Quote:
Originally Posted by tcolvin
You must know Schwabedissen's book; 'The Russian Air Force in the eyes of German Commanders'. "General der Flakartillerie a.D Wolfgang Pickert adds that the IL-2 was impervious to light 20-mm armour-piercing or 37-mm shells. The same views are expressd by General der Infanterie von der Groben, who emphasisies the nose armour and remarks that direct hits with 20-mm shells frequently had no effect on the plane".
The IL-2 is what I call armoured.
Over.
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posted 11th March 2006 here by
Dénes Bernád
statistics of Il-2 losses, according to Hans Seidl:
Year - Total Losses - To Enemy Action - % of Strength at Hand
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1941* - 1100 - 600 - 73.3%
1942 - 2600 - 1800 - 34.2%
1943 - 7200 - 3900 - 45.0%
1944 - 8900 - 4100 - 46.6%
1945** - 3800 - 2000 - 27.3%
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Total: 23600 12400 70.3%
* presumably from June 22 [D.B.]
** until May 10
Therefore, over 50% of losses [not counting the 'worn out' category] was due to enemy.
So what was the calibre of the weapons that shot down these Il-2s?