Rudel killed most of his tanks in the g model. He did fly a d model thats he sunk the Soviet battleship and cruiser with.
His air 2 air kills came in the F8 and d9. He had a few "stuka" kills mostly from manuvering.
The d3 was heavier and farless manuverable then the d1.
In Feb 43
Rudel was then posted to the new special "Panzerjagdkommando Weiss" unit formed at Briansk to test newly developed tank-busting version of Ju-87 D-3.Modified Stuka armed with two Rheinmetall-Borsig 37mm (BK) Flak 18 guns (each mounted in special canopy under each wing with 6 rounds of ammunition) was developed at the Luftwaffe's experimental station at Rechlin (near Neustrelitz, Germany). Prototypes were used at first against Soviet landing crafts in the Black Sea and in the space of three weeks, Rudel destroyed 70 such boats.In March of 1943, during a tank battle around Belgorod, Rudel knocked out his first tank with his new tank-busting Stuka - "... my rear gunner who said that the tank exploded like a bomb and he had seen bits of it crashing down behind us." (Hans-Ulrich Rudel). Later on, more Ju-87 D-3s were converted to tank-busters and were designated as Ju-87 G-1 (often nicknamed Panzerknacker - Tank Buster or Kanonenvogel - Cannon Bird) and started arriving on the Eastern Front in October of 1943.
The d3 version was a modified d1 with heavier armor as the roll of the stuka changed. They were being tasked with attacking armor. The stuka was never a "Schlachtflugzeug" until the d3 d5 g1 g5 models. I dont think Rudel ever flew a d5.
Hohun explained a while back what the original roll of the stuka was in case you are unsure. I didnt feel like searching for he thread or re-typing it here. I will say originally the Stuka was a battlefield interdiction aircraft not a close support aircraft. It was pressed into service on the east front because the lw had no choice.
Rudel however was a nut. He took many chances that should of got him killed. It was luck he survived the war. Most of his tank kills came after he switched to the g model.
Rudel flew 400 sorties in a fw190 and some credit him with 11 a2a kills. But the number will never be known. Some of his tank kills were scored for his unit as he was flying against orders.
