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Il-2 Shturmovik - Red Avenger (Hardcover)
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Il-2 Shturmovik - Red Avenger (Hardcover)
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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. The Il-2 was designed as a low-level
close-support aircraft capable of defeating enemy armour and other
ground targets. 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.
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. 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. The Il-2 became a
highly respected and highly feared adversary. 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. 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. Crews were
also known to weld additional armour to their Il-2s. The Shturmovik
proved so effective that many Soviet crews were recipients of the
Gold Star of Hero of the Soviet Union. Even today, the Il-2 is
regarded as the Russian equivalent of the Spitfire. By the war's
end, some 36,000 Il-2s were produced and became the symbol of the
Eastern Front.
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