Bringing death. The best attack aircraft in the history of aviation. The most formidable attack aircraft of Russia, which are in service

Attack aircraft - a combat type of aircraft (helicopter or plane), which belongs to attack aviation. The purpose of the attack aircraft is to directly support the ground forces over the battlefield and to accurately destroy sea and ground targets.

Previously, this type of aircraft was intended to carry out attacks on living targets, equipped with thick armor and strong weapons for shooting down, according to the charter of the Red Army in 1928, it was called a militant.

Attack - the defeat of sea and land targets using missiles and small arms and cannon weapons (machine guns and cannons). This method of armament is considered the most effective for striking at extended targets, such as marching columns of equipment and infantry or their clusters.

Attack aircraft inflict the most destructive blows on living unarmored vehicles (tractors, railway vehicles, cars) and manpower. To accomplish the task, the aircraft must fly at a low altitude with or without a gentle dive (“shaving flight”).

Story

At first, attack aircraft were various non-specialized aircrafts, such as dive and light bombers, as well as conventional fighters. However, in the 1930s, separate class aircraft. The fact is that a dive bomber, compared to an attack aircraft, only hits point targets. A heavy bomber, which hits large stationary targets from a great height, is not suitable for this either - there is a big risk of hitting your own. To increase maneuverability, fighters are not sheathed with thick armor, and such an aircraft, operating at low altitude, is subjected to heavy fire from various weapons.

The most massive attack aircraft of the Second World War and at the same time the most massive combat aircraft in the history of aviation is the Il-2. At the end of World War II, the Il-10 attack aircraft began to be produced.

The German army also used a specialized attack aircraft, the Henschel Hs 129, but very few of them were produced, and it could not significantly affect the outcome of the war. The tasks of the attack aircraft in the Luftwaffe were assigned to the Junkers Ju 87G, which had two underwing guns in its equipment and was designed to destroy tanks. The Germans also released a variant with reinforced armor of this aircraft - Ju-87D.

It is impossible to distinguish clear boundaries of the attack aircraft class. Closest to attack aircraft are such types of aircraft as dive bombers and fighter-bombers.

During the Second World War, the fighter-bomber did not prove itself in this respect, no matter how suitable it may seem at first glance. The problem was that it was difficult and expensive to train a qualified bomber and fighter pilot. And to prepare a good combat pilot who could equally well lead both types of aircraft is even more difficult. Without this, the fighter-bomber became an ordinary high-speed, but not a dive bomber. Due to the inability to dive and the absence of a second crew member who was in charge of aiming, fighter-bombers were not suitable for delivering air bombing strikes. And the lack of sufficient reservation forbade him to operate at low altitudes as effectively as specialized attack aircraft did.

The most successful as attack aircraft were modifications of the Focke-Wulf Fw 190F fighters, production models of the Republic P-47 Thunderbolt and Hawker Typhoon fighters.

After the invention of cluster bombs, which hit targets more effectively than small arms, the role of attack aircraft decreased. This was also facilitated by the development of air-to-surface missiles (guided missiles appeared, their range and accuracy increased). The speed of combat aircraft has increased, it has become problematic for them to engage targets when flying at low altitude. But attack helicopters appeared, which practically displaced aircraft from low altitudes.

Therefore, in the post-war period, there was growing resistance from the Air Force to the development of highly specialized attack aircraft.

Despite the fact that ground forces air fire support has been and still remains an important component of the battlefield, the main emphasis is on the development of universal aircraft that combine the functions of an attack aircraft.

Such post-war machines were the A-7 Corsair II, A-6 Intruder, Blackburn Buccaneer. Sometimes ground targets were attacked using converted models of training aircraft, such as the Cessna A-37, BAE Hawk and BAC Strikemaster.

In the 60s of the twentieth century, the American and Soviet military returned to the concept of designing a specialized fire support aircraft for troops. The designers of both countries saw such a device in approximately the same way - it should be armored, highly maneuverable, have a subsonic flight speed and carry artillery and missile and bomb weapons. The Soviet military developed the nimble Su-25 with these requirements in mind, and the Americans developed the heavier Republic A-10 Thunderbolt II aircraft.

Both aircraft did not carry weapons for carrying out air combat(later they were equipped with air-to-air missiles for self-defense, which had a short range). Features of the military-political situation (superiority in Europe Soviet tanks) determined the main purpose of the A-10 as a specialized anti-tank aircraft. The purpose of the Su-25 was to provide fire support to troops on the battlefield (destruction of manpower, all types of vehicles, firing points, important fortifications and enemy targets), but one of its modifications was an analogue of the American "anti-tank" aircraft.

Attack aircraft are currently in great demand for military missions. On the military service Su-25 attack aircraft will remain in the Russian Air Force until at least 2020. For the role of attack aircraft in NATO, serial modified fighters are offered, therefore double designations are used for them (eg F / A-18 Hornet). The use of high-precision weapons on these aircraft makes it possible to carry out successful attacks without a strong approach to the target. In the West in recent times this type of aircraft was called "strike fighter".

Many countries do not use the concept of "attack aircraft" at all, the attack is carried out by aircraft that belong to the classes "tactical fighter", "front-line fighter", "dive bomber", etc.

Currently, attack helicopters are also called attack aircraft.

NATO countries designate this class of aircraft with the prefix "A-".

Aircraft classification:

BUT

B

AT

G

D

And

To

L

O

P

And also for targeted destruction of ground and sea targets.

Stormtrooper- defeat of land and sea targets with the help of small arms and cannon weapons (cannons and machine guns), as well as missiles. This method of destruction is more suitable for striking at extended targets, such as clusters and especially marching columns of infantry and equipment. The most effective strikes are against openly located manpower and unarmored vehicles (cars, unarmored tractors and equipment towed by them, railway transport). To accomplish this task, the aircraft must operate at low altitude without diving ("shaving flight") or with a gentle dive (at an angle of no more than 30 degrees).

Story

Non-specialized types of aircraft, such as conventional fighters, as well as light and dive bombers, can be used as ground attack aircraft. However, in the 1930s, a specialized class of aircraft was allocated for ground attack operations. The reason for this is that, unlike the attack aircraft, the dive bomber only hits point targets; a heavy bomber operates from a great height over areas and large stationary targets - it is not suitable for hitting a target directly on the battlefield, since there is a high risk of missing and hitting your own; a fighter (like a dive bomber) does not have strong armor, while at low altitudes the aircraft is subjected to targeted fire from all types of weapons, as well as to the effects of stray fragments, stones and other dangerous objects flying over the battlefield.

The most massive attack aircraft of the Second World War (as well as the most massive combat aircraft in the history of aviation) was the Il-2 Ilyushin Design Bureau. The next machine of this type, created by Ilyushin, was the Il-10, which was used only at the very end of World War II.

The role of attack aircraft declined after the appearance of cluster bombs (with which elongated targets are hit more effectively than from small arms), as well as due to the development of air-to-surface missiles (accuracy and range increased, guided missiles appeared). The speed of combat aircraft has increased and it has become problematic for them to hit targets while at low altitude. On the other hand, attack helicopters appeared, almost completely displacing the aircraft from low altitudes.

In this regard, in the post-war period, resistance to the development of attack aircraft as highly specialized aircraft grew in the Air Force. Although close air support of ground forces by aviation remained and remains an extremely important factor in modern combat, the main emphasis was placed on the design of universal aircraft that combined the functions of an attack aircraft.

