"Russia's IL-2 Sturmovik 'Flying Tank': No Plane..." Topic

… Has Been Built in Bigger Numbers (And It Helped Crush Hitler).

"If you had to choose one plane that defined Soviet airpower in World War II, there can be little doubt it was the Il-2 Sturmovik "Flying Tank," an armored ground-attack plane that hammered Nazi Germany's tanks and troops from the opening days of Operation Barbarossa to the fall of Berlin. Despite sustaining horrifying losses to opposing fighters and flak guns, Soviet industry fed tens of thousands of the sturdy warplanes into the struggle, making it the most extensively produced military aircraft type ever.

The Soviet Air Force, or VVS, was primarily oriented towards supporting troops on the ground, much like the German Luftwaffe. The latter revolutionized mechanized warfare by using Ju 87 Stuka dive bombers to provide relatively precise air support for fast-moving mechanized columns. But after the initial shock of Stuka attacks early in the war, the slow and lightly armored dive bomber proved excessively vulnerable to enemy fighters and flak. Soviet aeronautical engineer Sergey Ilyushin proposed a Stuka-like plane with a twist: his ground-attack plane would be armored…."
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Amicalement
Armand

Interesting. Thanks for the link.

A votre service mon ami!. (smile)

Amicalement
Armadn