Some planes in World of warplanes are equipped with a rear turret that is controlled by gunner... How do I turn on the turret? Why isn't my gunner shooting down anyone? Such questions can often be seen in the in-game chat. Let's try to figure out what's the matter. Firstly, the arrow board is always on, it does not need to be activated in any way, it is controlled by the AI, that is, it is a bot and shoots itself.
Secondly, the guns of the rear turret differ on different aircraft, there is no need to hope that a powerful rear machine gun will be installed on the light 2PA-L fighter.
And thirdly, the gunner's side can fire far from the entire sector behind the aircraft, for example, the targets below us for the gunner’s side will be inaccessible in horizontal flight. If the enemy sees our plane as shown in the picture, our gunner will not be able to hit it.
Is the gunner not shooting?
It is also often confusing for players that the flight controller is stationary in WoWP. Don't worry, it works, it's just not animated, the developers promise to revive it in the future.
The pilot's task is to control the aircraft so that the enemy hanging on the tail ends up in the gunner's sector of destruction, and at the same time minimizes damage to his aircraft. It is not easy, but there are tricks that can help in this situation. To get started, check out. Then try applying. It is also desirable to master. Combine, combine the learned techniques, and you can not only ensure the effective work of the gunner, but also reduce the damage to your aircraft.
What skills to choose for a gunner
There are currently six skills available in World of warplanes for the gunner, these are endurance, improved vision, fire suppression, keen eye, mentor, keen eye... Moreover, the first three skills can be learned immediately upon reaching 100% of the level of proficiency in the main specialty, but accuracy, vigilance and a mentor can be selected only after having learned two skills.
Thus, you first need to choose between endurance fire extinguishing, and visibility. The choice largely depends on which plane you fly. I chose endurance as the first skill for the Il-2d flight gunner, since the shooter is outside the armored hull and is often wounded. The second skill is firefighting, if your plane is on fire often, my Il-2d was set on fire quite often.
The third skill I plan to use is a well-aimed eye, since I consider it important that the shooter should hit, and not scare off flying birds. The fourth skill is better to choose vigilance, also a great skill that will help improve the effectiveness of the boardstalk.
Will it be possible to control the gunner in World of warplanes in the future?
According to the information available to date, the developers do not plan to add gunner control. In the foreseeable future, this opportunity will not be for sure.March 15th, 2016, 03:14 pm
Ivan Kozhedub
Three times hero of the Soviet Union, has 64 victories in his track record. He flew on planes La-5, La-5FN, La-7, Il-2, MiG-3. Kozhedub fought his first air battle on La-5 in March 1943. Together with the leader, he was supposed to guard the airfield, but after taking off, the pilot lost sight of the second plane, received damage from the enemy, and then also fell under his anti-aircraft artillery. Kozhedub barely landed the plane, which counted more than 50 holes.
After an unsuccessful battle, they wanted to transfer the pilot to ground service. However, he firmly decided to return to the sky: he flew as a liaison, studied the experience of the famous fighter Pokryshkin, from whom he adopted the battle formula: "Height - speed - maneuver - fire". In his first battle, Kozhedub lost precious seconds to recognize the aircraft that attacked him, so he spent a lot of time memorizing the silhouettes of the aircraft.
After being appointed deputy squadron commander, Kozhedub took part in air battles on the Kursk Bulge. In the summer of 1943, he received his first Order of the Battle Red Banner. By February 1944, the number of aircraft shot down by Kozhedub exceeded three dozen. The pilot was awarded the title of Hero of the Soviet Union.
They say that Kozhedub loved his planes very much, considered them "alive". And never once during the entire war did he leave his car, even a burning one. In May 1944 he was given a special La-5 FN aircraft. Vasily Viktorovich Konev, a beekeeper of the Bolshevik agricultural cartel, Budarin district, Stalingrad region, transferred his personal savings to the Defense Fund and asked to build an aircraft named after his deceased nephew - fighter pilot, hero of the Soviet Union Georgy Konev. On one of the sides of the plane they wrote: "In the name of Lieutenant Colonel Konev", on the second - "From the collective farmer Konev Vasily Viktorovich." The beekeeper asked to give the aircraft to the best pilot. It turned out to be Kozhedub.
In February 1945, the ace shot down a German Me-262 jet fighter, and attacked the last enemy aircraft in April. In total, Kozhedub flew 330 combat missions and conducted 120 air battles.
Alexander Pokryshkin
Three times Hero of the Soviet Union, personally shooting down 59 enemy planes and six aircraft in a group. He flew on MiG-3, Yak-1, P-39, "Airacobra".
The genius of flying received his baptism of fire in the first days of the war. Then he was the deputy squadron commander of the 55th air regiment. There was a misunderstanding: on June 22, 1941, Pokryshkin knocked out a Soviet near-by Su-2 bomber. The plane landed on the fuselage in the field, the pilot survived, but the navigator died. Pokryshkin later admitted that he simply did not identify the plane: "Sukhoi" appeared in military units right before the war.
But the next day, the pilot distinguished himself: during a reconnaissance flight, he shot down a Messerschmitt Bf 109 fighter. This was Pokryshkin's first military victory. And on July 3, he was shot down by anti-aircraft artillery over the Prut. By that time, the pilot had won at least five victories.
While in the hospital, Pokryshkin began to take notes in a notebook entitled "Tactics of fighters in battle." It was in it that his science of winning was described. Many combat and reconnaissance missions of Pokryshkin were unique. So, in November 1941, in conditions of limited visibility (the edge of the clouds dropped to 30 meters), he obtained information about tank divisions in the Rostov region. On the eve of the 1942 offensive, the pilot was awarded the Order of Lenin. Then he had already been shot down twice and had 190 sorties.
In the air battle in the Kuban in the spring of 1943, Pokryshkin for the first time widely used the Kuban Etazherka battle order, which was later extended to all air fighter units. The pilot had many original tactics to win in battle. For example, he came up with a way out from under the enemy's blow on a bend in a descending "barrel", with a loss of speed. After that, the enemy was at gunpoint.
By the end of the war, Pokryshkin was the most famous pilot on the fronts. Then the phrase was widespread: "Akhtung! Akhtung! Pokryshkin in the air!" The Germans actually informed the pilots about the flights of the Russian ace, warning them to be careful, to gain altitude so as not to risk it. Until the end of the war, the famous pilot was the only three times hero of the Soviet Union: the third "Golden Star" was awarded to him on August 19, 1944, after 550 sorties and 53 official victories. Georgy Zhukov became a hero three times on June 1, and Ivan Kozhedub - on August 18, 1945.
By the end of the war, Pokryshkin had flown over 650 sorties and took part in 156 air battles. According to unofficial data, the ace had more victories - up to a hundred.
Nikolay Gulaev
Twice Hero of the Soviet Union. personally shot down 57 enemy aircraft and four aircraft in the group. He flew on Yak-1, Il-2, La-5, La-7, P-39, Aerocobre planes.
At the beginning of the war, Gulaev was sent to air defense of one of the industrial centers located far from the front line. But in March 1942, he was among the top ten best pilots, sent to the defense of Borisoglebsk. On August 3, Gulaev took the first battle: he took off without an order, at night, shot down the German Heinkel bomber. The command announced a penalty to the pilot and immediately presented him for the award.
In February 1943, Gulaev was sent to the 27th Fighter Aviation Regiment, in which he shot down more than 50 enemy aircraft in a year. He was extremely effective: he shot down up to five planes a day. Among them were twin-engine bombers 5 Non-111 and 4 Ju-88; spotters FW-189, dive bombers Ju-87. Other front-line aviation pilots had mostly shot down fighters in their service records.
On the Kursk Bulge, in the Belgorod region, Gulaev distinguished himself especially. In his first battle, on May 14, 1943, the pilot single-handedly entered into battle with three Ju-87 bombers, which were covered by four Me-109s. At low altitude, Gulaev made a "slide" and shot down from the first stage, first the leader, and then another bomber. The pilot tried to attack the third plane, but he ran out of cartridges. And then Gulaev decided to go to the ram. The left wing of the Yak-1, on which he flew, hit the plane of the Ju-87. The German plane collapsed. Yak-1, having lost control, went into a tailspin, but Gulaev was able to align and land it. The infantrymen of the 52nd Infantry Division were witnesses of the feat, who carried the wounded, as they thought, pilot out of the cockpit in their arms. However, Gulaev did not receive a scratch. He did not say anything to the regiment - what he had done became known a few hours later, after the report of the infantrymen. After the pilot complained that he remained "horseless" he was given a new plane. And later he was awarded the Order of the Red Banner.
The last sortie Gulaev made from the Polish Turby airfield on August 14, 1944. Three days in a row the day before, he shot down one plane. In September, ace was forcibly sent to study at the Air Force Academy. He served in aviation until 1979, when he retired.
In total, Gulaev made 250 sorties and 49 air battles. Its performance was considered record-breaking.
05/23/2018 - the last, unlike reposts, theme update
Every new message at least 10 days is highlighted in redbut NOT NECESSARY
is at the beginning of the topic. The heading "SITE NEWS" is being updated REGULARLY and all its links are ACTIVE
NB: Active links to similar topics: "Little Known Facts About Aviation", "Double Standards of Allied Bombing"
The topic is divided into sections for each of the main participating countries. At the same time, I cleaned up duplicates, similar information and information, which raised frank doubts.
Air Force of Tsarist Russia:
- in the years of WW1, 120-150 captured German and Austrian aircraft were captured. Most - two-seat reconnaissance aircraft, fighters and twin-engine aircraft were rare (Note 28 *)
- at the end of 1917 in the Russian army there were 91 squadrons of 1109 aircraft, of which: 579 were available on the fronts (428 serviceable, 137 defective, 14 obsolete), 237 charged for the front and 293 in schools. This number did not include up to 35 aircraft of the Air Squadron, 150 aircraft of naval aviation, aircraft of the rear agencies, 400 aircraft of the fleet and in reserve. The total number of aircraft was estimated at 2,200-2,500 military aircraft (Note 28 *)
- in the summer of 1917 in the BF aviation there were 71 aircraft (28 out of service) and 530 servicemen, of which 42 were officers (Note 90 *)
USSR Air Force:
- in 1937 there were 18 aviation schools in the Red Army, in 1939 - 32, on 05/01/1941 - already 100 (Note 32 *). According to other sources, if in 1938 (Note 64 *) and 1940 there were 18 aviation schools and schools, then in May 1941 aviators were trained by 3 Air Force academies, 2 higher schools of navigators, 88 flight and 16 technical schools (Note 57 *), and in 1945 - 130, which made it possible to train 60 thousand pilots for the Second World War (Note 64 *)
- Order No. 080 of 03.1941: the training period for flight personnel is 9 months in peacetime and 6 months in military time, hours for cadets on training and combat aircraft - 20 hours for fighters and 24 hours for bombers (Japanese suicide bomber in 1944 was supposed to have 30 flight hours) (Note 12 *)
- in 1939 the Red Army had 8139 combat aircraft, of which 2225 were fighters (Note 41 *)
- in 1939 the USSR produced 28 combat aircraft daily, in 1940 - 29 (Note 70 *)
- by the beginning of WW2 - 09/01/1939, the USSR had 12677 combat aircraft (Note 31 *)
- on 01/01/1940 in the western military districts there were 12,540 combat aircraft, excluding long-range bomber aviation. By the end of 1940, these numbers had almost doubled to 24,000 combat aircraft. The number of training aircraft alone was increased to 6,800 (Note 12 *)
- in the summer of 1940, there were 38 air divisions in the Red Army, and by 01/01/1941 there should have been 50 of them (Note 9 *)
- in the period from 01/01/1939 to 06/22/1941 the Red Army received 17,745 combat aircraft, of which 3,719 were new types, not inferior in basic parameters to the best Luftwaffe machines (Note 43 *). According to other sources, at the beginning of the Second World War there were 2,739 aircraft of the latest types Yak-1 (412 were produced on 22.06.41r - Note 39 *), Mig-3 (1094 were produced on 22.06.41 - Note 63 *), LAGG-3, Pe-2, of which half (of which 913 MiG-1 \\ 3, which amounted to 1 \\ 4 of all fighters - Note 63 *) were in the western military districts (Note 11 *). On 22.06.41, 917 Mig-3s (486 pilots were retrained), 142 Yak-1s (156 pilots were retrained), 29 LAGG (90 pilots retrained) entered the Air Force (Note 4 *)
- as of 01.01.1941, the Red Army Air Force numbered 26392 aircraft, of which 14628 were combat and 11438 training aircraft. Moreover, 10565 (8392 combat) were built in 1940 (Note 32 *)
- on June 22, 1941, the Red Army and RKKF Air Forces numbered 32 thousand aircraft, of which 20 thousand were combat: 8400 bombers, 11,500 fighters and 100 attack aircraft (Note 60 *)
- on the eve of the Second World War in the European part of the USSR, there were 20 thousand aircraft, of which 17 thousand combat aircraft (Note 12 *), at the same time in the air force of the Red Army of the border military districts there were 7139 combat aircraft, separately 1339 long-range bomber aircraft and 1445 aircraft of the Navy, which totaled 9917 aircraft
- 1540 new Soviet fighters, little inferior to the "Messerschmitt" Bf-109, by the beginning of the war were in the western border districts. In total, by 22.06.1941 the USSR had 3719 aircraft of new designs (Note 81 *)
- by 22.07.41 in the air defense system of Moscow there were 29 fighter regiments, armed with 585 fighters - about the same as the Germans had on the entire Eastern Front (Note 19 *)
- in June 1941 in the western VO there were almost 1500 I-156 aircraft (1300 I-153 fighters + 6 regiments of I-153 attack aircraft), which out of 4226 was 1/3 of the total combat aviation of the western districts (Note 68 *)
- on 06/22/41, the RKKF Air Force had 859 seaplanes, of which 672 MBR-2 (Note 66 *)
- on 22.06.41 the RKKF Air Force consisted of 3838 aircraft, 2824 of which were combat (Note 70 *). According to other sources, there were more than 2.5 thousand combat aircraft (Note 66 *). According to other sources, in total in the aviation of the USSR Navy in three fleets (BF, Black Sea Fleet and Northern Fleet) there were 6,700 aircraft (Note 77 *): BF - 656 combat aircraft, of which 353 fighters (Note 73 *), Black Sea Fleet - 651 (Note 78 *) or 632 combat aircraft: 346 fighter aircraft, 73 bomber aircraft; mine and torpedo - 61; reconnaissance - 150 (Approx. 80 *)
- on 06/22/1941 Soviet naval strike aircraft: Baltic Fleet - 81 DB-3 \\ 3F, 66 SB and 12 AR-2; Northern Fleet - 11 SB; Black Sea Fleet - 61 DB-3 and 75 SB (Note 62 *)
- in June 1941 there were 108 I-153 in the naval aviation of the Baltic Fleet, 73-76 in the Black Sea Fleet and 18 in the Northern Fleet (Note 68 *)
- on the eve of the Second World War, 1/4 of the RKKF naval aviation consisted of seaplanes, so there were 54 machines on the Northern Fleet, 131 on the BF, 167 on the Black Sea Fleet, and 216 on the Pacific Fleet (Note 89 *)
- with the beginning of the Second World War, 587 GVF aircraft were at the front as special-purpose air groups, and then were brought together into air regiments (Note 92 *)
- at the beginning of the Second World War, 79 air divisions and 5 air brigades were formed, of which 32 air divisions, 119 air regiments and 36 corps squadrons were part of the Western Military District. Long-range bomber aviation in the western direction was represented by 4 air corps and 1 separate air division in the amount of 1546 aircraft. The number of air regiments by June 1941 increased by 80% compared to the beginning of 1939 (Note 11 *)
- The Second World War was met by 5 heavy bomber corps, 3 separate air divisions and one separate regiment of Soviet long-range bomber aviation - about 1000 aircraft, of which 2/3 were lost during the six months of the war. By the summer of 1943, long-range bomber aviation consisted of 8 air corps and numbered over 1000 aircraft and crews. (Note 2 *)
- by the spring and early summer of 1944, the ADD of the Red Army Air Force consisted of 66 air regiments, united in 22 air divisions and 9 corps, which approximately amounted to 1000 long-range bombers (Note 58 *)
- at the beginning of the Second World War, 1,528 long-range bombers DB-3 (Note 44 *) and 818 heavy bombers TB-3 (Note 41 *) were produced
- by the spring of 1942, the USSR reached the pre-war level of aircraft production - not less than 1000 combat aircraft per month, from the second half of 1942 it reached the production line of 2500 aircraft per month with a total monthly loss of 1000 aircraft. From June 1941 to December 1944, 97 thousand aircraft were produced (Note 9 *)
- as of March 1942, the Red Army Air Force had 19,700 combat aircraft, of which 6,100 were at the fronts and in the air defense, 3,400 were in the rear districts, reserve and march regiments (without schools), 3,500 in the Far East, 6,700 in flight and technical schools Of the new types: 2,920 aircraft at the front, in reserve and marching regiments, 130 in the Far East, 230 in the rear areas and 320 in flight schools. As of this date, the Air Force had 4610 faulty vehicles (Note 96 *)
- 34 thousand aircraft were produced in the USSR in 1943, 40 thousand in 1944, and in total during the Second World War - 125 thousand aircraft (Note 26 *). According to other sources, in 1941-45, 115,600 combat aircraft were produced, of which about 20 thousand bombers, 33 thousand attack aircraft and almost 63 thousand fighters (Note 60 *)
- from the second half of 1942, reserve aviation corps were created in the Red Army, so from September to the end of 1942, 9 such corps were created, and later - 23 more, each of which consisted of 2-3 divisions (Note 48 *)
- on 06/22/1942 85% of all Soviet long-range bomber aviation were 1789 DB-3 aircraft (from the DB-3f modification it was called IL-4), the remaining 15% - SB-3. These aircraft did not fall under the first attacks of German aviation, since they were based relatively far from the border (Note 3 *)
- during the years of production (1936-40) 6831 Soviet SB bomber were built (Note 41 *)
- 79 (93 - Note 115 *) four-engine Pe-8 bombers were produced during the Second World War (Note 104 *) and 462 also four-engine bombers Er-2 (DB-240) were produced during the Second World War (Note 115 *). All of them were used exclusively in ADD (Note 115 *)
- 10292 biplane I-16 and its modifications were produced from 1934 to 1942
- a total of 201 (600 - according to Yakovlev) Yak-2 and Yak-4 aircraft were produced (Note 82 *)
- 16 thousand Yak-9 was produced during the war
- 6528 LAGG-3 fighters were produced during the Second World War (a controversial aircraft in many respects)
- 3172 MiG-1 \\ 3 was built in total (Note 63 *)
- 36 thousand Il-2 attack aircraft were released in 1941-45 (Notes 41 * and 37 *) The losses of attack aircraft during the Second World War amounted to about 23 thousand.
- 4863 night bombers ADD Li-2 (Soviet military version of the licensed American Douglas DC-3-186 "Dacota") were produced from the beginning of 1942 until the end of the Second World War (Note 115 *). According to other data, during this period 11 thousand aircraft of this type were produced.
- during the Second World War, 11 thousand Soviet attack pilots were killed (Note 25 *)
- in 1944, in units for each Soviet attack pilot, there were two aircraft (Note 17 *)
- the life of an attack aircraft lasted on average 10-15 sorties, and 25% of the pilots got lost in the first sortie, while to destroy one German tank, at least 10 sorties were required (Note 9 *)
- about 19,537 combat aircraft arrived in the USSR under Lend-Lease, of which 13,804 fighters, 4,735 bombers, 709 transport aircraft, 207 reconnaissance seaplanes and 82 training aircraft (Note 60 *)
- by the beginning of 1944, the USSR had 11,000 combat aircraft, the Germans had no more than 2,000. For 4 years of the war, the USSR built 137,271 aircraft (there is also data that from June 1941 to December 1944, 97,000 combat aircraft were produced) and received 18865 under Lend-Lease aircraft of all types, of which 638 aircraft were lost during transportation. According to other sources, at the beginning of 1944 there were 6 times more Soviet combat aircraft than all German aircraft (Note 8 *)
- on the "heavenly slug" - U-2vs fought during the Second World War about 50 air regiments (Note 33 *)
- from the monograph "1941 - Lessons and Conclusions": "... out of 250 thousand sorties carried out by Soviet aviation in the first three months of the war, on the enemy's tank and motorized columns ..." The record month for the Luftwaffe was June 1942. when 83,949 sorties of combat aircraft of all types were carried out (according to the data of Soviet VNOS posts). In other words, "crushed and destroyed on the ground" Soviet aviation flew in the summer of 1941 with an intensity that the Germans were able to achieve only in one month during the entire war (Note 13 *). So, only on August 16, 1941, the Red Army Air Force (464 combat aircraft, of which 100 DA bombers) made 2,860 sorties (Note 115 *)
- during 1942, 6178 (24%) Soviet military pilots died, which is more than 1700 people more than died in 1941 (Note 48 *)
- Average survivability of Soviet pilots during the Patriotic War:
fighter pilot - 64 sorties
attack aircraft pilot - 11 combat missions
bomber pilot - 48 sorties
torpedo bomber pilot - 3.8 combat sorties (Note 45 *)
- the number of combat sorties for the combat loss of one aircraft increased for fighters from 28 in 1941-42 to 194 in 1945, for attack aircraft - from 13 to 90, and for bombers - from 14 to 133 (Note 112 *)
- The accident rate in the Red Army Air Force on the eve of the Second World War was huge - on average, 2-3 aircraft crashed a day. This situation largely continued during the war. It is no coincidence that during the war non-combat aircraft losses were over 50% (Note 9 *)
- on the first day of the Second World War, 1200 aircraft were lost (Note 78 *), 800 of them were at airfields (Note 78 *, 94 *), and in two days - 2500 (Note 78 *)
- in the first week of the Second World War, the Red Army Air Force lost 4,000 aircraft (Note 64 *)
- for 6 months of the Second World War, the USSR lost 20159 aircraft of all types, of which 16620 combat aircraft
- "unaccounted for loss" - 5240 Soviet aircraft, which remained at the airfields after their capture by the Germans in 1941
- the average monthly losses of the Red Army Air Force from 1942 to May 1945 amounted to 1000 aircraft, of which non-combat ones - over 50%, and in 1941 combat losses were 1700 aircraft, and the total - 3500 per month (Note 9 *)
- non-combat losses of Soviet combat aviation in WWII amounted to 60,300 aircraft (56.7%) (Note 32 *)
- in 1944 the losses of Soviet military aviation amounted to 24,800 vehicles, of which 9,700 were combat losses, and 15,100 were non-combat losses (Note 18 *)
- from 19 to 22 thousand Soviet fighters were lost in the Second World War (Note 23 *)
- Losses of ADD during the Second World War amounted to 3570 aircraft: in 1941 - 1592, in 1942 - 748, in 1943 - 516, in 1944 - 554, in 1945 - 160. More than 2 thousand crew members died in this case (Note 115 *)
- in accordance with the Decree of the Council of Ministers of the USSR No. 632-230ss of 03/22/1946 "On the rearmament of the Air Force, air defense fighter aircraft and Navy aviation with modern domestic-made aircraft": "... remove from service in 1946 and write off: foreign fighter aircraft types, including "Aircobra" - 2216 aircraft, "Thunderbolt" - 186 aircraft, "Kingcobra" - 2344 aircraft, "Kittyhawk" - 1986 aircraft, "Spitfire" - 1139 aircraft, "Hurricane" - 421. Total: 7392 aircraft and 11,937 obsolete domestic aircraft (Note 1 *)
German Air Force:
- during the German offensive in 1917, up to 500 Russian aircraft became German trophies (Note 28 *)
- according to the Versailles Treaty, after the end of WW1, Germany had to scrapped 14 thousand of its aircraft (Note 32 *)
- serial production of the first combat aircraft in Nazi Germany began only in 1935-1936 (Note 13 *). So in 1934 the German government adopted a plan to build 4000 aircraft by 30.09.1935. Among them there was nothing but old (Note 52 *): bombers Do-11, Do-13 and Ju-52 had very low flight characteristics (Note 52 *)
- 03/01/1935 - official recognition of the Luftwaffe. There were 2 regiments Ju-52 and Do-23 (Note 52 *)
- 771 German fighters were produced in 1939 (Note 50 *)
- in 1939 Germany produced 23 combat aircraft daily, in 1940 - 27, and in 1941 - 30 aircraft (Note 32 *)
- 09/01/1939 Germany began WW2, having 4093 aircraft (of which 1502 bombers (Note 31 *), 400 Ju-52 (Note 75 *). According to other sources, the Luftwaffe at the time of the attack on Poland consisted of 4,000 combat aircraft: 1200 Bf-109 fighters, 1200 He-111 (789 - Note 94 *) and Do-17 medium-range bombers, about 400 Ju-87 attack aircraft and about 1200 military transport aircraft, liaison aircraft and decommissioned, obsolete aircraft that could be useful in battles with Polish aviation (Note 26 *)
- in 1940, 150 aircraft were produced in Germany per month (Note 26 *). By the spring of 1942, production reached 160 aircraft per month
- by May 1940, the Luftwaffe recovered from Polish losses and consisted of 1100 Non-111 and Do-17, 400 Ju-87, 850 Bf-109 and Bf-110 (Note 26 *)
- in 1940 the Luftwaffe lost 4,000 aircraft and received 10,800 new (Note 26 *)
- in the summer of 1941, the German aviation industry monthly produced over 230 single-engine fighters and 350 twin-engine combat aircraft (bombers and fighters) (Note 57 *)
- at the end of June 1941 the Luftwaffe in the West had only 140 serviceable fighters Bf-109Е-F (Note 35 *)
- a little more than 500 Bf-109s had the Luftwaffe in the East to attack the USSR, since the remaining about 1300 aircraft were bombers or attack aircraft (Note 81 *), according to the then Soviet classification, out of 1223 bombers there were 917 horizontal bombers and 306 dive bombers (Note .86 *)
- 273 (326 - Note 83 *) Ju-87s acted against the USSR, while Poland was attacked by 348 Ju-87s (Note 38 *)
- on the eve of the Second World War, Germany had 6852 aircraft, of which 3909 aircraft of all types were allocated for the attack on the USSR. This number included 313 transport aircraft (of which 238 Ju-52 (Note 37 *) or 210 Ju-52 (Note 74 *) and 326 communications aircraft. Of the remaining 3270 combat aircraft: 965 fighters (almost equally - Bf-109e and BF-109f), 102 fighter-bomber (Bf-110), 952 bombers, 456 attack aircraft and 786 reconnaissance aircraft (Note 32 *), which coincides with the data that on 22.06.41 for the attack on the USSR, the Luftwaffe included 3904 aircraft of all types (3032 combat): 952 bombers, 965 single-engine fighters, 102 twin-engine fighters and 156 "units" (Note 26 *). According to other sources, on 22.06.41 the Germans concentrated against the USSR: 1037 (of which 400 are combat-ready) fighters Bf-109; 179 Bf-110 as reconnaissance and light bombers, 893 bombers (281 He-111, 510 Ju-88, 102 Do-17), attack aircraft - 340 Ju-87 (according to other sources, 273 Ju-87 - Note 38 *), scouts - 120. In total - 2534 (of which about 2000 are combat-ready) .According to other sources, on 22.06.41 the Luftwaffe against the USSR: 3904, of which 3032 were combat: 93 2 bombers, 965 single-engine fighters, 102 twin-engine fighters and 156 Ju-87 attack aircraft (Note 26 *). And more data on the same topic: 2549 serviceable Luftwaffe aircraft were concentrated against the USSR on 06.22.41: 757 bombers, 360 dive bombers, 735 fighters and attack aircraft, 64 twin-engine fighters, 633 reconnaissance aircraft, including naval ones (Note 70 *). And again about the same - according to the "Barbarossa" plan, 2,000 combat aircraft were allocated, of which 1,160 bombers, 720 fighters and 140 reconnaissance aircraft (Note 84 *). And also no more than 600 aircraft of the German allies (Note 70 *)
- in the first week of the war with the USSR, the losses of the Luftwaffe amounted to 445 aircraft of all types; for 07/05/1941 - more than 800 combat aircraft (Note 85 *); for 4 weeks of battles - 1171 aircraft of all types, for 10 weeks of battles - 2789 aircraft of all types, for 6 months of battles - 3827 only combat aircraft
- in 1941 the Luftwaffe lost 3,000 aircraft in battles (another 2,000 were non-combat losses) and received 12,000 new ones (Note 26 *)
- if at the beginning of 1941 the number of the Luftwaffe was 4500 aircraft, then at the end of the year, as a result of losses and their subsequent replacement, their number did not exceed 5100 (Note 26 *)
- from 435 single-engine fighters in the first half of 1942, production increased to over 750 in the first half of 1943 and to 850 in the second half of 1943 (Note 26 *)
- in 1943 the Luftwaffe lost 7,400 aircraft in battles (another 6,000 were non-combat losses) and received 25,000 new ones (Note 26 *)
- if at the beginning of 1943 the number of the Luftwaffe was 5400 aircraft, then at the end of the year, as a result of losses and their subsequent replacement, their number did not exceed 6500 (Note 26 *)
- as of 31.05.44, the number of single-engine fighters of the Luftwaffe on the Eastern Front: 444 aircraft of the VF "Reich", 138 - in the 4th VF in Ukraine, 66 - in the 6th VF in Belarus (Note 58 *)
- from 22.06. by 27.09.41 2631 German aircraft on the Eastern Front were damaged or lost (Note 74 *)
- in the summer of 1941 the Germans produced over 230 single-engine fighters per month (Note 26 *)
- by 16.08.41, only 135 serviceable Non-111 remained on the Eastern Front (Note 83 *)
- in November 1941, due to losses, the number of Bf-109s on the Eastern Front was reduced by 3 times compared to their number in July 1941, which led to the loss of air superiority, first in Moscow, and then in other directions (Note 83 * ), and on 01.12.41 the number of Bf-109Bf-110 became deplorable due to huge losses (Note 55 *)
- after the transfer in December 1941 of 250-300 aircraft of the 2nd air corps from the Eastern Front for operations in the region of Malta and North Africa, the total number of the Luftwaffe on the Soviet front decreased from 2465 aircraft on 12/01/1941 to 1700 aircraft on 12/31/1941. In December of the same 1941, the 10th Air Corps arrived in Sicily from the Eastern Front to strike at Malta instead of the Italians who did not meet the expectations (Note 88 *). In January 1942, the number of German aircraft decreased even more after the transfer of aircraft of the 5th Air Corps to Belgium (Note 29 *) Also: starting in the second half of 1941, several elite Lufftwaffe units were transferred from the Eastern Front to the Mediterranean theater of operations (Note 54 *)
- at the end of October 1942, the Luftwaffe had 508 fighters (389 combat-ready) on the Eastern Front (Note 35 *)
- in 1942 Germany produced 8,400 (of which 800 single-engine fighters - Note 26 *) combat aircraft. According to other sources, the Germans produced only up to 160 aircraft monthly.
