I recently read some resources in Russian about WW2, including memories,
interviews and analysis.
Some observations that may be overlooked by Western sources:
Aircraft analysisHurricaneThe hero of BoB, it was almost universally disliked aircraft (which BTW can't be told on I-16).
It was nicknamed as Hunchback (yes, similarly to IL-2)
The original armament of 8 or 12 .303 cal was replaced by two ShVAK canons and two 12.7mm soviet MG
(probably UBS) according to at least two different resources.
The original back armor was replaced with the armor of LaGG-3 as original was considered too weak.
LaGG-3Was actually liked by the pilots as modern aircraft in the beginning of the war despite being inferior to
lighter Yak-1 that shared the same engine. It was liked for powerful armament and could
compete against 109 on almost equal terms in real battle.
It should be noted that LaGG-3 was produced up to 1944(!) but the engine was upgraded to more powerful
105PF.
The nickname "Lakirovannyi Garantiroannyi Grob", or "Guaranteed Varnished Coffin" was actually invented
only after WW2 and never used by its pilots.
Pe-2Also being designed as dive bomber until the middle of the war it
was mostly used as level bomber - as dive bombing was much more dangerous for the crew.
It was very fast bomber, after an attack Pe-2 used to escape in shallow diving. And escort
had problems keeping up with them and sometimes loosing them - because of that fighter pilots
sometimes didn't liked the task because loosing the bombers you escort was very bad for them.
Yak-1It was considered the best plane in early period from both Soviet and Lend-Lease.
Yak-1 served for a long period and it easy to get confused. Starting from summer 1942 Yak-1
was produced with upgraded 105PF engine which had performance comparable to that of 109G.
MiG-3Was one of the most widely available modern aircraft in the beginning of the war. It was very good
high altitude fighter superior to 109s altitudes above 5,000m. But it was unsuitable to Eastern
front because most of fights were done at lower altitudes, so it served later mostly in PVO units.
IL-2Shturmovik pilots feared the enemy fighters much more than AAA.
Rear gunner casualties myth. It is widely published that pilot to gunner casulties were 1:7.
But according to other resources the casualties among the gunners were only marginally higher.
For example 872 ShAP in 1944 lost 29 pilots and 31 gunners.
However according to other pilot memories gunners had higher casualties than pilots.
I assume the reality highly dependent on situation, type of IL-2 and the threat (AAA or fighters)
Shturmoviks used to stay for a while over the target using first bombs, that rockets than canons and
machine guns. i.e. they "worked" on target making many passes sometimes for a long time. Fighter escort
usually kept at least 1000m above because of fear of AAA(!)
If some IL-2 were damaged and couldn't keep up with the formation, the escort fighter group used to split
a section from the major escort providing cover the damaged planes.
According to Alfred Grislawski (133 victories, 109 claims recorded over the Eastern Front, 16 were Il-2
Sturmoviks.) IL-2 was the hardest bomber to shut down (at least at eastern front).
you had to shoot very accurately to very specific airframe parts. Once IL-2s got rear gunners it become even harder.
Interesting story about IL-2 pilot - a young pilot in its 3rd combat flight on his first day managed
return with 5x37mm hits
Damage: elevator, right wing strut, right aileron, right canon, multiple small damage to body and wings.
The aircraft was written off.
At the beginning of the war they flew mostly at tree top popping up close to the target and later
had flown at ~1000m.
WeaponsAlmost universally wing armament was disliked due to convergence issues and effect on roll rate.
Central line armament was preferred and considered more efficient.
For example P-40s and P-39 if possible were flown without MG in wings. Early LaGG-3 type 4 and
type 7 had 1x20mm ShVAK canon, 2x12.7mm UBS and 2x7.62mm ShKAS, all MG synchronized also ShKAS were
removed in later types.
La-5 ShVAK was frequently loaded with only around 60 rpg because it was considered that more rounds
are dead weight - in any case short bursts are used.
RS-82I noticed that in many resources RS-82 were used in air-to-air roles. It is interesting as it was
considered to be feared by LW and used efficiently to break bomber formations.
TacticsOne of the major factors I noticed is that all missions were very task oriented, i.e. you need
to execute the orders no-mater what.
If you are flying as IL-2 escort you need to stay with them from the beginning to the end.
Escort was not allowed to engage targets of opportunity. As an example a group of IL-2 and Yaks
were returning from a mission met a group of Ju-87 on way back. They didn't attack it also
they had all chances because they need to give stay with ILs. Only a single Ju-87 that
"left" behind and broke the formation was engaged and shut down in very short way with
the permission of a group leader.
Protecting the bombers was given much higher priority than shutting down enemy 109s.
For interception the most important thing was prevent bombers from dropping accurately.
Most interception were done on their way to the target rather than way back (BTW it was
different for LW that commonly intercepted the bombers on way back).
LW bombers Ju-88, He-111 and of course Ju-87 were dropping bombs frequently under attack and
it was used. It was much more important to prevent from bombers to effectively attack the
target than to destroy them.
Many Soviet pilot felt that Germans were much less committed to their task than Soviet once in both escort role and interception. They felt that a personal score was much higher factor than mission (i.e. kill more planes rather protect bombers or disrupt bomb run).
IL-2 vs Ju-87 tacticsIL-2 had flown a low altitude - 1000m to the target, escort had never flown before them to
keep the surprise effect. Escort required to stay close enough and protect the bombers. Only
later when more fighters were avalible there was a close escort (usually Yaks) and higher altitude
sweep - usually La-5 and P-39s.
In comparison the Ju-87 usually did one pass and left the area. Escorting 109s usually arived
shortly before Stukas on target to provide cover. It gave better
protection agaist fighter but also appearance of 109s allowed
the forces on the ground to take cover prepare AAA - i.e. surprise effect was lost
in most of cases using such a tactics.
When LW fighter were tasked to intercept a group of IL-2 they frequenly "waited" to
concentrate more forces beefore attack - sometimes allowing IL-2s to work and
acctacked them only after they completed the task.
Aircraft RolesYak-1/7/9 - were used most efficiently at escrort duties - escorting IL-2 and Pe-2s.
La-5s/7 - higher altitude cover, air superiority
P-39 - high altitude cover and long range escort.
SystemsRadio was big problem utill mid/late war. On some planes it had poor quality - even La-5 had flown with
receivers only of poor quality. Also I may note that during WW2 only Japanese planes lacked radios.
RDF were rare and had poor quality. Even Yak-9D - long range Yaks had installation of RDF only on some of
the planes the rest lacked such navigation equipment.
LaGG-3 had interesting systems of filling the fuel tanks with "inert gas" - cooled engine exhaust gas to reduce
the chance of the tank to explode. Such systems were later incorporated on other machines. Lend-Least B-25
were equipped with such a system as local modification.
I hope you find this interesting