An example of post-war ground attack aircraft are the Blackburn Buccaneer, A-6 Intruder, A-7 Corsair II. In other cases, attacking ground targets has become the province of converted training aircraft, such as the BAC Strikemaster, BAE Hawk and Cessna A-37.

In the 1960s, both the Soviet and US military returned to the concept of a specialized close support aircraft. Scientists from both countries settled on the similar characteristics of such aircraft - a well-armored, highly maneuverable subsonic aircraft with powerful artillery and missile and bomb weapons. Soviet military settled on the nimble Su-25, the Americans relied on a heavier [ ] Republic A-10 Thunderbolt II . characteristic feature both aircraft became complete absence means of air combat (although later both aircraft began to install short-range air-to-air missiles for self-defense). The military-political situation (the significant superiority of Soviet tanks in Europe) determined the main purpose of the A-10 as an anti-tank aircraft, while the Su-25 was more intended to support troops on the battlefield (destruction of firing points, all types of vehicles, manpower , important objects and fortifications of the enemy), although one of the modifications of the aircraft also stood out in a specialized "anti-tank" aircraft.

The role of stormtroopers remains well defined and in demand. In the Russian Air Force, Su-25 attack aircraft will remain in service until at least 2020. In NATO, modified serial fighters are increasingly being offered for the role of attack aircraft, as a result of which double designations are used, such as the F / A-18 Hornet, due to the growing role of precision weapons, which made the previous approach to the target unnecessary. Recently, in the West, the term "strike fighter" has become widespread to refer to such aircraft.

In many countries, the concept of “attack aircraft” does not exist at all, and aircraft belonging to the “dive bomber”, “front-line fighter”, “tactical fighter”, etc. classes are used for attack.

Stormtroopers now also called attack helicopters.

In NATO countries, aircraft of this class are designated by the prefix "A-" (from the English Attack) followed by a digital designation (it should be noted that until 1946 the prefix "A-" was also assigned

In a combined-arms offensive battle, you can do without air support: a howitzer artillery battalion Soviet army could in one hour bring down half a thousand shells of 152 mm caliber on the head of the enemy! Artillery strikes in fog, thunderstorms and blizzards, and aviation work is often limited by unfavorable conditions. weather conditions and dark hours of the day.

Of course, aviation has its strengths. Bombers can use ammunition of enormous power - an elderly Su-24 shoots up like an arrow with two KAB-1500 bombs under the wing. The ammo index speaks for itself. It is difficult to imagine an artillery piece capable of firing such heavy projectiles. The monstrous Type 94 naval gun (Japan) had a caliber of 460 mm and a gun weight of 165 tons! At the same time, its firing range barely reached 40 km. Unlike the Japanese artillery system, the Su-24 can "throw" a couple of its 1.5-ton bombs over five hundred kilometers.

But for direct fire support of ground troops, such powerful ammunition is not required, as well as an ultra-long firing range! The legendary D-20 howitzer cannon has a range of 17 kilometers - more than enough to hit any targets in the front line. And the power of its shells weighing 45-50 kilograms is enough to destroy most objects at the forefront of enemy defense. After all, it is no coincidence that during the Second World War, the Luftwaffe abandoned the “hundredths” - 50 kg air bombs were enough to directly support the ground forces.

As a result, we are faced with a surprising paradox - from the point of view of logic, effective fire support at the forefront can only be provided by the use of artillery. There is no need to use attack aircraft and other "battlefield aircraft" - expensive and unreliable "toys" with redundant capabilities.
On the other hand, any modern combined-arms offensive battle without high-quality air support is doomed to an early and inevitable defeat.

Attack aviation has its own secret of success. And this secret has nothing to do with the flight characteristics of the "battlefield aircraft" themselves, the thickness of their armor and the power of the onboard weapons.
To solve the puzzle, I invite readers to get acquainted with the seven best attack aircraft and close support aircraft in aviation, trace the combat path of these legendary vehicles and answer the main question: what is ground attack aircraft for?

Anti-tank attack aircraft A-10 "Thunderbolt II" ("Thunderbolt")

Norm. takeoff weight: 14 tons. Cannon armament: GAU-8 seven-barrel gun with 1350 rounds of ammunition. Combat load: 11 suspension points, up to 7.5 tons of bombs, NURS blocks and high-precision . Crew: 1 pilot. Max. ground speed 720 km/h.

The Thunderbolt is not a plane. This is a real flying gun! The main structural element around which the Thunderbolt is built is the incredible GAU-8 cannon with a rotating block of seven barrels. The most powerful 30mm aircraft cannon ever mounted on an aircraft - its recoil exceeds the thrust of two Thunderbolt jet engines! Rate of fire 1800 - 3900 rds / min. The speed of the projectile at the muzzle reaches 1 km/s.

A story about the fantastic gun GAU-8 would be incomplete without mentioning its ammunition. The armor-piercing PGU-14/B with a depleted uranium core is especially popular, penetrating 69 mm of armor at a distance of 500 meters at a right angle. For comparison: the thickness of the roof of the Soviet infantry fighting vehicle of the first generation is 6 mm, the side of the hull is 14 mm. The phenomenal accuracy of the gun allows, from a distance of 1200 meters, to lay 80% of the shells in a circle with a diameter of about six meters. In other words, a one-second volley at maximum fire rate gives 50 hits on an enemy tank!

A worthy representative of its class, created in the midst of cold war for the extermination of Soviet tank armadas. "Flying Cross" does not suffer from the lack of modern sighting and navigation systems and precision weapons, and the high survivability of its design has been repeatedly confirmed in local wars recent years.

Fire support aircraft AS-130 Spektr

Norm. takeoff weight: 60 tons. Small arms and cannon armament: 105 mm howitzer, 40 mm automatic cannon, two 6-barrel "Volcano" caliber 20 mm. Crew: 13 people. Max. speed 480 km/h.

At the sight of the attacking Spectrum, Jung and Freud would have embraced like brothers and wept with happiness. National American fun - shooting Papuans from cannons on board a flying plane (the so-called "gunship" - a cannon ship). The sleep of reason breeds monsters.
The idea of ​​"ganship" is not new - attempts to install heavy weapons on the aircraft were made during the Second World War. But only the Yankees guessed to mount a battery of several guns on board the S-130 Hercules military transport aircraft (an analogue of the Soviet An-12). At the same time, the trajectories of the fired shells are perpendicular to the course of the flying aircraft - the guns fire through the embrasures on the port side.

Alas, it’s not fun to shoot from a howitzer at cities and towns passing under the wing. The work of the AS-130 is much more prosaic: targets (fortified points, clusters of equipment, rebellious villages) are selected in advance. When approaching the target, the "gunship" makes a turn and begins to circle over the target with a constant roll to the port side, so that the trajectories of the projectiles converge exactly at the "aiming point" on the surface of the earth. Automation helps in complex ballistic calculations, the Gunship is equipped with the most modern sighting systems, thermal imagers and laser rangefinders.

Despite the seeming idiocy, the AS-130 Spektr is a simple and ingenious solution for low-intensity local conflicts. The main thing is that air defense the enemy was nothing more serious than MANPADS and heavy machine guns - otherwise, no heat traps and optoelectronic protection systems would save the gunship from fire from the ground.