- in total, as of 06/01/1943, the Germans had 2365 bombers on the Eastern Front (of which 1224 Ju-88 and 760 Non-111) and over 500 Ju-87D attack aircraft (Note 53 *)
- at the beginning of November 1943, after the Allies landed in North Africa, the Luftwaffe grouping in Norway, which operated against the Red Army in the north of the USSR, decreased many times over (Note 99 *)
- in February 1943 the Germans were able to release 2,000 combat aircraft per month for the first time, and even 2,166 in March (Note 35 *)
- in 1943, 24 thousand aircraft were produced (Note 26 *), of which 849 fighters were produced on average monthly (Note 49 *)
- in June 1944 the Luftwaffe lost 10 thousand aircraft in Operation Overlord and another 14 thousand in the next six months - at the end of 1944 the Luftwaffe had no more than 6,000 aircraft of all types, and only 1,400 of which were fighters (Note 26 *)
- from January to June 1944, the Germans produced 18 thousand aircraft, 13 thousand of which were fighters (Note 71 *). During 1944, about 40 thousand aircraft were produced, but many of them did not take to the sky due to the lack of pilots (Note 26 *)
- 5 months before the end of the war, the German aircraft industry was able to produce only 7,500 aircraft (Note 26 *)
- in 1945, the share of fighters from all military aviation produced in Germany was 65.5%, in 1944 - 62.3% (Note 41 *)
- 84,320 aircraft of all types were produced by the Germans in 1941-45 (Note 24 *): 35 thousand Bf-109 fighters (Note 14 * and 37 *), 15100 (14676 - Note 40 * and 37 *), Ju bombers -88 (Note 38 *), 7300 He-111 bombers (Note 114 *), 1433 jet Me-262 (Note 21 *),
- in just the years of WW2, 57 thousand German aircraft of all types were destroyed
- 1190 seaplanes were produced by the German aviation industry for WW2 (Note 38 *): of which 541 Arado 196a
- 2,500 Storch liaison aircraft were built in total. According to other sources, 2871 Fi-156 "Storch" was produced, and in the summer of 1941 the Germans seized the plant for the production of its Soviet counterfeit copy of the OKA-38 "Aist" (Note 37 *)
- 5709 Ju-87 "Stuka" were produced in total (Note 40 *)
- for 1939-45, 20087 (or almost 20 thousand - Note 69 *) FW-190 fighters were produced, while production reached its peak at the beginning of 1944, when 22 aircraft of this type were produced daily (Note 37 * and 38 * )
- 230 (Note 104 *) or 262 (Note 107 *) four-engine FW-200C "Condor" were produced before the end of WW2
in 1941, the loss of transport Ju-52 ("Aunt Yu") for the first time exceeded their production - more than 500 aircraft were lost, and only 471 were produced (Note 40 *)
- having released 3225 transport Ju-52s since 1939 (1939 - 145, 1940 - 388, 1941 - 502, 1942 - 503, 1943 - 887, 1944 - 379 - Note 76 *), the German aircraft industry was forced to stop its production in 1944 (Note .40 *)
- if in 1943 1028 transport aircraft were produced, including 887 Ju52 / 3m, then in 1944 this figure fell to 443, of which 379 were Ju-52 (Note 75 *)
- during the years of the MV at factories in Germany, France and the Czech Republic, 846 (Note 55 *) or 828 (Note 106 *) FW-189 ("Rama" - "Owl") were produced for the Luftwaffe
- in total, 780 reconnaissance aircraft were released - spotters Hs-126 ("crutch") (Note 32 *). On 06/22/41, these single-engine parasol biplanes constituted the overwhelming majority of the 417 German aircraft of close reconnaissance units, which were attached to the army and tank corps (Note 34 *)
- 1433 Me-262 and 400 Me-163 - the total number of jet combat aircraft of the Luftwaffe, produced by Germany during WW2
- German unsuccessful aircraft adopted by the Wehrmacht: 871 (or 860 - Approx. 108 *) attack aircraft Hs-129 (1940 release), 6500 Bf-110 (6170 - Approx. 37 *), 1500 Me-210 and Me- 410 (Note 15 *). The Germans retrained the failed Ju-86 fighter into a strategic reconnaissance aircraft (Note 32 *). The Do-217 never became a successful night fighter (364 were produced, 200 of them in 1943) (Note 46 *). Released in more than 1000 units (according to other sources, only 200 aircraft were produced, another 370 were in different stages of readiness, and parts and components were produced for 800 aircraft - Note 38 *) German heavy bomber He-177 due to numerous accidents often simply burned up in the air (Note 41 *). The He-129 attack aircraft turned out to be extremely unsuccessful due to heavy control, poor engine armor, weak stern armament (Note 47 *)
- during WW2, the Germans produced 198 not entirely successful, heavy six-engine military transport aircraft Me-323 from converted gliders "Gigant", at one time intended for landing (could transport 200 paratroopers or a certain number of tanks and 88mm anti-aircraft guns) to the territory England (Notes 41 * and 38 *)
According to other sources, 198 Me-323 "Gigant" of all modifications were produced, 15 more were converted from gliders. Thus, the total number of aircraft built was 213 (Note 74 *)
- in 8 months (08/01/40 - 03/31/41) due to accidents and disasters, the Luftwaffe lost 575 aircraft and killed 1368 people (Note 32 *)
- the most active Allied pilots flew 250-400 sorties during WW2, while the similar figures for German pilots ranged between 1000-2000 sorties
- by the beginning of WW2, 25% of German pilots had mastered the skill of blind piloting (Note 32 *)
- in 1941, a German fighter pilot, leaving the flight school, had more than 400 hours of total flight time, of which at least 80 hours - on a combat vehicle. After that, in the reserve air group, the graduate added another 200 hours (Note 36 *). According to other sources, each Luftwaffe graduate pilot had to fly 450 hours on his own, at the end of the war only 150. Usually, during the first 100 (!) Combat missions, the novice was only supposed to watch the battle from the side, study the tactics, habits of the enemy and, if possible, dodge from the battle (Note 72 *). In 1943, the training time for a German pilot dropped from 250 to 200 hours, which was half that of the British and Americans. In 1944, the training time for a German pilot was reduced to 20 hours of piloting training (Note 26 *)
- during the Second World War there were 36 German pilots, each of whom shot down more than 150 Soviet aircraft and about 10 Soviet pilots, each of which shot down 50 or more German aircraft (Note 9 * and 56 *). Another 104 German pilots shot down 100 or more enemy aircraft (Note 56 *)
- ammunition of the Bf-109F fighter is enough for 50 seconds of continuous firing from machine guns and 11 seconds - from the MG-151 cannon (Note 13 *)
USAF:
- out of 9584 "Aircobra" fighters produced before production was discontinued in 1944, about 5 thousand under Lend-Lease were delivered to the USSR (Note 22 *)
- after WW1, in November 1918, 1172 "flying boats" were in service in the USA (Note 41 *)
- at the beginning of WW2, the USA had 1,576 combat aircraft (Note 31 *), of which 489 were fighters (Note 70 *)
- over the years of WW2, the US aircraft industry produced more than 13 thousand "Warhawk", 20 thousand "Wildcat" and "Hellcat", 15 thousand "Thunderbolt" and 12 (or 15 - Note 109 *) thousand "Mustang" (Note .42 *)
- 13 (12726 - Note 104 *) thousand B-17 "Flying Fortress" bombers were fired in WW2 (Note 41 *), of which 3219 were shot down in the European theater of operations (Note 59 *)
- 5815 B-25 Mitchell bombers were produced during the war, of which 862 were delivered under Lend-Lease to the USSR (Note 115 *)
- in total, in 1942-44, losses during sorties over Romania amounted to 399 aircraft, incl. 297 four-engined bombers, of which 223 were shot down during the raids on Ploiesti. 1706 pilots and crew members were killed and missing, 1123 people were captured (Note 27 *)
- by March 1944, the 15th US Air Force (based in England) had about 1,500 bombers and 800 fighters (Note 27)
Air Force of England:
- 759 (of which 93 monoplane) aircraft consisted of fighter aircraft of England in 1938 (Note 70 *)
- if in October 1937 England monthly released 24 "Spitfire" and 13 "Hurrycane", then in September 1939 already 32 "Spitfire" and 44 "Hurrycane" (Note 79 *)
- at the beginning of WW2, the British Air Force had 1000 fighters, slightly more than half of which were modern "Hurrycane" and "Spitfire" (Note 79 *)
- 09/01/1939 England began WW2, having 1992 combat aircraft (Note 31 *)
- the most massive British bomber 2 MB "Wellington" was produced in the number of 11 461 aircraft (Note 51 *), and Halifax - 6000 machines (Note 104 *)
- already in August 1940 England produced twice as many fighters daily than Germany. Their total number subsequently exceeded the number of pilots so much that it soon made it possible to transfer part of the aircraft to conservation or transfer to other countries under Lend-Lease (Note 31 *)
- from 1937 to the end of WW2, more than 20 thousand British Spitfire fighters were produced (Note 41 *)
- in total, in 1942-44, losses during sorties over Romania amounted to 44 bombers, while 38 of them were shot down during the raids on Ploiesti (Note 27 *)
Air Force of other countries:
- The Hungarian Air Force as of 06/26/41 had 363 combat aircraft, including 99 biplanes "Falko" CR-42, purchased from Italy (Note 88 *)
- The Italian Air Force at the beginning of WW2, Italy had 664 bombers, of which 48 Cant Z.506 seaplanes (Note 97 *), 612 SM-79 bombers, which accounted for 2/3 of all multi-engine aircraft of the Italian Air Force (Note 93 *)
- from 10.07.1940 to 08.09.1943 the Italian Air Force (Regia Aeronautica) lost 6483 aircraft, incl. 3,483 fighters, 2,273 bombers, torpedo and transport aircraft, and 277 reconnaissance aircraft. Killed, gone missing and died of wounds 12,748 people, including 1806 officers. During the same period, according to official Italian data (more than dubious - ed.), 4293 enemy aircraft were destroyed during the hostilities, of which 2522 were shot down in air battles, and 1771 were destroyed on the ground (Note 65 * )
