Luftwaffe and Allied Air Forces Discussion Forum - Interview with Yurii Khukhrikov, IL-2 pilot.

Thanks :)

I'm pleased, really, if ppl in West really want to know more truth about War on Ostfront...

"Must have" book is "Red star against the swastika" by Vasily B. Emelianenko, Il-2 pilot.
http://forum.12oclockhigh.net/showthread.php?t=4976

Vasily Emelianenko performed 92 operational flights on an attack aircraft "Il-2". His plane was shot down three times. Each time Emelianenko managed to pilot the damaged attack aircraft home. This is his extraordinary story. His vivid inside view of a ruthless war in the air on the Eastern Front gives a rare insight into the reality of the fighting and into the tactics of the Red Army Air force.
The attack aircraft "Il-2" was one of the Soviet most contradictory planes in the times of the World War II. This heavy armoured aircraft had practically no rivals in firing power, but at the same time was slow in maneuvering and was an easy target for fighters. "Il-2" had to attack enemy flak columns at extreme low altitude, which led to enormous tolls, both in equipment and personnel. No wonder that a pilot, who performed 80 combat sorties, was awarded the highest decoration - the Hero of the Soviet Union. Only two pilots, who survived in the war, had conducted more than 200 combat sorties.
In his own words, and with a remarkable clarity of recall, Vasily Emelianenko describes what combat was like in the air, face to face with a skilled, deadly and increasingly desperate enemy. The terrifying moments of action, encounters with fighters, forced landings on the enemy territory, the emotional strain before getting a military task, the death of friends and the pilots' way of life - all these aspects of a Soviet pilot's experience during the Great Patriotic War are brought dramatically to life in his memoirs.
The grand strategy of the campaigns across the Eastern Front is less important here than the sequence of engagements that were the first-hand experience of the pilot and squadron-leader. It is this close-up view of combat that makes Vasily Emelianenko's reminiscences of such value.