Gunner's workplace

Workplace for loaders

Twin-engine attack aircraft Henschel-129

Norm. takeoff weight: 4.3 tons. Small arms and cannon armament: 2 rifle-caliber machine guns, two 20-mm automatic cannons with 125 rounds per barrel. Combat load: up to 200 kg of bombs, hanging cannon containers or other weapons. Crew: 1 pilot. Max. speed 320 km/h.

The plane is so ugly that there is no way to show its real b/w image. Hs.129, artist's fantasy.

The disgusting celestial slow-moving Hs.129 became the loudest failure of the aviation industry of the Third Reich. Bad plane in every sense. Textbooks for cadets of flight schools of the Red Army speak of its insignificance: where entire chapters are devoted to the "Messers" and "Junkers", Hs.129 received only a few general phrases: you can attack with impunity from all directions, except for a frontal attack. In short, shoot it down however you like. Slow, clumsy, weak, and on top of everything else "blind" aircraft - the German pilot did not see anything from his cockpit, except for a narrow section of the front hemisphere.

Serial production of the unsuccessful aircraft could have been curtailed before it could begin, but the encounter with tens of thousands of Soviet tanks forced the German command to take any possible measures to stop the T-34 and its countless "colleagues". As a result, the miserable attack aircraft, produced in the amount of only 878 copies, went through the entire war. Checked in Western front, in Africa, on the Kursk Bulge ...

The Germans repeatedly tried to modernize the “flying coffin”, put an ejection seat on it (otherwise the pilot could not escape from the cramped and uncomfortable cockpit), armed the Henschel with 50 mm and 75 mm anti-tank guns- after such a “modernization”, the plane barely kept in the air and somehow developed a speed of 250 km / h.
But the most unusual was the Forsterzond system - an aircraft equipped with a metal detector flew, almost clinging to the tops of trees. When the sensor was triggered, six 45 mm caliber projectiles were fired into the lower hemisphere, capable of breaking through the roof of any tank.

The story of the Hs.129 is a story of flying prowess. The Germans never complained about the poor quality of equipment and fought even on such wretched machines. At the same time, from time to time, they achieved some success, on the account of the damned "Henschel" there is a lot of blood of Soviet soldiers

Armored attack aircraft Su-25 "Rook"

Norm. takeoff weight: 14.6 tons. Small arms and cannon armament: double-barreled gun GSh-2-30 with 250 rounds of ammunition. Combat load: 10 hardpoints, up to 4 tons of bombs, unguided missiles, cannon containers and precision weapons. Crew: 1 pilot. Max. speed 950 km/h.

A symbol of the hot sky of Afghanistan, a Soviet subsonic attack aircraft with titanium armor (the total mass of armor plates reaches 600 kg).
The idea of ​​a subsonic highly protected percussion machine was born as a result of the analysis combat use aviation against ground targets during the Dnepr exercise in September 1967: whenever top scores demonstrated the subsonic MiG-17. The obsolete aircraft, unlike the supersonic Su-7 and Su-17 fighter-bombers, confidently found and accurately hit point ground targets.

As a result, the Rook was born, a specialized Su-25 attack aircraft with an extremely simple and durable design. An unpretentious "aircraft-soldier" capable of working on operational calls to the ground forces in the face of strong opposition from the front-line air defense of the enemy.

A significant role in the design of the Su-25 was played by the "captured" F-5 "Tiger" and A-37 "Dragonfly", which arrived in Soviet Union from Vietnam. By that time, the Americans had already "tasted" all the delights of the counterguerrilla war in the absence of a clear front line. The design of the Dragonfly light attack aircraft embodied all the accumulated combat experience, which, fortunately, was not bought with our blood.

As a result, at the beginning Afghan war The Su-25 became the only aircraft of the Soviet Air Force that was maximally adapted to such "non-standard" conflicts. In addition to Afghanistan, due to its low cost and ease of operation, the Rook attack aircraft was noted in a couple of dozen armed conflicts and civil wars around the world.

The best confirmation of the effectiveness of the Su-25 - "Rook" does not leave the assembly line for thirty years, in addition to the basic, export and combat training version, a number of new modifications have appeared: the Su-39 anti-tank attack aircraft, the Su-25UTG carrier-based aircraft, the modernized Su-25SM with " glass cockpit" and even the Georgian modification "Scorpion" with foreign avionics and sighting and navigation systems of Israeli production.

Assembly of the Su-25 "Scorpio" at the Georgian aircraft factory "Tbilaviamsheni"

Multirole fighter P-47 "Thunderbolt"

Norm. takeoff weight: 6 tons. Small arms and cannon armament: eight 50-caliber machine guns with 425 rounds of ammunition per barrel. Combat load: 10 hardpoints for 127 mm unguided rockets, up to 1000 kg of bombs. Crew: 1 pilot. Max. speed 700 km/h.

The legendary predecessor of the modern A-10 attack aircraft, designed by the Georgian aircraft designer Alexander Kartvelishvili. Considered one of the best fighters of World War II. Luxurious cockpit equipment, exceptional survivability and security, powerful weapons, a flight range of 3700 km (from Moscow to Berlin and back!), Turbocharging, which allowed a heavy aircraft to fight at sky-high heights.
All this is achieved thanks to the introduction of the Pratt & Whitney R2800 engine - an incredible 18-cylinder air-cooled star with 2400 hp.

But what makes an escort high-altitude fighter on our list of the best attack aircraft? The answer is simple - the combat load of the Thunderbolt was comparable to the combat load of two Il-2 attack aircraft. Plus eight large-caliber Brownings with a total of 3400 rounds of ammunition - any unarmored target will turn into a sieve! And to destroy heavy armored vehicles under the wing of the Thunderbolt, 10 unguided rockets with cumulative warheads could be suspended.

As a result, the P-47 fighter was successfully used on the Western Front as an attack aircraft. The last thing that many German tankers saw in their lives was a silvery blunt-nosed log swooping down on them, spewing streams of deadly fire.

P-47D Thunderbolt. In the background is a B-29 Enola Gay, US National Air and Space Museum

Armored Sturmovik Il-2 vs Dive Bomber Junkers-87

An attempt to compare the Ju.87 with the Il-2 attack aircraft every time meets with fierce objections: how dare you! these are different aircraft: one attacks the target in a steep dive, the second one fires at the target from a strafing flight.
But these are just technical details. In fact, both vehicles are "battlefield aircraft" designed to directly support ground troops. They have common tasks and a SINGLE purpose. But which of the methods of attack is more effective - to find out.

Junkers-87 "Thing". Norm. takeoff weight: 4.5 tons. Small arms and cannon armament: 3 machine guns of 7.92 mm caliber. Bomb load: could reach 1 ton, but usually did not exceed 250 kg. Crew: 2 people. Max. speed 390 km / h (in level flight, of course).

In September 1941, 12 Ju.87s were produced. By November 1941, the production of the "lappet" was practically discontinued - a total of 2 aircraft were produced. By the beginning of 1942, the production of dive bombers resumed again - in just the next six months, the Germans built about 700 Ju.87. It is simply amazing how the "lappet" produced in such insignificant quantities could do so many troubles!

The tabular characteristics of the Ju.87 are also surprising - the aircraft was morally obsolete 10 years before its appearance, what kind of combat use can we talk about ?! But, the main thing is not indicated in the tables - a very strong, rigid structure and brake aerodynamic grilles, which allowed the “lappeteer” to dive almost vertically on the target. At the same time, Ju.87 could GUARANTEED to “put” a bomb in a circle with a radius of 30 meters! At the exit from a steep dive, the speed of the Ju.87 exceeded 600 km / h - it was extremely difficult for Soviet anti-aircraft gunners to hit such a fast target, constantly changing its speed and altitude. The barrage of anti-aircraft fire was also ineffective - the diving "lappet" could at any moment change the slope of its trajectory and leave the affected area.
However, despite all its unique qualities, the high efficiency of the Ju.87 was explained by completely different, much deeper reasons.

IL-2 Sturmovik: normal. takeoff weight 6 tons. Small arms and cannon armament: 2 VYa-23 automatic cannons of 23 mm caliber with 150 rounds of ammunition per barrel; 2 ShKAS machine guns with 750 rounds per gun; one heavy machine gun Berezina to protect the rear hemisphere, 150 rounds of ammunition. Combat load - up to 600 kg of bombs or 8 RS-82 unguided rockets, in reality, the bomb load usually did not exceed 400 kg. Crew 2 people. Max. speed 414 km/h

“It doesn’t go into a tailspin, it flies steadily in a straight line even with the controls abandoned, it sits down by itself. Simple as a stool"

- opinion of IL-2 pilots

The most massive aircraft in the history of combat aviation, "flying tank", "concrete aircraft" or simply "Schwarzer Tod" (incorrect, literal translation - "black death", the correct translation - "plague"). A revolutionary vehicle for its time: double-curved stamped armor panels, fully integrated into the structure of the Stormtrooper; rocket projectiles; most powerful cannon armament ...

In total, during the war years, 36 thousand Il-2 aircraft were produced (plus about a thousand more modernized Il-10 attack aircraft in the first half of 1945). The number of released ILs exceeded the number of all German tanks and self-propelled guns that were available on the Eastern Front - if each Il-2 destroyed at least one unit of enemy armored vehicles, the steel wedges of the Panzerwaffe would simply cease to exist!

Many questions are connected with the invulnerability of the Stormtrooper. The harsh reality confirms that heavy armor and aviation are incompatible things. German shells automatic gun MG 151/20 pierced through the armored cab of the Il-2. The wing consoles and the rear fuselage of the Sturmovik were generally made of plywood and had no armor - the burst of an anti-aircraft machine gun easily “chopped off” the wing or tail from the armored cabin with the pilots.

The meaning of the “booking” of the Sturmovik was different - at extremely low altitudes, the probability of hitting German infantry with small arms fire sharply increased. This is where the Il-2 armored cabin came in handy - it perfectly “held” rifle-caliber bullets, and as for the plywood wing consoles, small-caliber bullets could not harm them - the Ilys returned safely to the airfield, having several hundred bullet holes.

And yet, the statistics of the combat use of the Il-2 is bleak: 10,759 aircraft of this type were lost in combat missions (excluding non-combat accidents, disasters and write-offs for technical reasons). With the weapons of the Stormtrooper, too, everything was not so simple:

When firing from the VYa-23 cannon, with a total consumption of 435 shells in 6 sorties, the pilots of the 245th ShAP received 46 hits in a column of tanks (10.6%), of which only 16 hits in the aiming point tank (3.7%).

- a report on the tests of the Il-2 at the Research Institute of Armaments of the Air Force

Without any opposition from the enemy, in ideal polygon conditions for a known target! Moreover, shooting from a shallow dive had a bad effect on armor penetration: the shells simply ricocheted off the armor - in no case was it possible to penetrate the armor of enemy medium tanks.

An attack with bombs left even less chance: when dropping 4 bombs from a horizontal flight from a height of 50 meters, the probability of at least one bomb hitting a 20 × 100 m strip (a section of a wide highway or an artillery battery position) was only 8%! Approximately the same figure expressed the accuracy of firing rockets.

White phosphorus showed itself well, however, the high requirements for its storage made it impossible for its mass use in combat conditions. But the most interesting story associated with cumulative anti-tank bombs (PTAB), weighing 1.5-2.5 kg - the Attack aircraft could take on board up to 196 such ammunition in each sortie. In the first days of the Kursk Bulge, the effect was stunning: the Stormtroopers “carried out” 6-8 fascist tanks with PTABs at a time, in order to avoid a complete defeat, the Germans had to urgently change the order of building tanks. However, the real effectiveness of these weapons is often questioned: during the war years, 12 million PTABs were manufactured: if at least 10% of this amount were used in battle, and of these, 3% of the bombs hit the target, there would be nothing from the armored forces of the Wehrmacht not left.

As practice shows, the main targets of the Stormtroopers were still not tanks, but German infantry, firing points and artillery batteries, clusters of equipment, railway stations and warehouses in the front line. The contribution of Stormtroopers to the victory over fascism is invaluable.

So, before us are the seven best aircraft for direct support of ground forces. Each "superhero" has its own unique story and its own unique "secret of success". As you can see, all of them do not have high flight characteristics, rather the opposite - all as one clumsy, slow-moving "irons" with imperfect aerodynamics, given at the mercy of increased survivability and armament. So what is the meaning of the existence of these aircraft?

152 mm gun-howitzer D-20 is towed by a ZIL-375 truck with maximum speed 60 km/h Attack aircraft "Rook" flies in the sky at a speed of 15 times faster. This circumstance allows the aircraft to arrive in a matter of minutes at the desired section of the front line and pour a hail of powerful ammunition on the enemy's head. Artillery, alas, does not have such opportunities for operational maneuver.

From this follows a straightforward conclusion: the effectiveness of the "battlefield aviation" primarily depends on the competent interaction between the ground forces and the air force. High-quality, communication, organization, correct tactics, competent actions of commanders, air traffic controllers-spotters. If everything is done correctly, aviation will bring victory on its wings. Violation of these conditions will inevitably cause "friendly fire".

In 1963, the armament of the naval forces and the corps marines The United States adopted the Grumman A-6 Intruder carrier-based attack aircraft. These machines actively participated in the Vietnam War and several other armed conflicts. Good performance and ease of use made this attack aircraft widely known and became the reason for a lot of positive reviews. However, any aircraft becomes obsolete over time, and the Intruder is no exception. In the early eighties, it became clear that over the next 10-15 years these aircraft would have to be removed from service due to the inexpediency further modernization. The Navy needed a new aircraft to attack ground targets.

The ATA (Advanced Tactical Aircraft) program began in 1983. At first, naval commanders wanted to make a single project of a universal aircraft. It was supposed to become the basis for an attack bomber, a fighter, as well as several other auxiliary machines, for example, a jammer or reconnaissance aircraft. However, such bold plans were soon abandoned. Firstly, it became clear that such a project would be too expensive, and secondly, there were options for upgrading existing F-14 aircraft. Finally, the fight against air opponents could now be assigned to the latest F / A-18 fighter-bombers, which had just entered service. Thus, it was possible to attend only to the creation of a new carrier-based attack aircraft.