- The French Air Force as of 01.09.1939 had 3335 aircraft (Note 31 *): 1200 fighters (of which 557 MS-406 - Note 91 *), 1300 bombers (of which 222 modern LeO-451 - Note 98 *) , 800 scouts, 110,000 personnel; According to other sources, by 03.09.1939 France possessed 3,600 aircraft, of which 1,364 were fighters. These included 535 MS.405 and MS.406, 120 MB.151 and MB.152, 169 N.75, two FK.58 and 288 twin-engine P.630 and P.631. To this can be added 410 outdated fighters D.500, D.501, D.510, Loire -46, Bleriot-Spade 510, NiD.622, NiD.629, MS.225. And already on 05/01/1940 its fighter units consisted of 1076 MS.406, 491 MB.151 and MB.152, 206 (about 300 - Approx. 103 *) H.75, 44 C.714 and 65 D.520. 420 of these aircraft could fight on equal terms with the German Bf-109E (Note 95 *). 40 V-156F bombers for French naval aviation arrived from the USA (Note 111 *)
- The Japanese Air Force in 1942 had 3.2 thousand combat aircraft; and during the war years 2,426 twin-engined bombers G4M Mitsubishi were produced (Note 105 *)
- At the beginning of WW2, the Polish Air Force consisted of 400 combat aircraft of the first line (in combat units), of which 130 R-11 fighter-subwoofer monoplanes and 30 R-7 biplane fighters. In total, with a reserve and training units, there were 279 fighters (173 R-11 and 106 R-7). (Note 100 *) or, according to other sources, had 1900 aircraft (Note 8 *). According to German data, the Poles had 1,000 combat aircraft (Note 101 *)
- The Bulgarian Air Force in 1940 was 580 aircraft (Note 27 *)
- Romanian Air Force on 06/22/1941: 276 combat aircraft, of which 121 are fighters, 34 medium and 21 light bombers, 18 seaplanes and 82 reconnaissance aircraft. Another 400 aircraft were in flight schools. It makes no sense to specify the types of aircraft due to moral and physical obsolescence. On the eve of the war, the Germans retrained 1,500 Romanian aviation specialists and agreed to supply Romania with modern Bf-109U and He-111E. On the eve of the war, 3 (2 - consisting of 24 aircraft - Note 87 *) squadrons (Note 7 *) were rearmed with the new Romanian fighter IAR-80 on the eve of the war. According to other sources, 672 aircraft made up the Romanian Air Force on the eve of the attack on the USSR, of which 253 aircraft were allocated to participate in hostilities on the Eastern Front (Note 27 *). Romanian 250 (205 combat-ready) aircraft (among them 35 bombers He-111 - Note 94 *), allocated against the USSR, were opposed by about 1900 Soviet aircraft (Note 27 *). On the eve of WW2, 48 SM-79 bombers were purchased in Italy (Note 93 *)
- The Yugoslav Air Force on the eve of WW2 had 45 SM-79 bombers purchased before the war in Italy (Note 93 *)
- Belgian Air Force at the beginning of WW2: 30 monoplane fighters "Hurrycane" (half bought in England), 97 two-seat fighter-biplanes "Fox" Vi and 22 fighter-biplane "Gladiator" -2 British-built, 27 fighter-biplanes CR-42 Italian-built, 50 "Firefly" biplane fighters - British design, Belgian-built (Note 102 *), as well as 16 British-built Battle bombers (Note 110 *)
- The Finnish Air Force at the beginning of WW2 had 50 Fiat G-50 fighters purchased in Italy
- At the beginning of WW2, the Dutch Air Force had 16 Fokker T.V medium bombers, which were completely destroyed during the fighting
OTHER:
- from the statistics of the production of WW2 four-engine bombers: if the British were able to produce 6000 Halifaxes, the Germans - 230 Condors, the USSR - only 79 Pe-8s, then the USA - 12,726 copies of the B-17 (Note 104 *)
- the weight of a minute salvo (continuous fire for a minute from all types of weapons) Yak-1 was equal to 105 kg, La-5 - 136 kg, "Aircobra" - 204 kg (Note 22 *)
- Messerschmitt spent 4500 man-hours on the production of one Bf-109, while the assembly of one Italian C.200 already took 21 thousand man-hours, or 4.6 times more (Note 65 *)
- in the "battle for England" the Germans lost 1,733 aircraft (Note 30 *). According to other data, the losses amounted to 1,792 aircraft, of which 610 Bf-109 (Note 37 *) and 395 Non-111 (Note 94 *). The losses of the British amounted to 1172 aircraft: 403 "Spitfire", 631 "Hurricane", 115 "Blenheim" and 23 "Defiant" (Note 37 *). 10% (61 aircraft) of German losses of Bf-109E fell into the English Channel due to lack of fuel (Note 79 *)
- by the end of September 1940 448 "Hurricane" were shot down, and in October 1940 - another 240, during the same two months 238 "Spitfires" were shot down and another 135 were damaged (Note 79 *)
- more than 200 P-36 fighters (Note 41 *) and 40 V-156F bombers (Note 111 *) were manufactured by the USA for France before WW2
- September 1944 saw the peak in the number of allied bombers in Europe - more than 6 thousand (Note 36 *)
- 250 million aircraft cartridges received under Lend-Lease were melted down (Note 9 *)
During the Second World War, the Finns (Air Force-Air Defense) claim 2787 (according to other sources, Finnish pilots won 1809 victories during 1939-44, while losing 215 of their aircraft - Note 61 *), Romanians - for about 1500 (about 1500, having lost 972 people killed, 838 were missing and 1167 were injured - Note 27 *), Hungarians - about 1000, Italians - by 150-200 (88 Soviet aircraft were destroyed on the ground and in the air in 18 months of fighting in the USSR according to the official statements of the Italian pilots themselves, and 15 of their own were lost. In total, 2557 sorties or 72 sorties were carried out for each of the destroyed Soviet aircraft (Note 113 *), Slovaks - for 10 shot down Soviet aircraft. Another 638 downed Soviet aircraft are on combat accounts of the Slovak, Croatian and Spanish (164 victories and about 3 thousand sorties - Note 27 *) fighter squadrons According to other sources, together the German allies shot down no more than 2,400 Soviet aircraft (Note 23 *)
- about 3240 German fighters were destroyed on the Soviet-German front, 40 of them were on the account of the USSR allies (Air Force-Air Defense of Poles, Bulgarians and Romanians from 1944, French from Normandie-Niemen) (Note 23 *)
- on 01/01/1943 395 daytime German fighters operated against Soviet 12,300 aircraft, on 01/01/1944 - 13400 and 473, respectively (Note 23 *)
- after 1943 from 2/3 to 3/4 of all German aviation opposed the aviation of the anti-Hitler coalition in Western Europe (Note 23 *) Formed at the end of 1943, 14 Soviet air armies put an end to the domination of German aviation in the skies of the USSR (Note 9 *) ... According to other sources, Soviet aviation achieved air superiority in the summer of 1944, while the Allies achieved local air superiority in Normandy in June 1944 (Note 26 *)
- losses of Soviet aviation in the first days of the war: 1142 (800 were destroyed on the ground), of which: Western District - 738, Kiev - 301, Baltic - 56, Odessa - 47. Luftwaffe losses in 3 days - 244 (of which 51 in the first day of the war) (Note 20 *). According to other sources, as a result of German attacks on 66 front-line airfields and brutal air battles of the Red Army Air Force, only by noon on 22.06.41, 1,200 aircraft were lost (Note 67 *)
- In 1940, 21447 aircraft engines were produced in the USSR, of which less than 20% was the share of domestic developments. In 1940, between the repair life of Soviet aircraft engines, the normative was 100-150 hours, in reality - 50-70 hours, while this figure in France and Germany - 200-400 hours, in the USA - up to 600 hours (Note 16 *)
- at the beginning of the war in the European part of the USSR, the Soviet Air Force had 269 reconnaissance aircraft out of a total of 8,000 aircraft against German 219 long-range and 562 short-range reconnaissance aircraft out of a total of 3,000 aircraft (Note 10 *)
- the allied air force in the Mediterranean theater after the fall of Tunisia, estimated at 5,000 aircraft, were opposed by no more than 1,250 "axis" aircraft, of which roughly half were German and half were Italian. Of the German aircraft, only 320 were suitable for action, and among them 130 "Messerschmitt" fighters of all modifications (Note 8 *)
- aviation of the Northern Fleet of the USSR in 1944: 456 combat-ready aircraft, including 80 flying boats. German aviation in Norway consisted of 205 aircraft in 1944 (Note 6 *)
- the German Air Force in France lost 1401 aircraft, the French only lost fighters - 508 (257 fighter pilots died) (Note 5 *)
- 20.10.42 for the first time BW-190 began to operate on the Eastern Front (Note 35 *)
- if in September 1939 the French aircraft industry produced about 300 combat aircraft monthly, then by May 1940 it reached the line of 500 aircraft per month (Note 95 *)
NOTES:
(Note 1 *) - M. Maslov "Yak-1: From dawn to dusk" magazine "Wings" 2 \\ 2010
(Note 2 *) - V. Reshetnikov. SCA "What was - that was"
(Note 3 *) - V. Kotelnikov "Illegitimate" bomber ", magazine
(Note 4 *) - "Legends of Aviation" issue №2 "Fighter Mig-3" "History of Aviation" 5 \\ 2001
(Note 5 *) - A. Stepanov "Pyrrhic victory of the Luftwaffe in the West" magazine "Aviation History" 4 \\ 2000
(Note 6 *) - V. Shchedrolosev "Destroyer" Deyatelny "," Midel-Shpangout "magazine, issue 2 \\ 2001
(Note 7 *) - M. Zhirokhov "At the signal of" Ardyalul ", magazine" Aviation and Time "6 \\ 2001
(Note 8 *) - D. Pimlott "Luftwaffe - Air Force of the 3rd Reich"
(Note 9 *) - V.Agustinovich "Battle for speed. The Great War of Aircraft Engines"
(Note 10 *) - A. Medved "Soviet reconnaissance aircraft in the initial period of the war" magazine "Aviation" No. 8 (4 \\ 2000)
(Note 11 *) - A. Efimov "The Role of the Air Force in the Great Patriotic War"
(Note 12 *) - I. Bunich "Thunderstorm" Bloody games of dictators "
(Note 13 *) - M. Solonin "A barrel and hoops or when the war began"
(Note 14 *) - almanac "History of Aviation" No. 64
(Note 15 *) - A. Kharuk "Destroyers of the Luftwaffe"
(Note 16 *) - V. Kotelnikov "Motors of the Great War" magazine "Wings of the Motherland" 7 \\ 2002
(Note 17 *) - E. Chernikov "IL-2 - the pride of national aviation" magazine "Wings of the Motherland" 5 \\ 2002
(Note 18 *) - V. Beshanov "The Bloody Red Army. Whose fault?"
(Note 19 *) - M. Solonin "The Fake History of the Great War"
(Note 20 *) - Dossier "Collection 03 \\ 2010. Combat insignia. USSR-Germany Air Force"
(Note 21 *) - V. Suvorov "Shadow of Victory"
(Note 22 *) - V. Bakursky "Air Cobra" magazine "World of Technology for Children" 12 \\ 2005
(Note 23 *) - A. Smirnov "Falcons washed in blood"
(Note 24 *) - W. Schwabedissen "World War. 1939-1945"
(Note 25 *) - M. Filchenko "Win comrade with Kozhedub and Marus" Avim ... "(Interv with BBV veteran, aviation colonel Marchenko K.P.)
