history of Soviet aviation in World War 2. He has written 15 books and a great number of articles, which have been published in Russia, the UK, Germany, Finland, France and Japan.

Aleksander Medved is a retired air force colonel who has written a number of books and articles on the history of Soviet and foreign combat aircraft development in World War 2.

Jim Laurier is a native of New England and lives in New Hampshire. He attended Paier School of Art in Hamden, Connecticut, from 1974–78, and since graduating with Honours, he has been working professionally in the field of Fine Art and Illustration. He has been commissioned to paint for the US Air Force and has aviation paintings on permanent display at the Pentagon.

Gareth Hector is a digital artist of international standing and has also enjoyed a successful career in computer animation. He is an aviation history enthusiast and has contributed to numerous Osprey titles such as B-52 Stratofortress Units in Combat 1992–2025
and RAF Lightning Units of the Cold War. He lives in Perthshire, Scotland.