Military Aviation in Brief

         Yakovlev Design Bureau's Yak-3 was designed as an urgent upgrade and replacement to the previous Yak-1. Designed in 1943 after the Battle of Stalingrad, the Yak-3 was intended to increase engine power and maneuverability while improving the survivability. They served primarily with the Soviet Air Forces, but also armed the Normandie-Niemen Fighter Regiment, a group of Free French pilots that flew with the Soviets on the Eastern Front! Between the introduction of the Yak-3 to service in 1944 and the end of production in 1946, 4,848 Yak-3s were constructed.     Yakovlev's Yak-1 was a lightweight and maneuverable fighter constructed mostly of wood. It was intended to escort Il-2 formations to and from their targets, engaging enemy fighters when attempted to attack the ground strike aircraft. While the Yak-1 had better performance than German fighters at low altitude, it suffered at altitudes above 3,000 meters. Yakovlev had several projects vyin...

        The Supermarine Spitfire was designed for an Air Ministry contract by R. J. Mitchell, chief designer at Supermarine Aviation Works. The first prototype flew on March 5th, 1936, and the first production model entered service in 1938.  The Spitfire served a large role in the 1940 Battle of Britain, and would go on to see extensive development. The Spitfire saw combat in North Africa, over Britain, in the Pacific with the Australians, and in the skies above Russia. The Spitfire accounted for 20,341 of the combat aircraft constructed by Britain during World War II, more than any other in British history.     Mitchell's initial design for the Spitfire was robust, and over time proved immensely adaptable. Initially powered by a V-12 Rolls-Royce Merlin engine capable of producing 1,030 horsepower, late-war variants of the Spitfire were powered by a Rolls-Royce Griffon engine, producing up to 2,340 horsepower. The airframe was slim and lightw...

       Today we'll cover the P-47, a fighter developed for the US Army Air Forces by Republic Aviation. The P-47 first flew on May 6th, 1941, and experienced its first combat sortie nearly two years later in April of 1943.  A continuation on the P-43 Lancer and XP-44 Rocket designs, the P-47 was intended to be a heavy fighter with capabilities for high-altitude escort, but later adapted to the role of fighter-bomber during service in Europe. Officially named the "Thunderbolt," pilots unofficially granted it the nickname of "Jug," either owing to its unflattering appearance or a shortening of the word "Juggernaut." During the war, the P-47 saw service with multiple countries in the Allied powers, including Britain, France, Mexico and Russia. One example was even captured and flown by the Germans for a time! Republic Aviation produced a hefty number of P-47s, weighing in at 15,636 aircraft.     When the P-47 entered service, it was a high-altitude escort...

          Today features the Junkers Ju 87 Stuka , a single-engine monoplane attack aircraft with an unusual story and an equally unusual appearance. The Ju 87 was designed by Hermann Pohlmann for Junkers. A prototype flew in 1935, and the plane entered service after in 1937. During the early years of World War 2, the Ju 87 was commonly featured in Nazi propaganda after finding success in the invasion of Poland. Around 6,000 Ju 87s were constructed between their entry into service and 1944, when it was determined that without air superiority in Europe, Ju 87s were too vulnerable to continue flying sorties.     The Ju 87 was designed based on the philosophy that dive bombers should be simple and robust. Its inverted gull wings provided several benefits. Firstly, they generated more lift at low speeds, which improved performance during takeoff and landing. The dip in the center of the wing gave the pilot better visibility to the front of the ai...

        It's time to look at the most produced aircraft of World War II: the  Ilyushin Il-2. The story of the Il-2 begins in Soviet Russia in 1938, when Sergei Ilyushin proposed the idea of a "flying tank" to Joseph Stalin. Two prototypes were ordered and saw their first flights in October of 1939. The aircraft was adopted quickly after testing, but only 70 aircraft were wholly in service with the Soviet Air Forces by the time Nazi Germany invaded the Soviet Union. The Soviet Union produced 36,183 examples of Il-2, a record only topped by the Cessna 172. With so many aircraft produced, it was only inevitable it would receive some nicknames. German pilots called the Il-2 the " Betonflugzeug " (concrete plane) or " Betonvogel " (concrete bird) because of how difficult it was to shoot down. German infantrymen instead called it " der Schwarze Tod " (Black Death) due to its efficiency in the air to ground role. Soviet pilots called the Il-2 "...

        The Messerschmitt Bf 109 (or sometimes Me 109) was designed in the 1930s by Wilhelm E. Messerschmitt in response to a request from the German Luftwaffe  for an advanced light fighter.  The initial prototype plane flew in September of 1935 and was powered by a British Rolls-Royce Kestrel engine. Restrictions from the Treaty of Versailles had heavily impacted the development of domestic German engines. The fighter was first revealed to the world in the 1936 Olympic Games hosted in Berlin. It would be tested in its first combat encounters in the middle following year, as early Bf 109s were delivered to Spain to be used by German volunteers aiding Spanish Nationalists in the Spanish Civil War. The Bf 109 was used primarily by Germany, but was also flown in Bulgaria, the Hungary, Italy, Romania, Spain, and the puppet state of Croatia. Mostly countries part of or aligned with the Axis powers of World War Two. Over the course of its life, the Bf 109 became...