(Note 26 *) - M.Pavelek "Luftwaffe 1933-1945. Basic facts and figures about the Goering Air Force"
(Note 27 *) - M. Zefirov "Aces of WW2. Allies of the Luftwaffe: Hungary, Bulgaria, Romania"
(Note 28 *) - V. Shavrov "History of aircraft designs in the USSR until 1938"
(Note 29 *) - article "Fracture", Encyclopedia "World Aviation" issue №153
(Note 30 *) - F. Mellentin "Tank battles. Combat use of tanks in WW2"
(Note 31 *) - V. Kotelnikov "Spitfire. Best Allied Fighter"
(Note 32 *) - V. Beshanov "Stalin's Flying Coffins"
(Note 33 *) - V. Ivanov "The planes of N. N. Polikarpov"
(Note 34 *) - M. Bykov "Battle" crutch "Friedrich Nikolaus" magazine "Arsenal-collection" 6 \\ 2013
(Note 35 *) - A. Medved "Focke-Wulf" FV-190 - multipurpose fighter of the Luftwaffe "
(Note 36 *) - "Operations in Europe and the Mediterranean" magazine "World Aviation" No. 65
(Note 37 *) - D. Donald "Combat aircraft of the Luftwaffe"
(Note 38 *) - V. Shunkov "Aircraft of WW2 Germany"
(Note 39 *) - Kuznetsov "Yak-1 is our best fighter of 1941"
(Note 40 *) - A. Firsov "Wings of the Luftwaffe. Part 4. Henschel - Junkers"
(Note 41 *) - D. Sobolev "History of aircraft 1919-45"
(Note 42 *) - K. Munson "Fighters and bombers of the Second World War"
(Note 43 *) - B. Sokolov "M. Tukhachevsky. Life and death of the Red Marshal"
(Note 44 *) - S. Moroz "Speed, range, height" magazine "Science and Technology" 8 \\ 2007
(Note 45 *) - Y. Mukhin "Aces and Propaganda"
(Note 46 *) - article "Victory in the skies of France", magazine "World Aviation" No. 62
(Note 47 *) - Yuri Borisov "Flying" coffin "Wings of the Motherland magazine 8 \\ 2002
(Note 48 *) - N. Cherushev "Four Steps Down" magazine "Military Historical Archive" 12 \\ 2002
(Note 49 *) - V. Galin "Political Economy of War. Conspiracy of Europe"
(Note 50 *) - A. Speer "The Third Reich from within. Memoirs of the Reich Minister of War Industry"
(Note 51 *) - "Aviation collection. Special issue №2 \\ 2002. Bombers 1939-45gg"
(Note 52 *) - V. Kotelnikov "Heinkel" -111. Blitzkrieg Bomber "
(Note 53 *) - M. Zefirov "Target ships. Confrontation between the Luftwaffe and the Soviet Baltic Fleet"
(Note 54 *) - "Bf-109f. Militant" Frederick "magazine" World Aviation "№52
(Note 55 *) - A. Zablotskiy "In the sight of FW-189"
(Note 56 *) - F. Cheshko "Eastern Front:" Aces "against" experts "magazine" Science and Technology "6 \\ 2012
(Note 57 *) - S. Manukyan "How the war began" magazine "Science and Technology" 6 \\ 2012
(Note 58 *) - A. Isaev "Operation" Bagration: Blitzkrieg to the West "magazine" Popular Mechanics "5 \\ 2014
(Note 59 *) - "В-17.Flying Fortress. Operations in Europe-part 2" magazine "World Aviation" №52
(Note 60 *) - I. Drogovoz "Air Fleet of the Country of Soviets"
(Note 61 *) - M. Zefirov "Aces of World War II. Allies of the Luftwaffe: Estonia, Latvia, Finland"
(Note 62 *) - A. Zablotsky "Purpose of transport in ports" magazine "Aviapark" 2 \\ 2009
(Note 63 *) - A. Chechin "Mig-3: speed and height" magazine "Modelist-constructor" 5 \\ 2013
(Note 64 *) - "100 battles that changed the world. Air war on the Eastern Front" №141
(Note 65 *) - M. Zefirov "Aces of World War II. Allies of the Luftwaffe: Italy"
(Note 66 *) - A. Zablotsky "Catalina seaplanes in the Soviet naval aviation during the war" magazine "Science and Technology" 1 \\ 2013
(Note 67 *) - "History of the Great Patriotic War of the Soviet Union"
(Note 68 *) - collection "Aviation collection: fighter I-153" Chaika "1 \\ 2014
(Note 69 *) - Yu. Kuzmin "How many FV-190 was in total" "Aviation and Cosmonautics" magazine 3 \\ 2014
(Note 70 *) - A. Stepanov "Development of Soviet aviation in the pre-war period"
(Note 71 *) - "WW2 Encyclopedia. Opening of the second front (spring-summer 1944)"
(Note 72 *) - S. Slavin "The secret weapon of the Third Reich"
(Note 73 *) - Y. Mukhin "Blitzkrieg - how it's done"
(Note 74 *) - K. Aylesby "The Barbarossa Plan"
(Note 75 *) - D. Degtev "Wehrmacht air cabbies. Transport aviation of the Luftwaffe 1939-45"
(Note 76 *) - A. Zablotsky "Air bridges of the Third Reich"
(Note 77 *) - O. Greig "Stalin could have attacked first"
(Note 78 *) - A. Osokin "The Great Mystery of the Great Patriotic War"
(Note 79 *) - F. Funken "Eccyclopedia of weapons and military suits. WW2. 1939-45 (2 hours)"
(Note 80 *) - "Marine collection" magazine 5 \\ 2005
(Note 81 *) - Yu. Sokolov "The Truth About the Great Patriotic War"
(Note 82 *) - N. Yakubovich "Soviet" mosquito "or how to become a deputy commissar", the magazine "Wings of the Motherland" 01 \\ 1995
(Note 83 *) - A. Kharuk "All aircraft of the Luftwaffe"
(Note 84 *) - V. Dashichev "Strategic planning of aggression against the USSR", the magazine "Military history journal" 3 \\ 1991
(Note 85 *) - M. Maslov "The Seagulls" have passed halfway ", the journal" Aviation and Cosmonautics "9 \\ 1996
(Note 86 *) - P. Pospelov "History of the Great Patriotic War in the USSR 1941-45" v.2
(Note 87 *) - S. Kolov "On the outskirts of the Luftwaffe" magazine "Wings of the Motherland" 10 \\ 1996
(Note 88 *) - S. Ivannikov "Hawk" - an aged chick ", Wings of the Motherland magazine 05 \\ 1996
(Note 89 *) - E. Podolny "Black Sea" Chaika ", magazine" Wings of the Motherland "05 \\ 1996
(Note 90 *) - V. Ivanov "Wings over the Baltic", magazine "Wings of the Motherland" 3 \\ 1996
(Note 91 *) - V. Kotelnikov "The Trail of the Werewolf", the magazine "Wings of the Motherland" 3 \\ 1999
(Note 92 *) - N. Kudrin "An aircraft with an enviable destiny", the magazine "Wings of the Motherland" 10 \\ 1999
(Note 93 *) - S. Kolov "Humpbacked" hawk "Marchetti", "Wings of the Motherland" magazine 2 \\ 2000
(Note 94 *) - S. Kolov "Classic" Heinkel, "Wings of the Motherland" magazine 3 \\ 2000
(Note 95 *) - V. Kotelnikov "Fighters of France", magazine "Wings of the Motherland" 5 \\ 2000
(Note 96 *) - V. Alekseenko "In the harsh years of the war", the magazine "Wings of the Motherland" 5 \\ 2000
(Note 97 *) - S. Ivantsov "Large" diamond "Mediterranean", magazine "Wings of the Motherland" 9 \\ 1998
(Note 98 *) - S. Kolov "The Many-Faced" Frenchman, "Wings of the Motherland" magazine 5 \\ 2001
(Note 99 *) - M. Morozov "How the Skagerrak was missed" Arsenal-Collection "magazine 8 \\ 2013
(Note 100 *) - V. Kotelnikov "On the Eve of the Second World War", the magazine "Wings of the Motherland" 4 \\ 2001
(Note 101 *) - E. Manstein "Lost Victories"
(Note 102 *) - V. Kotelnikov "Fighters of Belgium", magazine "Wings of the Motherland" 1 \\ 2002
(Note 103 *) - V. Kotelnikov "Model 75", magazine "Wings of the Motherland" 2 \\ 2002
(Note 104 *) - Y. Smirnov "Hero of" shuttle operations ", magazine" Wings of the Motherland "6 \\ 2002
(Note 105 *) - S. Kolov "Cigar" by "Mitsubishi", "Wings of the Motherland" magazine 1 \\ 2003
(Note 106 *) - S. Sazonov "Big-eyed owl" or "flying frame", magazine "Wings of the Motherland" 8 \\ 2002
(Note 107 *) - N. Soiko "Flight of the Condor", the magazine "Wings of the Motherland" 1 \\ 2003
(Approx. 108 *) - E. Podolny "The attack aircraft, who rushed to the front", the magazine "Wings of the Motherland" 5 \\ 2004
(Note 109 *) - S. Kolov "The Long Life of a Mustang", Wings of the Motherland magazine 9 \\ 2004
(Note 110 *) - S. Kolov "Fairy" Battle "is an elegant loser", Wings of the Motherland magazine 11 \\ 1998
(Note 111 *) - S. Kolov "The quickly aged defender", the magazine "Wings of the Motherland" 5 \\ 2006
(Note 112 *) - V. Alekseenko "In the harsh years of the war", the magazine "Wings of the Motherland" 5 \\ 2000
(Note 113 *) - S. Kedrov "Makki" are avid warriors ", Wings of the Motherland magazine 6 \\ 1999
(Note 114 *) - S. Kolov "Classic" Heinkel, "Wings of the Motherland" magazine 3 \\ 2000
(Note 115 *) - collection "Long-range aviation of Russia"
When you look at the aces of World War II, a number of questions arise, and the main one is: why did the fighter pilots of Germany and Japan shoot down more planes than the pilots of the victorious countries, the USSR and the USA? So, 23-year-old "Aryan" Erich Hartmann officially shot down 352 enemy aircraft - of which 345 (according to other sources - 348) Soviet. His comrades in the 52nd Luftwaffe Fighter Squadron Gerhard Barkhorn - 301 victories, Gunther Rall - 275 victories. For comparison, our best aces: Ivan Kozhedub shot down 64 enemy aircraft, Alexander Pokryshkin - 59.
Erich Hartmann.
In addition, the Reich aces had more than 3 thousand pilots - those who shot down more than 5 enemy aircraft, another 13 pilots shot down 200-275 aircraft, 92 ace - 100-200 aircraft, 360 people - 40-100. It turns out that the German aces-fighters fired our packs? It was the same in the Pacific Ocean, the Japanese aces shot down more than the American ones: Tetsuzo Iwamoto - 202 victories (according to other sources - 80), Hiroyoshi Nishizawa - 147-150 (according to others - 87), Shoichi Sugita - 120 (according to others - 70 ). Top American Fighter Pilots: Richard Ira Bong - 40 aircraft, Thomas Buchanan McGuire - 38, David McCampbell - 34.
Richard Ira Bong
During the war, very intense air battles were fought on Khalkin Gol: the best Soviet pilot (in terms of downed enemies) Sergei Gritsevets - 12 Japanese aircraft, Japanese ace Hiromichi Shinohara from May to his death on August 27, shot down 58 aircraft, on June 27, 1939 he shot down 11 Soviet planes in a day.
Various authors raised this issue, but did not come to a common opinion, someone believes that the enemy pilots were lying, in reality, about the same number were shot down as the best Soviet aces; others believe that the German pilots were simply better and shot down dozens of inexperienced enemy pilots. Still others believe that the problem is in the calculation method. But it is interesting that Japan and Germany lost the war, including the air one.
Günther Rall
Calculation techniques
Accusing the Japanese and Germans of serious mistakes, possibly deliberate, with the calculation method, does not work. If you study air combat, it turns out that all sides have serious mistakes, not just the German or Japanese.
So, after the battles at Halkin-Gol, the USSR announced that 588 Japanese aircraft were shot down and another 58 destroyed on the ground, the Japanese announced the destruction of 1,162 aircraft in the air and 98 on the ground. But in reality, the Soviet Union lost 207 aircraft in battle and 42 more non-combat losses, the Japanese reported the loss of 88 aircraft in combat, and 74 were written off due to combat damage. That is, Soviet data on enemy losses were overstated 4 times, Japanese data 6 times. This ratio, approximately 1 to 4, was preserved in the Air Force of the Red Army and the Great Patriotic War.
The main reason for the discrepancy between reality and the pilots' messages is not their lies, but the very complexity of the battle and the unknown fate of the "downed" aircraft. Many planes were literally riddled, but returned to the airfields. Often the plane evaded combat, for example: it ran out of fuel, ammunition, left the fight, fell into a tailspin, escaping enemy fire, but then it could level off - it could also be considered shot down. Hence the fantastic accounts of the shooters of the "flying fortresses": German "Messerschmitts", when they left the attack, due to the peculiarities of the engine, always smoked, they were also recorded as "shot down".
So, in July 1941, Moscow air defense planes fought 89 battles, repelling 9 raids of enemy bombers, in August - 81 battles with 16 raids. They said they shot down 59 aircraft in July, 30 in August. According to the Germans: 20-22 aircraft were lost in July, 10-12 in August, that is, the difference is about three times. The Germans also made mistakes: on June 30, 1941, an air battle took place over Dvinsk, our bombers, only 99 units, bombed bridges, they were attacked by German fighters. They reported 64-65 downed planes, according to our data, 34 planes were lost, and 18 more shot down were able to successfully return to airfields, that is, the discrepancy is about 2 times.
Another example, already the Western Front, on March 6, 1944, a raid on Berlin: the Americans (fighter pilots, bomber shooters) announced that they had destroyed 179 enemy aircraft (83% that reflected the German aircraft raid), while the Germans lost 66 fighters. German pilots said they shot down 128 bombers and fighters, allegedly shot down 12 more planes, in reality the Americans lost 69 bombers and 11 fighters.
The battle near Kharkov on May 13, 1942, the Germans announced that they had shot down 65 aircraft, our losses on that day were 20 aircraft. On May 14, the Germans report 47 planes, of which Hermann Graf shot down 6, Adolf Dickfeld - 9 planes. Our real losses are 14 aircraft.
Moreover, an attempt to explain the difference by "points" and "victories" does not solve anything - these systems existed in the Luftwaffe in parallel - "points" (two-engine aircraft - 2 points, four-engine - 4) were taken into account for awarding and for conferring titles. Also in the Soviet Air Force, in parallel with the accounting of "victories", there was a system of monetary awards based on the value of the downed aircraft.
Gunther Rall (second from left) after his 200th aerial victory. Second from the right is Walter Krupinski.
Photo-gun assistance, VNOS posts
Photo-machine guns improved the ability to count correctly, but they also did not solve the problem. The PAU-22 photo-machine gun was installed on our aircraft even before the war. The machine gun shot at a slower speed than a movie camera - about 8-10 frames per second, and, most importantly, it stopped working after releasing the fire control trigger, so it did not record the target hit with the last projectile, nor did it record the behavior of the enemy aircraft after being hit. In fact, he could record the death of an enemy aircraft only if it died in the process of firing. Their massive use did not change anything, the problem remained.
The air observation, warning and communication posts (VNOS) also could not give the correct picture, usually the battle was far away, and it was difficult to visually determine the type of downed and fallen aircraft. Just one example: on April 19, 1943, a battle near Murmansk, VNOS recorded 4 shot down aircraft, they were recorded as "victories". Later, the search groups found 4 aircraft: one enemy Messer and three of ours.
What can be done according to these data: the number of victories was overestimated several times on each side, and if the victories of the German aces are reduced several times, as they actually shot down, it is also necessary to reduce the victories of the pilots of the anti-Hitler coalition. The gap still remains. So what's the reason? Were the Germans and Japanese better pilots than the Russians and Americans?
Messerschmitt Bf 109.
The main reason for the difference in the downed planes
Germany used its air force more heavily, with approximately 6 sorties per pilot per day during major operations. In addition, given that the enemies had more aircraft, they were more likely to be encountered by German pilots. So, Erich Hartmann made 1,525 sorties, Gerhard Barkhorn more than 1104 sorties, Walter Krupinski scored 197 air victories in 1100 sorties. For comparison: I. Kozhedub has only 330 sorties. As a result, if we divide the number of sorties of the German aces and the best pilot in the USSR, it turns out that for 4-5 sorties - 1 victory. If Kozhedub had made the same number of sorties, how many German aces, the number of his victories could also be two or three hundred.
But the command of the Soviet Air Force did not need to use pilots for "wear and tear", we had enough cars and pilots, so they made fewer sorties. German pilots fought almost continuously, the Third Reich simply did not have enough resources to create the required number of aircraft and train a large number of pilots. In addition, units of the Luftwaffe were forced to constantly move from site to site. Thus, the first group of the 51st Fighter Squadron, rearmed on the Focke-Wulf, was thrown into battle near Leningrad in September-October 1942; then they participated in Operation Mars, upon its completion until January 1943 they fought in the Velikiye Luki region; then Operation Baffel - the withdrawal of Model's 9th Army from the Rzhev salient. Or the first and second groups of the 54th fighter squadron "Green Hearts": from the beginning of the war until 1943 they fought in Army Group "North", from May 1943 they were transferred to Army Group "Center" - battles in the Orel region, Operation Citadel ", After the defeat - retreat to the" Hagen line ". Since August 1943, the first group has fought in the "South" army zone, and remain near Poltava until October; then they were transferred back to Army Group Center - battles near Vitebsk, Orsha; in the summer of 1944, they were transferred to Army Group North, and the second group was transferred to Ukraine, after the Citadel, and returned to Army Group North in March 1944. Other fighter units were also transferred.
Soviet aviation units were mainly used only on their "own" front, they did not shuffle, and every 1-2 months they were taken to the rear for reorganization - replenishment of materiel, rearmament. Only from the middle of 1943 they began to replenish the unit immediately at the front, like the Germans. So, the 16th Guards Aviation Regiment of A. Pokryshkin left for retraining for the "Airacobr" at the end of December 1942, and returned to the front only on April 9, 1943. The 434th regiment of Major Klescheev (380 combat sorties, air victories 16 individual and 15 in a group) from May to September 1942 was reorganized three times. Naturally, this reduced the possibility of replenishing a personal account.
The Japanese had the same problems at Halkin-Gol - 4-6 sorties a day, so the pilots of the Germans and Japanese were "the most tired people of the war." They had more opportunities to become aces, but they were losing the war, including the air one.
Bell P-39 "Airacobra" - Pokryshkin's plane in 1943-1944.
Ivan Ivanovich Kleschev
Sources:
Isaev A. Antisuvorov. Ten Myths of the Second World War. M., 2006.
Mukhin Yu. Asy and propaganda. Inflated Luftwaffe victories. M., 2006.
http://alexgbolnych.narod.ru/toliver_constable/index.htm
http://www.airforce.ru/history/khalkin-gol/index.htm
http://allaces.ru/p/people.php?id\u003d13284
http://ru.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_fighter_world_war_world_wars ##.D0.AF.D0.BF.D0.BE.D0.BD.D0.B8.D1.8F
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... the squadron lost 80 pilots in a fairly short period of time,
of which 60 never shot down a single Russian plane
/ Mike Speke "Aces of the Luftwaffe" /
The Iron Curtain collapsed with a deafening roar, and a storm of exposing Soviet myths arose in the media of independent Russia. The most popular was the theme of the Great Patriotic War - an inexperienced Soviet man was shocked by the results of German aces - tankers, submariners and, especially, Luftwaffe pilots.
Actually, the problem is this: 104 German pilots have a score of 100 or more aircraft shot down. Among them are Erich Hartmann (352 wins) and Gerhard Barkhorn (301), who showed absolutely phenomenal results. Moreover, Harmann and Barkhorn won all of their victories on the Eastern Front. And they were no exception - Gunther Rall (275 victories), Otto Kittel (267), Walter Novotny (258) - they also fought on the Soviet-German front.
At the same time, the 7 best Soviet aces: Kozhedub, Pokryshkin, Gulaev, Rechkalov, Evstigneev, Vorozheikin, Glinka were able to overcome the bar of 50 downed enemy aircraft. For example, Three times Hero of the Soviet Union Ivan Kozhedub destroyed 64 German aircraft in air battles (plus 2 American Mustangs shot down by mistake). Alexander Pokryshkin is a pilot about whom, according to legend, the Germans warned by radio: “Akhtung! Pokryshkin in der lyuft! ", Chalked up" only "59 aerial victories. The little-known Romanian ace Konstantin Kontakuzino has about the same number of victories (according to various sources, from 60 to 69). Another Romanian, Alexandru Serbanescu, shot down 47 aircraft on the Eastern Front (8 more victories remained "unconfirmed").
