Soviet Forces

IL-2 Sturmovik

Designed for ground attack and close support operations, the Sturmovik was specifically designed for such missions, and made its service debut in 1941 as a single seater. It was well armed: two 20 mm or 23 mm cannon and two 7,62 mm machine guns, and well armoured, with plating behind, beneath and each side of the pilot. Despite this protection, however, Sturmovik proved vulnerabld to attack from the rear, and in 1942 a new version appeared in which the cockpit enclosure was lengthened to accommodate a second crew member operating an additional 12,7 mm machine gun for rearward defence. This modification proved eminently successful, and the Ilyushin Il2 finished the war with the lowest attrition rate of any Russian aircraft, not to mention an excellent record of ground strafing, train busting and similar missions in which, incidentally, it was one of the first wartime aircraft to make use of the rocket projectile (RS-82 and RS-132). Production: 36183 aircrafts