[Dénes Bernád]

Regarding the rear gunner issue, if he was killed - and it's known that some Axis fighter pilots attacking a two-seat Il-2 tried to finish off with the rear gunner first, to eliminate the rearward defense - the aircraft could still return to the base if the pilot was lucky enough. However, if the pilot was killed, the rear gunner died automatically, too - except for the rear occasions when he could bail out from the doomed airplane.
Therefore logic says that the number of rear gunners killed in action must be higher than the number of pilots. By how much? Unfortunately, I cannot tell. Perhaps someone else can.