The situation with the Anglo-Saxons is much worse. The best aces were Marmaduke Pettle (about 50 wins, South Africa) and Richard Bong (40 wins, USA). In total, 19 British and American pilots managed to shoot down more than 30 enemy aircraft, while the British and Americans fought in the world's best fighters: the inimitable P-51 Mustang, P-38 Lightning or the legendary Supermarine Spitfire! On the other hand, the best ace of the Royal Air Force did not have a chance to fight on such wonderful aircraft - Marmaduke Pettle won all his fifty victories, flying first on the old Gladiator biplane, and then on the clumsy Hurricane.
The results of the Finnish fighter aces look absolutely paradoxical against this background: Ilmari Utilainen shot down 94 aircraft, and Hans Wind - 75.
What conclusion can be drawn from all these numbers? What is the secret to the incredible performance of the Luftwaffe fighters? Maybe the Germans simply did not know how to count?
The only thing that can be said with a high degree of certainty is that the accounts of all aces, without exception, are overestimated. Praising the successes of the best fighters is standard government propaganda practice that, by definition, cannot be honest.
German Meresiev and his "Stuka"
As an interesting example, I propose to consider the incredible story of bomber pilot Hans-Ulrich Rudel. This ace is less known than the legendary Erich Hartmann. Rudel practically did not participate in air battles, you will not find his name in the lists of the best fighters.
Rudel is famous for having flown 2,530 sorties. He was piloted by the Junkers-87 dive bomber, at the end of the war he moved to the controls of the Focke-Wolf 190. During his combat career, he destroyed 519 tanks, 150 self-propelled guns, 4 armored trains, 800 trucks and cars, two cruisers, a destroyer, and heavily damaged the battleship Marat. He shot down two Il-2 attack aircraft and seven fighters in the air. He landed six times in enemy territory to save the crews of the downed Junkers. The Soviet Union appointed a reward of 100,000 rubles for the head of Hans-Ulrich Rudel.
Just the standard of a fascist
He was shot down 32 times by return fire from the ground. In the end, Rudel's leg was blown off, but the pilot continued to fly on a crutch until the end of the war. In 1948 he fled to Argentina, where he became friends with the dictator Peron and organized a mountaineering circle. Climbed the highest peak of the Andes - Aconcagua (7 kilometers). In 1953 he returned to Europe and settled in Switzerland, continuing to talk nonsense about the revival of the Third Reich.
Without a doubt, this extraordinary and controversial pilot was a tough ace. But any person accustomed to thoughtfully analyzing events should have one important question: how was it established that Rudel destroyed exactly 519 tanks?
Of course, there were no photo-machine guns or cameras on Junkers. The maximum that Rudel or his radio operator could have noticed was the covering of a column of armored vehicles, i.e. possible damage to tanks. The speed of exit from the dive of the Ju-87 is more than 600 km / h, while the overloads can reach 5g, in such conditions it is unrealistic to see anything accurately on the ground.
Since 1943, Rudel moved to the Ju-87G anti-tank attack aircraft. The characteristics of this "bastard" are simply disgusting: max. speed in level flight - 370 km / h, rate of climb - about 4 m / s. The main aircraft were two VK37 cannons (caliber 37 mm, rate of fire 160 rds / min), with only 12 (!) Rounds of ammunition per barrel. The powerful guns installed in the wings created a large turning moment when firing and rocked the light aircraft so that firing in bursts was meaningless - only single sniper shots.
And here is a funny report on the results of field tests of the VYa-23 aircraft gun: in 6 sorties to the Il-2, the pilots of the 245th assault aviation regiment, with a total consumption of 435 shells, achieved 46 hits in a tank column (10.6%). It must be assumed that in real combat conditions, under intense anti-aircraft fire, the results will be much worse. How can there be a German ace with 24 shells on board "Stuka"!
Further, hitting a tank does not guarantee its defeat. An armor-piercing projectile (685 grams, 770 m / s) fired from a VK37 cannon penetrated 25 mm of armor at an angle of 30 ° from the normal. When using sub-caliber ammunition, the armor penetration increased by 1.5 times. Also, due to the aircraft's own speed, the armor penetration in reality was more by about 5 mm. On the other hand, the thickness of the armored hull of Soviet tanks only in some projections was less than 30-40 mm, and there was nothing to dream of about hitting a KV, IS or a heavy self-propelled gun head-on or side.
In addition, breaking through armor does not always lead to the destruction of the tank. Echelons with damaged armored vehicles regularly arrived in Tankograd and Nizhny Tagil, which were restored in a short time and sent back to the front. And the repair of damaged rollers and chassis was carried out on the spot. At this time, Hans-Ulrich Rudel drew himself another cross for the "destroyed" tank.
Another question for Rudel is related to his 2530 sorties. According to some reports, in German bomber squadrons it was accepted as an incentive to count a difficult sortie for several sorties. For example, the captured Captain Helmut Putz, the commander of the 4th detachment of the 2nd group of the 27th bomber squadron, explained the following during interrogation: , like others, in 2-3 departures. " (interrogation protocol of June 17, 1943). Although it is possible that Helmut Putz, being captured, lied, trying to reduce his contribution to the attacks on Soviet cities.
Hartmann against all
There is an opinion that the aces pilots filled their accounts unrestrainedly and fought "on their own", being an exception to the rule. And the main work at the front was carried out by intermediate-skilled pilots. This is a deep misconception: in a general sense, there are no “average” pilots. There are either Aesir or their prey.
For example, let's take the legendary Normandie-Niemen air regiment, which fought on Yak-3 fighters. Of the 98 French pilots, 60 did not win a single victory, but the “chosen” 17 pilots shot down 200 German aircraft in air battles (the French regiment drove 273 aircraft with a swastika into the ground).
A similar picture was observed in the 8th US Air Force, where out of 5,000 fighter pilots, 2,900 did not win a single victory. Only 318 people chalked up 5 or more downed aircraft.
The American historian Mike Spike describes the same episode related to the actions of the Luftwaffe on the Eastern Front: "... the squadron lost 80 pilots in a fairly short period of time, of which 60 never shot down a single Russian plane."
So, we found out that the aces pilots are the main force of the Air Force. But the question remains: what is the reason for the huge gap between the performance of the Luftwaffe aces and the pilots of the Anti-Hitler coalition? Even if you split the incredible bills of the Germans in half?
One of the legends about the insolvency of the large accounts of the German aces is associated with an unusual system of counting downed aircraft: by the number of engines. Single-engine fighter - one downed aircraft. Four-engined bomber - four aircraft shot down. Indeed, for pilots who fought in the West, a parallel offset was introduced, in which for the destruction of the "Flying Fortress" flying in battle formation, the pilot was credited with 4 points, for a damaged bomber that "fell out" of the battle formation and became easy prey other fighters, the pilot was scored 3 points. He did the bulk of the work - it is much more difficult to break through the hurricane fire of the Flying Fortresses than to shoot a damaged single plane. And so on: depending on the degree of participation of the pilot in the destruction of the 4-engine monster, he was awarded 1 or 2 points. What happened then with those prize points? Probably, they were somehow converted into Reichsmarks. But all this had nothing to do with the list of downed aircraft.
The most prosaic explanation for the Luftwaffe phenomenon: the Germans had no shortage of goals. Germany fought on all fronts with the numerical superiority of the enemy. The Germans had 2 main types of fighters: Messerschmitt-109 (34 thousand were produced from 1934 to 1945) and Focke-Wolfe 190 (13 thousand were produced in the fighter version and 6.5 thousand in the attack aircraft version) - a total of 48 thousand fighters.
At the same time, about 70 thousand Jacob, Lavochkin, I-16 and MiG-3 (excluding 10 thousand fighters supplied under Lend-Lease) passed through the Red Army Air Force during the war years.
In the Western European theater of operations, Luftwaffe fighters were opposed by about 20 thousand Spitfires and 13 thousand Hurricanes and Tempests (this is how many machines were in the Royal Air Force from 1939 to 1945). How many more fighters did Britain receive under the Lend-Lease?
Since 1943, American fighters have appeared over Europe - thousands of Mustangs, P-38s and P-47s plowed the skies of the Reich, escorting strategic bombers on raids. In 1944, during the Normandy landings, the Allied aircraft had a sixfold numerical superiority. “If the camouflage planes in the sky are the Royal Air Force, if the silver ones are the US Air Force. If there are no planes in the sky, it's the Luftwaffe, ”the German soldiers joked sadly. Where could the large accounts of British and American pilots come from under such conditions?
Another example - the Il-2 attack aircraft became the most massive combat aircraft in the history of aviation. During the war years, 36,154 attack aircraft were fired, of which 33,920 Ilov entered the army. By May 1945, 3585 Il-2 and Il-10 were registered in the Air Force of the Red Army, another 200 Il-2 were part of the naval aviation.
In a word, the Luftwaffe pilots had no superpowers. All their achievements are explained only by the fact that there were many enemy aircraft in the air. Allied aces fighters, on the contrary, took time to detect the enemy - according to statistics, even the best Soviet pilots had on average 1 air battle in 8 sorties: they simply could not meet the enemy in the sky!
On a cloudless day, from a distance of 5 km, a WWII fighter is visible like a fly on a window pane from the far corner of the room. In the absence of radars on airplanes, air combat was more an unexpected coincidence than a regular event.
It is more objective to calculate the number of downed aircraft, taking into account the number of combat sorties of pilots. Viewed from this angle, Erich Hartmann's achievement dims: 1,400 sorties, 825 air battles and "only" 352 aircraft shot down. This indicator is much better for Walter Novotny: 442 sorties and 258 victories.
Friends congratulate Alexander Pokryshkin (far right) on receiving the third star of the Hero of the Soviet Union
It is very interesting to trace how the aces pilots began their careers. The legendary Pokryshkin demonstrated his aerobatic skills, audacity, flying intuition and sniper shooting in the very first combat missions. And the phenomenal ace Gerhard Barkhorn did not win a single victory in the first 119 sorties, but he himself was shot down twice! Although there is an opinion that not everything went smoothly for Pokryshkin either: the Soviet Su-2 was his first downed plane.
In any case, Pokryshkin has his own advantage over the best German aces. Hartman was shot down fourteen times. Barkhorn - 9 times. Pokryshkin was never shot down! Another advantage of the Russian miracle hero: he won most of his victories in 1943. In 1944-45. Pokryshkin shot down only 6 German planes, focusing on training young personnel and managing the 9th Guards Air Division.
In conclusion, it should be said that you should not be so afraid of the high scores of the Luftwaffe pilots. On the contrary, it shows what a formidable enemy the Soviet Union defeated, and why Victory has such a high value.
Aces of the Luftwaffe of World War II
The film tells about the famous German aces pilots: Erich Hartmann (352 shot down enemy planes), Johan Steinhoff (176), Werner Mölders (115), Adolf Galland (103) and others. Rare footage of interviews with Hartman and Galland, as well as unique newsreels of air battles are presented.
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