In the mid-eighties, the shape of the future aircraft began to take shape. Since it was no longer supposed to intercept enemy aircraft, it was decided to make it subsonic and equip it with on-board electronic equipment “sharpened” for working on ground targets. In addition, in accordance with the latest trends in the American aircraft industry, the promising ATA attack aircraft should have been made inconspicuous for enemy radars. Such a requirement was due to the need to work, including in the conditions of serious enemy air defense. Since the task was rather difficult, the Pentagon attracted two groups of aircraft manufacturers to research. The first included McDonnell Douglas and General Dynamics, and the second included Grumman, Northrop and Vought.

During the ATA project, a variety of options for the aerodynamic appearance of the new aircraft were considered. From a simple redesign of the F/A-18 airframe with reduced radar visibility to the most fantastic designs. For example, a variant with a reverse sweep wing was seriously considered. However, a flying wing was quickly chosen from the whole variety of layouts, since it had the best combination of stealth and flight characteristics. At the very end of 1987, the customer, represented by the Navy and the ILC, decided which firms would be involved in further design work. The main contractors for the project were McDonnell Douglas and General Dynamics.

The Navy and Marine Corps intended to buy a total of 450-500 ATA attack aircraft. At the same time, they did not forget about the economic side of the matter. The contract for the development of the aircraft clearly stipulated financial terms. Thus, the recommended development cost was $4.38 billion, and the maximum cost was $4.78 billion. In addition, the Pentagon financiers took interesting measures in case the project became more expensive. In order for the development firms to be interested in maintaining an acceptable cost, the military insisted on following conditions. If the cost of the program exceeds the recommended one, then the military department pays only 60% of the overrun, and contractors take on the rest. If they fail to meet the marginal cost, then they bear all the extra costs, and the Pentagon pays only the recommended amount of costs.

Around the same time, the main points of the appearance of a promising aircraft were fully formed. The projected attack aircraft was a flying triangular wing with a sweep of 48 ° along the leading edge and a protruding lantern in the bow. In addition to the lantern, no units protruded above the surface of the wing - ATA fully met the definition of a flying wing. This feature of the aircraft was due to the requirements for stealth. Just at this time, the development of the B-2 strategic bomber was being completed, and the creators of ATA decided to follow the same path as the Northrop Grumman engineers. It was planned to provide stealth not only with the shape of the wing. Almost all the main elements of the power set and skin were proposed to be made from carbon fiber composites. Similar materials have been repeatedly used in the American aircraft industry, but the ATA was to be the first aircraft in the United States with such a large proportion of plastic in the construction.

The general weight and size parameters of the aircraft were determined at the stage of the preliminary design and subsequently underwent almost no major changes. With a body-wing length of 11.5 meters, the ATA attack aircraft was supposed to have a wingspan of 21 and a parking height of 3.4 meters. Dry weight was assumed at the level of 17.5-18 tons, the maximum take-off - no more than 29-30 tons. Of these, up to 9500-9700 kilograms accounted for fuel placed in several tanks of complex shape.

Just a few months after identifying the development firms, the Pentagon changed its plans. Now the military was going to buy ATA attack aircraft not only for the Navy and Marine Corps, but also for the Air Force. The total number of required machines was determined at the level of 850-860 units. Later, in 1990, the aircraft received its own designation. It was named the A-12 Avenger II, after the Grumman TFB/TFM Avenger carrier-based torpedo bomber of the Second World War. The first flight of the new aircraft was originally planned for 1991, and the first production aircraft were to go to combat units no later than 1994-95. In general, the plans for the new aircraft were more than optimistic, but the expectations were not justified.

Even at the stage of preliminary design, before the choice of development companies, the customer decided on the requirements for power plant new aircraft. For unification and cost reduction, they chose the F412-GE-400 turbojet engines. Two of these motors provided thrust of 6700 kgf. The air intakes of the engines were located on the front of the wing, below its edge. The air went to the engines through curved channels, which prevented the radar radiation from hitting the compressor blades. Before installing the engines on the A-12 aircraft, it was supposed to carry out a small technological upgrade. It was planned to redesign several auxiliary units, as well as install a new digital control system.

The desire to reduce the cost of the finished aircraft affected the composition of the avionics equipment. The designers of McDonnell Douglas and General Dynamics tried to balance on the verge of high performance and relatively low prices. At the same time, the overall layout of the aircraft forced them to apply several original solutions. As radar station Westinghouse AN / APQ-183 was chosen, which was a development of the radar of the F-16 fighter. Due to the specific shape of the wing-body, this radar station was equipped with two antennas with passive phased arrays at once. They were placed on the leading edge, near the cockpit. The AN / APQ-183 radar could provide a search for ground, surface and air targets, made it possible to follow the terrain, etc. Despite the general intentions to reduce the cost of the station, it received five computing modules with a performance of 125 Mflops each. As a result, the radar of the A-12 attack aircraft had a combat potential at the level of fourth-generation fighters.

In addition to the radar station, the A-12 received an optical-electronic station with a thermal imaging channel manufactured by the same Westinghouse company. This station consisted of two modules. The first of them followed a wide sector and was intended for flying at night or in difficult weather conditions, as well as for searching for targets. For the attack, it was necessary to use a second module with a narrow field of view. He could find and accompany ground and air targets, as well as issue information to the sighting system.

Despite the need to reduce the cost of the program as a whole and each aircraft in particular, the A-12 attack aircraft received a modern "glass" cockpit for two pilots. The pilot had at his disposal three multifunctional liquid crystal indicators (one 8x8 inches and two 6x6) and an indicator on the windshield measuring 30x23 degrees. In the rear cockpit of the navigator-operator there was one 8x8-inch color display and three smaller monochrome ones, 6x6. Control systems were distributed between the pilot and navigator in such a way that the crew commander could single-handedly carry out an attack with certain types of weapons, as well as resist enemy fighters.

In the middle part of the flying wing, on the sides of the engines, the A-12 had two relatively long cargo bays. Two more volumes for weapons, but smaller, were located in the consoles, immediately behind the niches of the main landing gear. It was possible to hang weapons with a total mass of up to 3-3.5 tons on the suspension devices of the cargo compartments. However, due to their relatively small dimensions, the central compartments could only accommodate one 2000 lb guided bomb. The side weapon bays were originally designed to carry and launch AIM-120 AMRAAM air-to-air missiles. In the case of operations in an area with relatively weak air defense, the A-12 attack aircraft, at the cost of increasing visibility for the radar, could carry twice as many weapons. At the same time, up to 3.5 tons of load could be suspended on external nodes. It is noteworthy that built-in weapons in the form of an automatic gun were not provided.

The A-12 aircraft was originally created for the Navy and the Marine Corps, so they immediately began to adapt it for use on aircraft carriers. For this, the wing consoles were made folding. The folding axis was located immediately behind the side weapons bays. Interestingly, the unfolded wing of the A-12 attack aircraft had a significantly larger span compared to the F-14 fighter in the takeoff configuration: 21.4 meters versus 19.55; but at the same time, the A-12 won in terms of its size when folded, since its span was reduced to 11 meters against 11.6. The older A-6 in both cases had a smaller wingspan than the A-12. However, because of the "flying wing" architecture, the new aircraft outperformed everyone in terms of length. From the nose to the trailing edge of the wing was only 11.5 meters. Thus, the new A-12 took up significantly less space than the F-14 or A-6. The nose landing gear was further strengthened for use with aircraft carrier steam catapults.

