Rock painting of the American Air Force. Rock painting of the American air force Coloring pages of the planes of the second world war soviet planes

The tradition of drawing pictures on combat vehicles dates back to the First World War, the ancestors of which were the Germans, but the Americans supported this tradition and developed it deeply. This "rock" painting is called Nose Art

The heyday of Nose Art was the Second World War - almost all American aircraft had their own names, and, apparently, about half of the aircraft carried drawings on the nose. The plots were very different, but most often they were cartoon characters or girls drawn in the pin-up style. Nose Art was approved by the Air Force command as a morale boost and some psychological support to the crew. American psychologists who have studied the phenomenon of Aircraft Nose Art believe that in this way the plane was humanized, reminded the pilot of home and peaceful life, and served as a kind of psychological defense against war. Nowadays, pilots flying historic airplanes also apply Nose Art to their cars, either in the classic form, or create original images.

Aviation Nose Art originated with military aviation. Here is the airplane of the Italian World War I ace Francesco Baracca

The heyday of Nose Art was the Second World War.
Almost all American aircraft had their own names. There are no exact statistics, but, apparently, about half of the planes carried Nose Art drawings.

The most convenient place for Nose Art is naturally the nose of the bombers. There are many places, there is where to turn around. Boeing B-17G N9323Z

Boeing B-17G N900RW.

Boeing B-17G N3193G and girls again.

The Liberator has even more space for pictures! Consolidated B-24A (LB-30) Liberator N24927

However, later this plane was repainted in a khaki color and such graphics appeared on it.

And this is the Strawberry Beatch from the Air Force Museum in Dayton. Consolidated B-24D Liberator 42-72843.

Betty's Dream (?) B-25J N5672V

Sad Angela, TB-25N N345BG.

Apache Princess, B-25J N1943J.

Nose Art was approved by the Air Force command as a morale boost and some psychological support to the crew.
There were also limitations. Drawings, as a rule, were worn only by combat aircraft, and in the naval aviation Nose Art was completely banned.

Zodiac signs. scales

Eagle with a bomb. B-25C N3774.

Corporal Ruby Newell - the most beautiful girl of the unit - at her portrait:

The crews painted the aircraft exclusively at their own expense. This was done by both amateurs and professionals who served in the units - former artists, cartoonists.

Russians Get Ya! B-25J N747AF.

Pin-up girls met much more often than real wives and girlfriends. Often these works were copies of magazine drawings.

As noted, in the Pacific theater of operations, the girls for some reason were much lighter dressed than in Europe.

Night mission

Douglas B-26 N7705C

The most common Aircraft Nose Art drawing - a shark's mouth - was invented during the First World War.

The huge nasal air intake on the P-40 made it possible to draw such impressive shark mouths. Curtiss P-40N Warhawk NL40PN.

On Mustangs, the nose was narrower, and Nose Art they often crawled under the cockpit. Although shark jaws also met. P-51D Mustang NL68JR.

Kid with Tommigan. P-51D Mustang NL151HR.

Later work, Big Boss with a machine gun on a racing Grumman F7F-3 Tigercat NX805MB.

On Thunderbolts, it was convenient to paint Nose Art on massive engine hoods. Pink Dumbo on P-47D 45-49167, Air Force Museum.

Neanderthal, Republic P-47D Thunderbolt NX47DA.

The American Air Force Museum in Dayton houses a large collection of Nose Art graphics in the form of fuselage skin sheets taken from scrapped B-52 bombers of various modifications. As a reminder of bygone but turbulent times.

Lockheed PV-2 Harpoon N7670C.

Transport aircraft. Despite its rather large size, the famous DC-3's nose is relatively small and it is rather difficult to draw a grandiose Nose Art on it. DC-3 N47HL.

Cards, bones, four leaves of clover are symbols of good luck.

"Delivery of Generals". DC-3 N7772 at the EAA Museum.

Smaller transporters, C-45, also did not lag behind their larger counterparts in Nose Art. Beech C-45G N7694C.

Beech C-45H N167ZA.

Redhead. Beech C-45H N9550Z.

