And the Pe-2 was absolute rubbish,” said Alexey Batievsky, a pilot of the 9th Assault Aviation Division of the Baltic Fleet’s Air Force, reflecting about the Tu-2 frontline bomber.Īlthough it made its first flight in 1941, production of Tu-2s was stopped after just 80 units in favour of Yak fighters.
If it had entered service one or two years earlier, the war would have ended several months sooner. “This was a good - even perfect aircraft - but it came too late. Statistically, for each pilot killed seven gunners died. Besides, gunners suffered from poor protection, which led to high losses for them. Such heavy aircraft were too clumsy for good aerial maneuvers. Fully armed with two 23 mm (or 37 mm) guns, rockets and bombs, an Il-2 weighed over six tons. Quite often, Il-2s peppered with hundreds of holes from small calibre anti-aircraft artillery rounds successfully returned on the airfields. These well-protected Soviet ground-attack aircraft had a reputation for surviving the worst the enemy could throw at them. With 36,183 units, the Il-2 became the biggest mass-produced combat aircraft in history. Very simple in design, it was easily manufactured by Soviet industry.
The Ilyushin Il-2 ground-attack aircraft, known as “Flying Tank” and “Black Death”, unleashed hell on earth for the enemy, effectively destroying infantry and tank columns, artillery and anti-aircraft batteries, depots and trains. I didn’t hit them, but kept them away from the airfield,” recalled Konstantin Zvonarev, a pilot of the 11th Guards Fighter Aviation Division. They flew in to attack our airfield, and I took off. “Yak-9U is better than Yak-1 and Yak-3, it has better maneuverability, and maximum speed - 450mph! A pair of Me-262 ( the world's first operational jet-powered fighter aircraft) attacked one. Yak-9U (“Improved”) was the latest modification of the aircraft with a new engine, which gave it an amazing speed. A pilot had to be a true sniper, since its magazine was limited to just 30 rounds. With its 37 mm gun it could destroy an enemy fighter with just one precise shot. Yak-9T (“Tank”) was, however, a much more deadly weapon.
Most of the Yak-9 aircraft were armed with 20 mm ShVAK cannon with 120 rounds and a 12.7mm machine gun. Among them were fighter, fighter-bomber, reconnaissance, courier and special purpose aircraft. The main advantage of this reliable, maneuverable and simple to fly Soviet fighter aircraft was its universality: 15 modifications of the fighter went into full production during WWII. With 16,769 fighters completed by Soviet factories, it became the biggest Soviet mass-produced fighter of WWII. “I fought against all types of Soviet fighters, including those supplied under Lend-Lease, and the Yak-9 was the best,” Luftwaffe ace Gerhard Barkhorn said.
0 kommentar(er)
