SOVIET AIRCRAFT OF WW2

Natalya Fyodorovna Kravtsova, born Meklin (September 8, 1922 in Lubny - Ukraine - June 5, 2005 in Moscow - Russia), was a pilot and then Squadron Commander in the 588th Regiment of Night Bombers (588 NBAP), nicknamed by the Germans "The Witches of the Night".

On May 31, 1943, test pilot Viktor Nikitovich Savkin lifted the first copy of the MiG-ZU fighter (D-01) for the first time.

On May 19, 1944, the IL-1 heavy fighter made its first flight. Test pilot Vladimir Konstantinovich Kokkinaki. In terms of its speed characteristics in the range of heights from the ground and up to 4000 m, the armored IL-1 was significantly superior to the FW-190A-4 widely used in the Luftwaffe and was practically not inferior to the enemy's mass fighter, the light Bf-109G-2. However, due to the increased power of Soviet fighter aircraft, which gained strategic dominance in the air, by mid-1944 the need for a combat aircraft of this type had already disappeared, so the IL-1 was not transferred to state tests.

Shooter of the Consolidated PBN-1 Nomad ("Catalina") seaplane of the Northern Fleet. The installation of the Browning large-caliber machine gun on the Mark 10 Mod 3 carriage is equipped with an impressive armor shield.

Battle for Kuban. 1943. A-20B,DB-7

Lieutenant P.I.'s crew The company clarifies the task from the A-20 Boston bomber. 1943

Soviet brigade of the Research Institute of the Air Force for testing the Hawker Hurricane fighter manufactured in Great Britain, supplied to the USSR (Soviet pilots nicknamed "Pterodactyl"). October, 1941

Hero of the Soviet Union Alexander Ignatievich Molodchiy (27.06.1920 - 09.06.2002) - an outstanding pilot of long-range aviation of the USSR.

Yak-3 fighter at Tempelhof airfield in Berlin, May 1945. In the background you can see the passenger Ju.86, as well as the former Dutch DC-2, captured and operated by the Germans.