"Difficult child"

After the Vietnam War, Nose Art practically disappeared and only gradually returned in the 1980s. It was considered that this restores the continuity of the glorious martial traditions.

Modern original creativity. Dee Howard 500 N500HP.

The cat fires a missile on the MiG-29

In 2007, the British Department of Defense banned the use of images of girls as potentially offensive to female personnel. Now the procedure is complicated: first, the crew presents a sketch of the Nose Art to their commander, and he must coordinate the drawing with the command of the air wing.

The art of painting on aircraft fuselages - nose art - appeared during the First World War.

Californian art critic and antiquarian Bruce Herman argues that the drawings on airplanes are a continuation of the European chivalrous traditions of heraldry.

“Pilots during the First World War most often themselves belonged to ancient noble families and, perhaps, took themselves seriously as new knights. They even had their own special knightly“ code of honor. ” coat of arms. It is here that one should look for the origins of the tradition of painting military aircraft, "says Herman.

It should be noted that the painting of aircraft during the First World War is distinguished by high professionalism and is of real artistic value.

“Most of the pilots at the turn of the century had a professional art education before the war,” Herman explains.

During the First World War, the pilots did not paint the planes themselves. Coats of arms, pictures and mottos were drawn on canvas, which was then attached to the wing or tail of a combat vehicle. At auctions, the price for such works of art can reach several hundred thousand dollars.

The Second World War

With the outbreak of World War II, the art of painting combat aircraft underwent dramatic changes. Classic plots and classical art have disappeared forever from the sides of fighters and bombers. His place was taken by popular cartoon characters.

The fashion for "war paint" aircraft rapidly won the hearts of pilots during the Second World War.

"Americans have proven to be the most uninventive but most active artists," says Herman.

Few people know that the founder of animation - Walt Disney - was also the "godfather" of nose art. After the outbreak of the war, the US Air Force hired artists from the Disney studio solely to paint the warplanes.

During the war, Disney's studio created free sketches of drawings for coloring planes, tanks and even stripes on uniforms. drew not only for the American military, sketches were requested by military units from Great Britain, Poland, China, New Zealand, Australia, Canada and France. During the war, Disney allocated five artists for the needs of the army. During World War II, 1200 drawings for the military were drawn at the Disney studio. The most popular hero was Donald Duck. The only cartoon character who was never drawn on military equipment was Bambi.

Disney himself, who went through the First World War as a soldier, amused himself in combat conditions by drawing on the helmets of his comrades. However, Disney fans lived not only in the United States.

"Disney was furious when he found out that several dozen Luftwaffe fighters had his Mikiya Mouse painted on the fuselage," Herman says.

In addition to animation, Esquire magazine was the main source of inspiration for martial artists. Most often, pictures of the Esquire artist Alberto Vargas were reproduced on the fuselages of bombers and fighters.

Nose art 1945-2003

After the end of World War II, nose art became widely known. Now about the pictures that adorn combat aircraft, they know not only in the sky, but also on the ground.

In the West, extensive catalogs of symbols and drawings made on airplanes during various military conflicts are published.

The plot of the picture most often depends on the nature of the conflict.

It is worth noting that there are practically no undrawn aircraft, for example, in the US Air Force. Pictures are even on the top-secret B-2 and F-117 bombers. But in order to avoid misunderstandings, their pilots paint exclusively on the inside of the bomb bay doors or other surfaces that are invisible to the authorities.

Officially, the 23rd Flying Tigers Combat Group is the only Air Force unit allowed to paint on aircraft.

War is transient, but music is eternal!

They began to decorate planes with images almost immediately after the appearance of military aviation. It is believed that the first drawing applied to the fuselage of an aircraft was the image of a sea monster on the nose of an Italian flying boat in 1913.

Later, drawing on the plane became known as nose art. Initially, the images on the airplanes resembled heraldic symbols, similar to those that ancient knights put on the shields. It is worth remembering the rearing stallion (cavallino rampante) of the Italian ace Francesco Baracchi. This coat of arms was later used by the Ferrari company.

Francesco Baraca poses in front of his plane!

Later, the drawings on the airplanes became more varied. For example, storks adorned the fuselages of French aircraft from Escadrille les Cigognes.

