[Juha]

Hello Gabor
IMHO Il-2 wasn't that difficult to shoot down. Firstly the rear fuselage and outer wings were wooden construction and so suspectible to damage by HE ammo, especially to German Minen shells. So one tactic was just shoot at the rear fuselage and tail with MG 151. Other was a side attack at little above and aiming at the wing root/fuselage just above the wing root. There was a good chance that MG 151 AP rounds could penetrate the side armour ending up into the fuel tank under cockpit, which was not originally self-sealing. IIRC the first Il-2 trial batch (100) with self-sealing fuel tanks arrived at front in Aug 43.
Il-2 was a hard nut, especially to those planes without cannon armament, but with cannon and right tactic it wasn't an impossible target.

Juha