The first production La-7 entered service with the 176th Guards Fighter Aviation Regiment in July 1944.
The La-7 was 44 mph faster than the Fw 190 and could both out-climb and out-turn its German rival. Turning a full circle took 19-21 seconds. Many regiments were keen to exchange their liquid-cooled Yaks for La-7, as the air cooled aircraft were not only generally superior in flight,
but could also better withstand the extremes of heat and cold of Russian summer and winter.
The La-7 earned itself a superb combat record by the end of the war, and was flown by the top Soviet ace of the conflict Ivan Nikitovich Kozhedub.
The Ukrainian-born Kozhedub, nicknamed "Ivan the Terrible", a three times Hero of Soviet Union, scored his last 17 air victories in 1945, in the La-7 numbered 27,
which is now preserved in the Monino State Aviation Museum on the outskirt of Moscow. The last German aircraft that he shot down was the Messerschmitt Me-262,
of Unteroffizier (sergeant) Kurt Lange from 1./KG(J)54, in the sky of Frankfurt an der Oder, still fying a La-7, on February 15, 1945.