The most popular nose art in the US Air Force was during World War II. The initiators of the painting of the aircraft were often no longer the pilots, but its service personnel. The development of nose art in the United States was greatly influenced by pin-up. For example, the image of a naked pin-up star of that era, Betty Grable, flaunted on many military aircraft. In the USSR, such liberties, of course, were not allowed, but the drawings on Soviet planes of that time were also distinguished by their beauty and sophistication.

More often they began to apply drawings to the fuselage after the battle at the Kursk Bulge in 1943, when the initiative passed to the Red Army. Often, next to the image on the plane, one could see asterisks showing the number of enemy aircraft shot down (for the first time, Spanish pilots began to do this). On Soviet aircraft, victories could be indicated by asterisks of several colors. Personal victory was marked with one color, planes shot down in a group - with another.

Many Soviet viewers were able to get acquainted with the drawings on the airplanes thanks to the film "Only" old men "go to battle". On the fuselage of the plane of the squadron commander Alexei Titarenko, played by Leonid Bykov, a music staff was depicted. The image of the music is no coincidence. Such a drawing, for example, was on the plane of the Soviet attack pilot Vasily Emelianenko, who had a musical education.

Vasily Emelianenko's plane

The maestro himself!

The plane La-5 Kostylev in the exposition of the Museum of Defense of Leningrad.

Captain Alexander Lobanov (left) and Major Alexander Pavlov next to La-5FN, April 10, 1945

Lieutenant Zabiyaka G.I. against the background of the personalized Pe-2 205 series. The inscription "Bully" is white, lightning - yellow

Lieutenant Gennady Tsokolaev. On board - the emblem "Guard"

Captain Alexander Nikolaevich Kilaberidze from 65 GIAP in the cockpit of Yak-9, Belarus, June 1944

"Lion's Heart", LaGG-3 of Lieutenant Yuri Shchipov, 9th Fighter Aviation Regiment of the Black Sea Fleet Air Force.

Squadron Commander of the 566th ShAP Hero of the Soviet Union Vasily Mykhlik

The Il-2 "Avenger" aircraft was built at the expense of the chairman of the collective farm Grigor Tevosyan,

who killed two brothers in the war. Nelson Stepanyan flew on the plane.

Georgy Baevsky (right) and mechanic Sobakin in front of the Yak-9U. 5 GvIAP. Sprotau airfield, Germany. April 1945

On the keel LAGG-3 of Leonid Galchenko, instead of a red star, there is a black cat playing with a mouse.

1942 year. The cat was originally white

Malyutina Elena Mironovna and her swallow

Flight Commander of the 180th Guards Fighter Stalingrad Red Banner Aviation Regiment

Major General Georgy Zakharov in the cockpit of the Yak-3. By plane - George the Victorious,

piercing a snake with the head of Goebbels. Spring 1945

Pilot of the 958th Assault Aviation Regiment, Hero of the Soviet Union Ivan Meilus .

Airacobra by Vyacheslav Sirotin

Nikolay Proshenkov and his "Airacobra"

The Yak-9B aircraft of the commander of the 168th IAP, Lieutenant Colonel Grigory Kogrushev.

Captain Alexey Zakalyuk, 104th GvIAP

Alexey Alelyukhin's plane

Captain Georgy Urvachev (left)

Fighter pilot Vladimir Dmitriev

Aircraft of Senior Lieutenant Vasily Aleksukhin

Fedor Dobysh and Alexander Pomazunov against the background of the Pe-2 with a crocodile

Airplane of Abrek Barsht

Nikolay Didenko's plane

The plane of Vladimir Pokrovsky

The commander of the Cherbourg squadron of the Normandy regiment Marcel Lefevre and his Soviet comrades (technician-lieutenant Tarasov and senior sergeant Kolupaev) at the Yak-9 # 14 fighter

The eagle of Mikhail Avdeev

Agitation aircraft ANT-9 "Crocodile"

Squadron Commander of the 5th Assault Regiment Hero of the Soviet Union A. Putin before a combat mission

Hero of the Soviet Union M.D. Baranov (right) is congratulated on another victory. Stalingrad front. 1942 year

"For Zhenya Lobanov" (Northern Fleet Air Force, Il-2, 1943)

Hero of the Soviet Union Captain A.D. Bilyukin in the cockpit of his signature aircraft "Alexander Nevsky"

The crew of the registered reconnaissance aircraft 39 ORAP (from left to right): commander I.M. Glyga, radio operator K.N. Semichev and navigator of the joint venture. Minaev

"For Volodya!" (32nd Guards IAP, North-Western Front, Yak-9, 1943)

Plane "Revenge of the Baranovs"

The crew of Major K. Ivantsov

The flight crew N.V. Baranov before the last flight before the surrender of the Germans.