Although the A-12 was planned to be armed with relatively long-range missiles and guided bombs, the aircraft still received armor elements. The cockpit, engines and a number of important units received additional protection. Thanks to the “flying wing” scheme, it was possible to place the armor elements in such a way that the combat survivability of the aircraft increased dramatically. The A-12 is estimated to be 12 times more durable than the A-6 and 4-5 times more durable than the F/A-18. Thus, the level of protection of the carrier-based attack aircraft turned out to be approximately at the level of another aircraft of a similar purpose, but "land" - A-10.

At the later stages of design, when not only common features were determined, but the smallest nuances were worked out, the designers of McDonnell Douglas and General Dynamics managed to calculate the expected flight characteristics promising attack aircraft. With the help of engines without an afterburner, he could accelerate to a speed of 930 km / h and fly at a distance of up to 1480-1500 kilometers. The practical ceiling of the car did not exceed 12.2-12.5 kilometers. With such flight data, the new A-12 could perform tasks of attacking enemy targets at tactical depth. In other words, it was possible to fulfill all the tactical and technical requirements of the military.

The development of the new aircraft proceeded at a rapid pace, but in the end this speed did not give any result. By the end of 1989, it turned out that the recommended project budget was exceeded by almost a billion dollars. These costs, in accordance with the terms of the contract, were to be entirely borne by uneconomical developers. In addition, a number of technical problems remained, transparently hinting at a further increase in the cost of the program. The Pentagon began to get nervous. While maintaining the planned volume of purchases, the re-equipment of the Navy and the ILC could cost 55-60 billion dollars, which was much more than the originally planned amount. Firms-developers were forced to initiate additional negotiations to change the terms of the contract.

The military for a long time did not want to meet halfway and soften financial requirements to the project. At the same time, seeing a number of serious problems and the emerging disruption of the planned deadlines, the command of the Marine Corps refused to purchase new aircraft. Thus, the order was reduced to 620 vehicles, and the planned production rate was cut from 48 to 36 attack aircraft per year. At this time, the designers had to urgently solve the problem with the grade of carbon fiber for some parts of the airframe. An alternative variety was nevertheless found, but because of it, the aircraft in the most loaded form became heavier from the required 29.5 to 36 tons. This did not suit the sailors, since from the very beginning they demanded such a mass and dimensions at which one aircraft carrier aircraft carrier could deliver two A-12s to the flight deck at once.

However, the assembly of the first prototype continued, albeit seriously behind schedule. As of January 1991, the delay was already 18 months, and dissatisfied voices sounded louder on the sidelines of the American military department. By the same time, the total costs of the Pentagon and development companies for the development of a promising attack aircraft reached $ 7.5 billion. The first flight, in turn, was once again postponed, now to 1992. All problems with money and deadlines ended on January 7, 1991. After reviewing the reports on the project for the previous 1990, the command of the US Navy made the only possible right decision. The A-12 project was closed due to unclear prospects and uncontrolled cost growth. Initially, it was assumed that a total of approximately $45 billion would be allocated for the purchase of aircraft, and each aircraft would cost no more than 50 million. But at the beginning of the 91st year, the cost of an individual aircraft exceeded the mark of 85-90 million, and in the future this figure could only increase.

The A-12 project was discontinued after a special order from the then US Secretary of Defense D. Cheney. He commented on the order as follows: “I closed the A-12 project. This decision was not easy, because we had a very important task before us. But no one could tell me how much the whole program would cost or when it would end. Previous forecasts were found to be inaccurate and outdated in just a few months.”

The A-6 Intruder carrier-based attack aircraft, to replace which the new A-12 Avenger II was created, served in the US Navy until 1997, after which they were decommissioned. Currently, a number of aircraft remain in service. electronic warfare EA-6B, created on the basis of "Intruders". As for the attack on ground targets, over the past fifteen years, such tasks have been assigned exclusively to F / A-18 fighter-bombers of various modifications. The creation of a full-fledged carrier-based attack aircraft is not planned.

According to the websites:
http://globalsecurity.org/
http://flightglobal.com/
http://paralay.com/
http://foreignaffairs.com/
http://jsf.mil/

In a combined-arms offensive battle, air support can be dispensed with: the howitzer artillery battalion of the Soviet army could unleash half a thousand 152-mm shells on the head of the enemy in one hour! Artillery strikes in fog, thunderstorms and blizzards, and aviation work is often limited by adverse weather conditions and dark hours.

Of course, aviation has its strengths. Bombers can use ammunition of enormous power - an elderly Su-24 shoots up like an arrow with two KAB-1500 bombs under the wing. The ammo index speaks for itself. It is difficult to imagine an artillery piece capable of firing such heavy projectiles. The monstrous Type 94 naval gun (Japan) had a caliber of 460 mm and a gun weight of 165 tons! At the same time, its firing range barely reached 40 km. Unlike the Japanese artillery system, the Su-24 can "throw" a couple of its 1.5-ton bombs over five hundred kilometers.

But for direct fire support of ground troops, such powerful ammunition is not required, as well as an ultra-long firing range! The legendary D-20 howitzer cannon has a range of 17 kilometers - more than enough to hit any targets in the front line. And the power of its shells weighing 45-50 kilograms is enough to destroy most objects at the forefront of enemy defense. After all, it is no coincidence that during the Second World War, the Luftwaffe abandoned the “hundredths” - 50 kg air bombs were enough to directly support the ground forces.

As a result, we are faced with a surprising paradox - from the point of view of logic, effective fire support at the forefront can only be provided by the use of artillery. There is no need to use attack aircraft and other "battlefield aircraft" - expensive and unreliable "toys" with redundant capabilities.

On the other hand, any modern combined-arms offensive battle without high-quality air support is doomed to an early and inevitable defeat. Attack aviation has its own secret of success. And this secret has nothing to do with the flight characteristics of the "battlefield aircraft" themselves, the thickness of their armor and the power of the onboard weapons.

To solve the puzzle, I invite readers to get acquainted with the seven best attack aircraft and close support aircraft in the history of aviation, trace the combat path of these legendary machines and answer the main question: what is ground attack aircraft for?

Anti-tank attack aircraft A-10 "Thunderbolt II" ("Strike Gorm")
Norm. takeoff weight: 14 tons. Cannon armament: GAU-8 seven-barrel gun with 1350 rounds of ammunition. Combat load: 11 suspension points, up to 7.5 tons of bombs, NURS units and high-precision weapons. Crew: 1 pilot. Max. ground speed 720 km/h.

The Thunderbolt is not a plane. This is a real flying gun! The main structural element around which the Thunderbolt is built is the incredible GAU-8 cannon with a rotating block of seven barrels. The most powerful 30mm aircraft cannon ever mounted on an aircraft - its recoil exceeds the thrust of two Thunderbolt jet engines! Rate of fire 1800…3900 rds/min. The speed of the projectile at the muzzle reaches 1 km/s.

A story about the fantastic gun GAU-8 would be incomplete without mentioning its ammunition. The armor-piercing PGU-14/B with a depleted uranium core is especially popular, penetrating 69 mm of armor at a distance of 500 meters at a right angle. For comparison: the thickness of the roof of the Soviet infantry fighting vehicle of the first generation is 6 mm, the side of the hull is 14 mm. The phenomenal accuracy of the gun allows, from a distance of 1200 meters, to lay 80% of the shells in a circle with a diameter of about six meters. In other words, a one-second volley at maximum fire rate gives 50 hits on an enemy tank!

