What does the LW identify as a Yak-7?
 

By this I mean what are the characteristics that makes a LW pilot identify an aircraft as a Yak-7? I assume the early cockpit configuration, similar to the Yak-1?

I was looking at the victory list of Heinz Ewald and he identifies bring down Yak-7 on 25/02/1944, 13/03/1944, 02/06/1944, 12/06/1944 and 01/11/1944. I assume there was no corroborating wreckage to definitely confirm the type.

Assuming these could be Yak-7B but could they also be Yak-1 or LaGG-3? Just like I assume the ""Yak-11 is a Yak-3 and that Yak-9 are also likely to be Yak-1B or Yak-7DI.

regards

Keith

Re: What does the LW identify as a Yak-7?
 

Keith,

I would be cautious when attempting to match Luftwaffe identifications of aircraft to Soviet types. The standard of identification in the Western Desert was not high, as repeatedly mentioned in the Mediterranean Air War series. On the Eastern front, it was often even worse. As evidence, consider the numerous claims for LaGGs throughout 1944.

Ewald was probably identifying an inline engined Soviet fighter which did not look quite the same as others that he had seen. If the unusual feature was the cockpit configuration, as you propose, then the LaGG-3 was a much more likely opponent than the Yak-7 over the Crimea in early 1944. Over Romania in the middle of 1944, he could have seen old Yak-7Bs without a bulbous canopy, but that is highly unlikely. I wrote a short comment on the history of the Yak-7 here - https://airlandbattle.wordpress.com/...and-a-comment/ .
The Yak-7 went out of production in 1944 and I understand that since the autumn of 1943 at the latest, all Yak-7b fighters were produced with a bulbous canopy. Note the confusing designation, the fighters with the new canopy were usually referred to as the Yak-7b with a small letter, while the Yak-7B with a capital letter was used to refer to the Yak-7 with BS heavy machine guns, in production from the middle of 1942.

I hope the above is of some assistance.

Kind regards,

Dan

Re: What does the LW identify as a Yak-7?
 

Many thanks Dan, you have put it clearly. I can't think what aircraft he thought he was encountering because I don't have the descriptions. If it had the original Yak-7 configuration then I am at a loss if it's not a LaGG-3 or perhaps a Hurricane. His identification of the LaG-5 (La-5) would dismiss it was these he encountered on the dates specified, and Spitfires would have been easily identified....

best regards

Keith

Re: What does the LW identify as a Yak-7?
 

You are welcome, Keith. I assume that the relevant volume by Bernd Barbas may have some additional information about the combats of Heinz Ewald, I mean this title - https://www.amazon.de/Die-Geschichte.../dp/3923457715

The LaGG-3 is by far the most likely aircraft that Ewald would have encountered, out of those that you mentioned. I checked sources concerning Yak-7 production and they state that the main factory which produced the type switched to the Yak-7b with a bulbous canopy from the fourtieth production batch in February 1943. It is not particularly likely that some older Yak-7s would have survived until 1944. The Hurricane had been withdrawn from the front by the second half of 1943, apart from the Arctic.

The larger point remains that it is difficult to assign much credibility to the aircraft identifications made by German fighter pilots. For example, Ewald could not have seen, much less engaged a single Spitfire in 1944. Soviet Spitfires were only used by a couple of front line regiments for a few months in 1943 - http://lend-lease.airforce.ru/english/articles/spit/

Kind regards,

Dan