They began to decorate planes with images almost immediately after the appearance of military aviation. It is believed that the first drawing applied to the fuselage of an aircraft was the image of a sea monster on the nose of an Italian flying boat in 1913.
Later, drawing on the plane became known as nose art. Initially, the images on the airplanes resembled heraldic symbols, similar to those that ancient knights put on the shields. It is worth remembering the rearing stallion (cavallino rampante) of the Italian ace Francesco Baracchi. This coat of arms was later used by the Ferrari company.

Later, the drawings on the airplanes became more varied. For example, storks adorned the fuselages of French aircraft from Escadrille les Cigognes. The most popular nose art in the US Air Force was during World War II. The initiators of the painting of the aircraft were often no longer the pilots, but its service personnel. The development of nose art in the United States was greatly influenced by pin-up. For example, the image of a naked pin-up star of that era, Betty Grable, flaunted on many military aircraft. In the USSR, such liberties, of course, were not allowed, but the drawings on Soviet planes of that time were also distinguished by their beauty and sophistication. Many Soviet viewers were able to get acquainted with the drawings on the airplanes thanks to the film "Only" old men "go to battle". On the fuselage of the plane of the squadron commander Alexei Titarenko, played by Leonid Bykov, a music staff was depicted. The image of the music is no coincidence. Such a drawing, for example, was on the plane of the Soviet attack pilot Vasily Emelianenko, who had a musical education. It also recalls the plane that the Utesov ensemble presented to Soviet pilots during the war. Cases when airplanes were built at the expense of citizens were not uncommon. Such fighters usually had an inscription indicating whose money the car was created with. Sometimes there was a small image next to the inscription.

The plane La-5 Kostylev in the exposition of the Museum of Defense of Leningrad.

Captain Alexander Lobanov (left) and Major Alexander Pavlov next to La-5FN, April 10, 1945

Lieutenant Zabiyaka G.I. against the background of the personalized Pe-2 205 series. The inscription "Bully" is white, lightning - yellow

Lieutenant Gennady Tsokolaev. On board - the emblem "Guard"

Captain Alexander Nikolaevich Kilaberidze from 65 GIAP in the Yak-9 cockpit, Belarus

"Lion's Heart", LaGG-3 Lieutenant Yuri Shchipov, 9th Air Force Fighter Aviation Regiment

Squadron Commander of the 566th ShAP Hero of the Soviet Union Vasily Mykhlik

The Il-2 "Avenger" aircraft was built at the expense of the chairman of the collective farm Grigor Tevosyan, whose two brothers were killed in the war. Nelson Stepanyan flew on the plane.

Georgy Baevsky (right) and mechanic Sobakin in front of the Yak-9U. 5 GvIAP. Sprotau airfield, Germany. April 1945

On the keel LAGG-3 of Leonid Galchenko, instead of a red star, there is a black cat playing with a mouse. 1942 year. The cat was originally white

Malyutina Elena Mironovna and her swallow

Flight commander of the 180th Guards Fighter Stalingrad Red Banner Aviation Regiment of the Guard Senior Lieutenant Viktor Lukoshkov in front of La-5FN, July 19

Major General Georgy Zakharov in the cockpit of the Yak-3. On the plane - George the Victorious, piercing a snake with the head of Goebbels. Spring 1945

Pilot of the 958th Assault Aviation Regiment, Hero of the Soviet Union Ivan Meilus.