A worthy representative of its class, created at the height of the Cold War to exterminate Soviet tank armadas. The "Flying Cross" does not suffer from the lack of modern sighting and navigation systems and high-precision weapons, and the high survivability of its design has been repeatedly confirmed in local wars in recent years.

Armored attack aircraft Su-25 "Rook"
Norm. takeoff weight: 14.6 tons. Small arms and cannon armament: double-barreled gun GSh-2-30 with 250 rounds of ammunition. Combat load: 10 hardpoints, up to 4 tons of bombs, unguided missiles, cannon containers and precision weapons. Crew: 1 pilot. Max. speed 950 km/h.

A symbol of the hot sky of Afghanistan, a Soviet subsonic attack aircraft with titanium armor (the total mass of armor plates reaches 600 kg).

The idea of ​​a subsonic highly protected attack vehicle was born as a result of an analysis of the combat use of aviation against ground targets during the Dnepr exercises in September 1967: each time, the subsonic MiG-17 demonstrated the best results. The obsolete aircraft, unlike the supersonic Su-7 and Su-17 fighter-bombers, confidently found and accurately hit point ground targets.

As a result, the Rook was born, a specialized Su-25 attack aircraft with an extremely simple and durable design. An unpretentious "aircraft-soldier" capable of working on operational calls to the ground forces in the face of strong opposition from the front-line air defense of the enemy.

A significant role in the design of the Su-25 was played by the captured F-5 Tiger and A-37 Dragonfly, which arrived in the Soviet Union from Vietnam. By that time, the Americans had already "tasted" all the delights of the counterguerrilla war in the absence of a clear front line. The design of the Dragonfly light attack aircraft embodied all the accumulated combat experience, which, fortunately, was not bought with our blood.

As a result, by the beginning of the Afghan war, the Su-25 became the only aircraft of the Soviet Air Force that was maximally adapted to such "non-standard" conflicts. In addition to Afghanistan, due to its cheapness and ease of operation, the Rook attack aircraft was noted in a couple of dozen armed conflicts and civil wars around the world.

The best confirmation of the effectiveness of the Su-25 - "Rook" does not leave the assembly line for thirty years, in addition to the basic, export and combat training version, a number of new modifications have appeared: the Su-39 anti-tank attack aircraft, the Su-25UTG carrier-based aircraft, the modernized Su-25SM with " glass cockpit" and even the Georgian modification "Scorpion" with foreign avionics and sighting and navigation systems of Israeli production.

Fire support aircraft AS-130 Spektr
Norm. takeoff weight: 60 tons. Small arms and cannon armament: 105 mm howitzer, 40 mm automatic cannon, two 6-barrel "Volcano" caliber 20 mm. Crew: 13 people. Max. speed 480 km/h.

At the sight of the attacking Spectrum, Jung and Freud would have embraced like brothers and wept with happiness. The national American pastime is the shooting of the Papuans from cannons from the board of a flying aircraft (the so-called "gunship" - a cannon ship). The sleep of reason breeds monsters.
The idea of ​​"ganship" is not new - attempts to install heavy weapons on the aircraft were made during the Second World War.

But only the Yankees guessed to mount a battery of several guns on board the S-130 Hercules military transport aircraft (an analogue of the Soviet An-12). In this case, the trajectories of the fired shells are perpendicular to the course of the flying aircraft - the guns fire through the embrasures on the port side.

Alas, it’s not fun to shoot from a howitzer at cities and towns passing under the wing. The work of the AS-130 is much more prosaic: targets (fortified points, clusters of equipment, rebellious villages) are selected in advance. When approaching the target, the "gunship" makes a turn and begins to circle over the target with a constant roll to the port side, so that the trajectories of the projectiles converge exactly at the "aiming point" on the surface of the earth. Automation helps in complex ballistic calculations, the Gunship is equipped with the most modern sighting systems, thermal imagers and laser rangefinders.

Workplace for loaders

Despite the seeming idiocy, the AS-130 Spektr is a simple and ingenious solution for low-intensity local conflicts. The main thing is that the enemy’s air defense should not have anything more serious than MANPADS and heavy machine guns - otherwise, no heat traps and optoelectronic protection systems will save the gunship from fire from the ground.

Twin-engine attack aircraft Henschel-129
Norm. takeoff weight: 4.3 tons. Small arms and cannon armament: 2 rifle-caliber machine guns, two 20-mm automatic cannons with 125 rounds per barrel. Combat load: up to 200 kg of bombs, hanging cannon containers or other weapons. Crew: 1 pilot. Max. speed 320 km/h.

The disgusting celestial slow-moving Hs.129 became the loudest failure of the aviation industry of the Third Reich. Bad plane in every sense. Textbooks for cadets of flight schools of the Red Army speak of its insignificance: where entire chapters are devoted to the "Messers" and "Junkers", Hs.129 received only a few general phrases: you can attack with impunity from all directions, except for a frontal attack. In short, shoot it down however you like. Slow, clumsy, weak, and on top of everything else "blind" aircraft - the German pilot could not see anything from his cockpit, except for a narrow section of the front hemisphere.

Serial production of the unsuccessful aircraft could have been curtailed before it could begin, but the encounter with tens of thousands of Soviet tanks forced the German command to take any possible measures to stop the T-34 and its countless "colleagues". As a result, the miserable attack aircraft, produced in the amount of only 878 copies, went through the entire war. He was noted on the Western Front, in Africa, on the Kursk Bulge ...

The Germans repeatedly tried to modernize the “flying coffin”, put an ejection seat on it (otherwise the pilot could not escape from the cramped and uncomfortable cockpit), armed the Henschel with 50 mm and 75 mm anti-tank guns - after such a “modernization”, the plane barely kept in the air and somehow developed a speed of 250 km / h.

But the most unusual was the Forsterzond system - an aircraft equipped with a metal detector flew, almost clinging to the tops of trees. When the sensor was triggered, six 45 mm caliber projectiles were fired into the lower hemisphere, capable of breaking through the roof of any tank.

The story of the Hs.129 is a story of flying prowess. The Germans never complained about the poor quality of equipment and fought even on such wretched machines. At the same time, from time to time, they achieved some success, on the account of the damned "Henschel" there is a lot of blood of Soviet soldiers.

Armored Sturmovik Il-2 vs Dive Bomber Junkers-87
An attempt to compare the Ju.87 with the Il-2 attack aircraft every time meets with fierce objections: how dare you! these are different aircraft: one attacks the target in a steep dive, the second one fires at the target from a strafing flight.
But these are just technical details. In fact, both vehicles are "battlefield aircraft" designed to directly support ground troops. They have common tasks and a SINGLE purpose. But which of the methods of attack is more effective - to find out.

Junkers-87 "Thing". Norm. takeoff weight: 4.5 tons. Small arms and cannon armament: 3 machine guns of 7.92 mm caliber. Bomb load: could reach 1 ton, but usually did not exceed 250 kg. Crew: 2 people. Max. speed 390 km / h (in level flight, of course).

In September 1941, 12 Ju-87s were produced. By November 1941, the production of the "lappet" was practically discontinued - a total of 2 aircraft were produced. By the beginning of 1942, the production of dive bombers resumed again - in just the next six months, the Germans built about 700 Ju.87. It is simply amazing how the "lappet" produced in such insignificant quantities could do so many troubles!

