- Yes!
- No!
Shortly after the establishment of the German Democratic Republic in 1949, the Soviet Union had planned to quickly militarize the nation. To acomplish this, an airforce was needed, which resulted in the forming of the KVP (Kasernierte Volkspolizei), a militarized police-force. Already in 1950, it was planned to have a total of 220 German pilots be trained in the operation of the MiG-15 fighter-jet from 1952 to 1954.
To achieve this, the VP-Luft was founded in 1950, and the initial training of ground-personnell and the import of small piston-trainers begun in 1952. One of the plane-types were five La-9 piston-fighters, which were not meant to be flown by the Germans, instead serving as training planes for ground-based engineering-teams.
Nontheless I want to suggest this plane for Germany, as the planes were owned by the VP-Luft, and are even mentioned in the inventory report from 1953, which specifically shows five La-9 fighters to be present.
Furthermore, the planes do not seem to have been disarmed, retaining their cannon-armament, and additionally, with the introduction of the F-16AJ, the German La-9 would seem to hold more water than the Japanese F-16, considering Germany was actually in possession of the type
Images / illustrations:
The planes did not receive any German markings, instead retaining the Soviet ones, however, a case could be made for a semi-historical LSK skin, which retains the base-coa color, and replaces the Soviet airforce stars with the German diamond in it’s first, 1955 itteration:
Spoiler
At the same time, we already have a plane with foreign markings in the game, the French F-6C, which has an alternative skin with USAF markings:
Because of these facts, I would still like to suggest this plane for Germany, as it would be an excellent top-tier piston-engine fighter, something Germany is otherwise quite lacking in.
Specifications:
Crew: 1
Length: 8,63m
Wingspan: 9,8m
Height: 3,56m
Empty weight: 2.638kg
Gross weight: 3.425kg
Max take-off weight: 3.676kg
Powerplant: Shvetsov ASh-82 (1.850hp)
Max speed: 690 kph
Range: 1.735km
Service-ceiling: 10.800m
Armament: 4x NS-23 23mm cannons (75 rpg)
Conclusion:
I personally thing the La-9 would be an excellent fighter for Germany, as it is a high-performance interceptor / escort fighter with great low-altitude performance, something Germany doesn’t really have at the higher propeller-fighter battle-ratings. Especially with a semi-historical skin with East German roundels, this would be a good pick to flesh out German top-tier propeller planes.
Sources: