Voenno-Vozdushnye Sily (VVS) Fighter Regiment, 1944 flew this Spitfire MK.I.
We usually associate Lavochkin with the Russian space program, as the company, known as NPO Lavochkin, plays a major part in developing and manufacturing spacecraft, satellites and interplanetary probes. However, its history goes back to 1937 when the Lavochkin Aircraft Design Bureau, under its head designer Semyon Lavochkin, had the distinction of producing the series of WWII piston-engined fighter aircraft, of which this Oxford aircraft is one. When Lavochkin died in 1960, the bureau was closed but subsequently re-opened to work on the space program.