Description The Ilyushin Il-2 Shturmovik became the aerial representative of the Soviet response to the German invasion on the Eastern Front during the Second World War.
By the war\'s end, some 36,000 Il-2s were produced and became the symbol of the Eastern Front..
Even today, the Il-2 is regarded as the Russian equivalent of the Spitfire.
The Shturmovik proved so effective that many Soviet crews were recipients of the Gold Star of Hero of the Soviet Union.
Crews were also known to weld additional armour to their Il-2s.
Not only did its rear gunners shoot down Luftwaffe aces thanks to its 12.7-mm machine gun, the Il-2 was also used as a fighter and German pilots were amazed to see 20-mm cannon shells bouncing off its armour plates.
Soviet air crews dubbed the Il-2 as the \'Flying Tank\' for its incredible ability to withstand a tremendous amount of damage and still release its payload only to return home intact.
The Il-2 became a highly respected and highly feared adversary.
At its height, production of the Il-2 hit a peak of 300 aircraft per month and variants boasted potent 23-mm cannon, 200 anti-tank bomblets and 4 x 132-mm rockets.
In the end, the Il-2 would become the most important aircraft to the Soviet Union in the defence of the homeland against advancing hordes of panzers.
Hardly a fighter, the Il-2 was exclusively engineered to take an enormous amount of punishment and still keep the pilot, rear gunner and critical mechanical components unharmed.
The Il-2 was designed as a low-level close-support aircraft capable of defeating enemy armour and other ground targets.
Description The Ilyushin Il-2 Shturmovik became the aerial representative of the Soviet response to the German invasion on the Eastern Front during the Second World War
