questions for the forum about ops in IL-2 Sturmovik sqdrns

[Blackwatch]

I have some questions about IL-2 Sturmovik operations.

A. Is it true that a man designed a spring to hold up the rear guns in a IL-2 Sturmovik, even if the gunner was dead, to make it look like the guns were manned and ready?

B. Is it true, later in the war that the gunners were from NKVD penal battalions under the verdict of death as the Russians had a hard time keeping trained gunners flying due to casualities?

C. Is it true that the only weak point on a IL-2 Sturmovik was the canapy area?

 

[kleinnak]

unfortunately i cannot answer the first two of your queries :-S but i can tell you the answer to the last one. the armour on the cockpit of the area was good...but there's only so much glass can do. the area that was the most vulnerable on the Il-2 was the oil-cooler underneath the nose. that big airscoop thing you see under the nose in pics. reading interviews with pilots such as Erich Hartmann all say that this was the best way. a few hits in that area and the il-2 was as good as down, as there's only so long an engine can run without oil :-S. hope that helps a little!

 

[Blackwatch]

Thats the only 'weak point'? you realize how hard that would be to hit??? lord almighty!!!!

 

[plan_D]

The Il-2 was a strong machine. But the usual weak points normally apply. Flight controls and the engine itself were actually weak. A lot of people forget that the props themselves are crucial, and are extremely hard to protect against 20mm rounds!

 

[kleinnak]

those are good points as well. i was just saying the one i knew for a fact and had read about. and actually, the oil cooler on the il-2 was rather large, and really not much harder to hit than the aforementioned cockpit area or specific control surfaces (i'm a die-hard Il-2 Forgotten Battles, and for everything but the il-2 itself, control surfaces are usually how i take down planes). also remember the person i cited as having read about the oil-cooler from and most of his contemporaries shot down 2-300+ aircraft during the war hartmann himself being the highest with 352...i think they'd be good enough to hit that if they wanted to, lol

 

[plan_D]

I normally plug away at the wing-tips and move inwards. Or the elevators ...they're always good to shoot off.

 

[kleinnak]

some of my favs as well. i'm also a big fan of hitting right at the base of the wing, as on some planes (109s and other thin winged planes) a couple cannon rounds are usually enough to blow the wing right off. that's also where the oil coolers are on 109s as well. they won't go down immediately, but it does knock them outta the game and they're as good as yours if you wingmen don't pounce on them like they always do (the one thing that needs fixing in that game) lol