Airacobra by Vyacheslav Sirotin

The eagle of Mikhail Avdeev

Vasily Emelianenko's plane

Nikolay Proshenkov and his "Airacobra"

The Yak-9B aircraft of the commander of the 168th IAP, Lieutenant Colonel Grigory Kogrushev.

Captain Alexey Zakalyuk, 104th GvIAP

Alexey Alelyukhin's plane

Captain Georgy Urvachev (left)

Fighter pilot Vladimir Dmitriev

Aircraft of Senior Lieutenant Vasily Aleksukhin

Fedor Dobysh and Alexander Pomazunov against the background of the Pe-2 with a crocodile

Airplane of Abrek Barsht

Nikolay Didenko's plane

The plane of Vladimir Pokrovsky
Drawing pictures on combat aircraft during the Great Patriotic War was not welcomed, although they turned a blind eye to this. More often they began to apply drawings to the fuselage after the battle at the Kursk Bulge in 1943, when the initiative passed to the Red Army. Often, next to the image on the plane, one could see asterisks showing the number of enemy aircraft shot down (for the first time, Spanish pilots began to do this). On Soviet aircraft, victories could be indicated by asterisks of several colors. Personal victory was marked with one color, planes shot down in a group - with another.
There were cases when the fuselage was decorated with the image of the "Golden Star" received for the victory. Old traditions have also survived: the nose of the fighter sometimes resembled the mouth of a mythical monster. In general, drawings and emblems that were intimidating to the enemy were often applied. For example, a dragon was depicted on the Yak-9 Gugridze fighter; a toothy mouth was on the plane of Georgy Kostylev.
There were no special rules for applying emblems. Each squadron had its own customs. Some pilots had their own emblem, others - common to all. Often planes were decorated with cards or a certain suit. Typically, it was an ace. It was usually applied by distinguished pilots. So, the aces were painted on the La-5 plane by Alexander Pavlov, on the LaGG-3 by Yuri Shilov.
Those who managed to knock out the German plane of the famous squadron placed on the fighter the emblem of this squadron, pierced by an arrow or entwined with a snake, or another similar symbol. For example, the planes of the squadron of the 9th Guards Regiment, commanded by Alexei Alelyukhin, carried the emblem invented by the pilot Yevgeny Dranishchev with a leopard breaking the heart. This indicated that the pilots had defeated the 9 Staffel JG 52 aces (the heart under the cockpit was their hallmark). The animals were often depicted on Soviet military aircraft. Drawings of birds were also common. So, similar images were on the planes of such famous pilots as Mikhail Avdeev, Vladimir Pokrovsky, Vyacheslav Sirotin. Symbolic images such as arrows and lightning were especially popular.

Once on the site we held an Air Parade competition timed to coincide with the Victory anniversary, where readers were asked to guess the names of some of the most famous aircraft of the Second World War by their silhouettes. The competition has ended, and now we are publishing photos of these combat vehicles. We offer you to remember what the winners and the vanquished fought in the sky.

PM revision

Germany

Messerschmitt Bf.109

In fact, a whole family of German combat vehicles, the total number of which (33,984 pieces) makes the 109th one of the most massive aircraft of the Second World War. It was used as a fighter, fighter-bomber, fighter-interceptor, reconnaissance aircraft. It was as a fighter that the Messer earned a sad reputation among Soviet pilots - at the initial stage of the war, Soviet fighters, such as the I-16 and LaGG, were clearly inferior in technical terms to the Bf.109 and suffered heavy losses. Only the appearance of more advanced aircraft, for example the Yak-9, allowed our pilots to fight with the "Messers" almost on an equal footing. The most massive modification of the car was the Bf.109G ("Gustav").

Messerschmitt Bf.109

Messerschmitt Me.262

The plane was remembered not for its special role in World War II, but for the fact that it turned out to be the firstborn of jet aircraft on the battlefield. Me.262 began to be designed even before the war, but Hitler's real interest in the project aroused only in 1943, when the Luftwaffe had already lost its combat power. The Me.262 had unique performance indicators for its time (about 850 km / h), altitude and rate of climb, and therefore had serious advantages over any fighter of that time. In reality, for 150 Allied aircraft shot down, there were 100 lost Me.262. The low effectiveness of combat use was due to the "dampness" of the design, little experience in the use of jet aircraft and insufficient training of pilots.

Messerschmitt Me.262

Heinkel-111

Heinkel-111

Junkers Ju 87 Stuka

The Ju 87 dive bomber, produced in several modifications, became a kind of forerunner of modern high-precision weapons, since the metal bombs were not from a great height, but from a steep dive, which made it possible to more accurately target the ammunition. It was very effective against tanks. Due to the specifics of the application in conditions of high overloads, the car was equipped with automatic air brakes to break out of the dive in case of loss of consciousness by the pilot. To enhance the psychological effect, during the attack, the pilot turned on the "Jericho Trumpet" - a device that emitted a terrible howl. One of the most famous ace pilots who flew the Stuk was Hans-Ulrich Rudel, who left rather boastful memories of the war on the Eastern Front.

Junkers Ju 87 Stuka

Focke-Wulf Fw 189 Uhu

The Fw 189 Uhu tactical reconnaissance aircraft is interesting primarily for its unusual double-boom design, for which the Soviet soldiers called it "Rama". And it was on the Eastern Front that this reconnaissance spotter turned out to be the most useful to the Nazis. Our fighters knew well that after the "Rama" bombers would arrive and strike at reconnoitered targets. But to shoot down this slow-moving aircraft was not so easy because of its high maneuverability and excellent survivability. When Soviet fighters approached, he could, for example, begin to describe circles of a small radius, into which high-speed cars simply could not fit.

Focke-Wulf Fw 189 Uhu

Probably the most recognizable bomber of the Luftwaffe was developed in the early 1930s under the guise of a civilian transport aircraft (the Versailles Treaty forbade the creation of the German Air Force). At the beginning of World War II, the Heinkel-111 was the most massive bomber in the Luftwaffe. He became one of the main characters of the Battle of England - it was the result of Hitler's attempt to break the will to resist the British by means of massive bomb raids on the cities of Albion (1940). Even then it became clear that this medium bomber was morally outdated, it lacked speed, maneuverability and protection. Nevertheless, the aircraft continued to be used and produced until 1944.

Allies

Boeing B-17 Flying Fortress

The American "flying fortress" in the course of the war constantly increased its defenses. In addition to excellent survivability (in the form of, for example, the ability to return to base with one whole engine out of four), in the B-17G modification, the heavy bomber received thirteen 12.7 mm machine guns. A tactic was developed in which the "flying fortresses" went over enemy territory in a checkerboard pattern, protecting each other with crossfire. The aircraft was equipped with the Norden high-tech bombsight at that time, built on the basis of an analog computer. If the British bombed the Third Reich mainly in the dark, then the "flying fortresses" were not afraid to appear over Germany in the daytime.

Boeing B-17 Flying Fortress

Avro 683 Lancaster

One of the main participants in the Allied bomber raids on Germany, a British heavy bomber of the Second World War. The Avro 683 Lancaster accounted for ¾ of the total bomb load dropped by the British into the Third Reich. The carrying capacity allowed the four-engine aircraft to take on board "blockbusters" - the super-heavy concrete-piercing bombs Tallboy and Grand Slam. Low security implied the use of "Lancaster" as night bombers, but night bombing was not very accurate. During the day, these aircraft suffered significant losses. "Lancaster" actively participated in the most destructive bomb raids of the Second World War - on Hamburg (1943) and Dresden (1945).

Avro 683 Lancaster

North American P-51 Mustang

One of the most iconic fighters of the Second World War, which played an exceptional role in the events on the Western Front. No matter how the Allied heavy bombers defending themselves on raids on Germany, these large, low-maneuverable and relatively slow-moving aircraft suffered heavy losses from German fighter aircraft. The North American company, commissioned by the British government, urgently created a fighter that could not only successfully fight the Messers and Fokkers, but also have a sufficient range (due to the outboard tanks) to accompany the bombers' raids on the continent. When the Mustangs were used in this capacity in 1944, it became clear that the air war in the West was finally lost by the Germans.

North American P-51 Mustang

Supermarine spitfire

The main and most massive fighter of the British Air Force during the war, one of the best fighters of the Second World War. Its high-altitude and speed characteristics made it an equal rival to the German Messerschmitt Bf.109, and the skill of the pilots played an important role in the face-to-face battle of these two machines. "Spitfires" proved to be excellent, covering the evacuation of the British from Dunkirk after the success of Hitler's blitzkrieg, and then during the Battle of Britain (July-October 1940), when British fighters had to fight like German bombers He-111, Do-17, Ju 87 and Bf. 109 and Bf. 110.

Supermarine spitfire

Japan

Mitsubishi A6M Raisen

At the beginning of the Second World War, the Japanese carrier-based fighter A6M Raisen was the best in the world in its class, even though its name contained the Japanese word "Rei-sen", that is, "fighter-zero." Thanks to the outboard tanks, the fighter had a high flight range (3105 km), which made it indispensable for taking part in raids on the ocean theater of operations. Among the aircraft involved in the attack on Pearl Harbor were 420 A6Ms. The Americans learned from their interaction with the nimble, quick-climbing Japanese, and by 1943 their fighter aircraft had surpassed their once-dangerous adversary.

Mitsubishi A6M Raisen

The most massive dive bomber in the USSR began to be produced even before the war, in 1940, and remained in service until the Victory. A low-wing aircraft with two motors and a double tail tail was a very progressive machine for its time. In particular, it provided for a pressurized cabin and fly-by-wire control (which, due to its novelty, became the source of many problems). In reality, the Pe-2 was not used very often, unlike the Ju 87, precisely as a dive bomber. Most often, he inflicted bombing strikes on areas from a horizontal flight or from a gentle, rather than deep dive.

Pe-2

The most massive combat aircraft in history (a total of 36,000 of these "silts" were produced) is considered a true legend of the battlefields. One of its features is the carrying armored hull, which replaced the frame and skin in most of the fuselage. The attack aircraft operated at heights of several hundred meters above the ground, becoming not the most difficult target for ground anti-aircraft weapons and an object of hunting by German fighters. The first versions of the Il-2 were built single-seat, without a gunner, which led to rather high combat losses among aircraft of this type. Nevertheless, the Il-2 played its role in all theaters where our army fought, becoming a powerful means of supporting ground forces in the fight against enemy armored vehicles.

IL-2

The Yak-3 became a development of the Yak-1M fighter, which proved itself well in battles. The wing was shortened in the process and other design changes were made to reduce weight and improve aerodynamics. This light wooden aircraft showed an impressive speed of 650 km / h and had excellent flight characteristics at low altitudes. Trials of the Yak-3 started at the beginning of 1943, and already during the battle on the Kursk Bulge, he entered the battle, where, with the help of a 20-mm ShVAK cannon and two 12.7-mm Berezin machine guns, he successfully resisted the Messerschmites and Fokkers.

Yak-3

One of the best Soviet fighters La-7, which entered service a year before the end of the war, was a development of the LaGG-3 that met the war. All the advantages of the "ancestor" were reduced to two factors - high survivability and the maximum use of wood in the construction instead of scarce metal. However, the weak engine and heavy weight made the LaGG-3 an unimportant opponent for the all-metal Messerschmitt Bf.109. La-5 was made from LaGG-3 to OKB-21 Lavochkin, installing a new ASh-82 engine and improving aerodynamics. The La-5FN modification with a forced engine was already an excellent combat vehicle, surpassing the Bf.109 in a number of parameters. In the La-7, the weight was again reduced, and the armament was also strengthened. The plane has become very good, even while remaining wooden.

La-7

The U-2, or Po-2, created in 1928, by the beginning of the war was undoubtedly a model of outdated technology and was not designed as a combat aircraft at all (the combat training version appeared only in 1932). However, for the sake of victory, this classic biplane had to work as a night bomber. Its undoubted advantages are ease of operation, the ability to land outside airfields and take off from small areas, and low noise.

U-2

At low throttle in the dark, the U-2 approached the enemy object, remaining unnoticed almost until the moment of the bombing. Since the bombing was carried out from low altitudes, its accuracy was very high, and the "maize" inflicted serious damage on the enemy.

The article "Air parade of winners and losers" was published in the magazine Popular Mechanics (