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Petlyakov Pe-3 twin engine night fighter
Wingspan - 18m; Length - 12.65m; Height - 3.5m; Wing Area - 46.5m2
Crew - 3; Engines - 2x 1700HP Mikulin 40 engines; Empty weight - 5,980kg; Maximum weight - 8,000kg
Armament - 1x 23mm cannon, 4x 14mm MG in nose
Top speed - 345kts; Maximum altitude - 12,200m; Maximum range unarmed - 1500nm at 300 kts
Combat radius fully armed - 600nm at 300 kts

Despite 31% greater engine power than earlier Pe-2 models, increased drag due to mounting of radar makes new Pe-3 only marginally faster than earlier Pe-2 models.



Lavochkin IK-42 single engine carrier fighter
Wingspan - 12.2m; Length - 9.75m; Height - 3.2m; Wing Area - 27.9m2
Crew - 1; Engines - 1x 2000HP engine; Empty weight - 4,350kg; Maximum weight - 5,670kg
Armament - 1x 23mm cannon, 2x 14mm MG in nose, 4x 14mm MG in wings
Top speed - 381kts; Maximum altitude - 11,400m; Maximum range unarmed - 1,650 nm at 200 kts
Combat radius fully armed - 500nm at 200 kts

I am mildly curious - is the engine of the IK-42 a radial or an inline?

The cannon fires through the spinner, and the two nose MG are synchronized with the propeller.

The other four MG are in the wings.

Quoted

Originally posted by AdmKuznetsov
The cannon fires through the spinner, and the two nose MG are synchronized with the propeller.

The other four MG are in the wings.

Thank you for clarifying.

Use of an inline engine for a carrier-based aircraft has been historically rare, though the British used inlines to a significant extent. Imagining a radial engine aircraft with that armament layout led to some interesting speculation.

I'd figured that since it was from Lavochkin, it'd be radial engined, myself - like the La-5 or La-7.

The Pe-3 seems far too small for its capabilities. It weighs only slightly more than a P-38 unloaded and has a lower maximum takeoff weight, but at the same time is supposed to carry a radar and two additional crew members. There was a night fighter version of the P-38 called the P-38M, but it seated only two people and the secondary cockpit was so cramped only short people could fit in it. You might want to make the Pe-3 larger or reduce the amount of crew.

The Pe-3 stats are roughly historical with slightly more span and 1,700hp rather than 1,100hp inlines. The gross weight of the OTL Pe-3 was 8,000kg. With slightly heavier engines and radar I guess the weight might be slightly higher but probably not much more than 8,500kg. I think perhaps AdmK has confused the gross weight with maximum weight. As a gross weight 8,000-8,500kg is a good ballpark figure but the max weight would be higher than this. The removal of the rear and dorsal armament, none is listed here, would save some weight though.

Brock, you're forgetting the inline powered LaGG-3.

Quoted

Originally posted by Hood
Brock, you're forgetting the inline powered LaGG-3.

No, I didn't forget it. I just dismissed it because it wasn't among Lavochkin's best projects.

Mostly due to the failure of the Klimov M-106 engine, or more specifically its unreliable cooling system.