The tabular characteristics of the Ju-87 are also surprising - the aircraft was morally obsolete 10 years before its appearance, what kind of combat use can we talk about ?! But, the main thing is not indicated in the tables - a very strong, rigid structure and brake aerodynamic grilles, which allowed the “lappeteer” to dive almost vertically on the target. At the same time, the Ju-87 could GUARANTEED to “put” a bomb in a circle with a radius of 30 meters!

At the exit from a steep dive, the speed of the Ju-87 exceeded 600 km / h - it was extremely difficult for Soviet anti-aircraft gunners to hit such a fast target, constantly changing its speed and altitude. The barrage of anti-aircraft fire was also ineffective - the diving "lappet" could at any moment change the slope of its trajectory and leave the affected area. However, despite all its unique qualities, the high efficiency of the Ju-87 was explained by completely different, much deeper reasons.

Sturmovik Il-2 : normal. takeoff weight 6 tons. Small arms and cannon armament: 2 VYa-23 automatic cannons of 23 mm caliber with 150 rounds of ammunition per barrel; 2 ShKAS machine guns with 750 rounds per gun; 1 heavy machine gun Berezina to protect the rear hemisphere, 150 rounds of ammunition. Combat load - up to 600 kg of bombs or 8 RS-82 unguided rockets, in reality, the bomb load usually did not exceed 400 kg. Crew 2 people. Max. speed 414 km/h

« It does not fall into a tailspin, it flies steadily in a straight line even with abandoned controls, it sits down by itself. Simple as a stool"- the opinion of the IL-2 pilots.

The most massive aircraft in the history of military aviation, “flying tank”, “concrete aircraft” or simply “Schwarzer Tod” (incorrect, literal translation - “ Black Death”, the correct translation is “plague”). A revolutionary vehicle for its time: double-curved stamped armor panels, fully integrated into the structure of the Stormtrooper; rocket projectiles; most powerful cannon armament ...

In total, during the war years, 36,000 Il-2 aircraft were produced (plus about a thousand more modernized Il-10 attack aircraft in the first half of 1945). The number of ILs released exceeded the number of all German tanks and self-propelled guns available on the Eastern Front - if each Il-2 destroyed at least one unit of enemy armored vehicles, the steel wedges of the Panzerwaffe would simply cease to exist!

Many questions are connected with the invulnerability of the Stormtrooper. The harsh reality confirms that heavy armor and aviation are incompatible things. The shells of the German automatic gun MG 151/20 pierced through the armored cabin of the Il-2. The wing consoles and the rear fuselage of the Sturmovik were generally made of plywood and had no armor - the burst of an anti-aircraft machine gun easily “chopped off” the wing or tail from the armored cabin with the pilots.

The meaning of the “booking” of the Sturmovik was different - at extremely low altitudes, the probability of hitting German infantry with small arms fire sharply increased. This is where the Il-2 armored cabin came in handy - it perfectly “held” rifle-caliber bullets, and as for the plywood wing consoles, small-caliber bullets could not harm them - the Ilys returned safely to the airfield, having several hundred bullet holes.

And yet, the statistics of the combat use of the Il-2 is bleak: 10,759 aircraft of this type were lost in combat missions (excluding non-combat accidents, disasters and write-offs for technical reasons). With the weapons of the Stormtrooper, too, everything was not so simple:

... when firing from the VYA-23 cannon with a total consumption of 435 shells in 6 sorties, the pilots of the 245th ShAP received 46 hits in a column of tanks (10.6%), of which only 16 hits in the aiming point tank (3.7%), - a report on the tests of the Il-2 at the Research Institute of Armaments of the Air Force.

And this is without any opposition from the enemy, in ideal polygon conditions for a previously known target! Moreover, shooting from a shallow dive had a bad effect on armor penetration: the shells simply ricocheted off the armor - in no case was it possible to penetrate the armor of enemy medium tanks.

An attack with bombs left even less chance: when dropping 4 bombs from a horizontal flight from a height of 50 meters, the probability of at least one bomb hitting a 20 × 100 m strip (a section of a wide highway or an artillery battery position) was only 8%! Approximately the same figure expressed the accuracy of firing rockets.

White phosphorus showed itself well, however, the high requirements for its storage made it impossible for its mass use in combat conditions. But the most interesting story is connected with cumulative anti-tank bombs (PTAB), weighing 1.5 ... 2.5 kg - an attack aircraft could take on board up to 196 such ammunition in each sortie. In the first days of the Kursk Bulge, the effect was stunning: the Stormtroopers “carried out” 6-8 fascist tanks with PTABs at a time, in order to avoid a complete defeat, the Germans had to urgently change the order of building tanks.

However, the real effectiveness of these weapons is often questioned: during the war years, 12 million PTABs were manufactured: if at least 10% of this amount were used in battle, and of these, 3% of the bombs hit the target, there would be nothing from the armored forces of the Wehrmacht not left.

As practice shows, the main targets of the Stormtroopers were still not tanks, but German infantry, firing points and artillery batteries, accumulations of equipment, railway stations and warehouses in the front line. The contribution of Stormtroopers to the victory over fascism is invaluable.

Multirole fighter P-47 "Thunderbolt"
Norm. takeoff weight: 6 tons. Small arms and cannon armament: eight 50-caliber machine guns with 425 rounds of ammunition per barrel. Combat load: 10 hardpoints for 127 mm unguided rockets, up to 1000 kg of bombs. Crew: 1 pilot. Max. speed 700 km/h.

The legendary predecessor of the modern A-10 attack aircraft, designed by the Georgian aircraft designer Alexander Kartvelishvili. Considered one of the best fighters of World War II. Luxurious cockpit equipment, exceptional survivability and security, powerful weapons, a flight range of 3700 km (from Moscow to Berlin and back!), Turbocharging, which allowed a heavy aircraft to fight at sky-high heights. All this is achieved thanks to the introduction of the Pratt & Whitney R2800 engine - an incredible 18-cylinder air-cooled star with 2400 hp.

But what makes an escort high-altitude fighter on our list of the best attack aircraft? The answer is simple - the combat load of the Thunderbolt was comparable to the combat load of two Il-2 attack aircraft. Plus eight large-caliber Brownings with a total of 3400 rounds of ammunition - any unarmored target will turn into a sieve! And to destroy heavy armored vehicles under the wing of the Thunderbolt, 10 unguided rockets with cumulative warheads could be suspended.

As a result, the P-47 fighter was successfully used on the Western Front as an attack aircraft. The last thing that many German tankers saw in their lives was a silvery blunt-nosed log swooping down on them, spewing streams of deadly fire.

So, before us are the seven best aircraft for direct support of ground forces. Each "superhero" has its own unique story and its own unique "secret of success". As you can see, all of them do not have high flight characteristics, rather the opposite - all as one clumsy, slow-moving "irons" with imperfect aerodynamics, given at the mercy of increased survivability and armament. So what is the meaning of the existence of these aircraft?

The 152 mm D-20 howitzer gun is towed by a ZIL-375 truck with a maximum speed of 60 km/h. Attack aircraft "Rook" flies in the sky at a speed of 15 times faster. This circumstance allows the aircraft to arrive in a matter of minutes at the desired section of the front line and pour a hail of powerful ammunition on the enemy's head. Artillery, alas, does not have such opportunities for operational maneuver.

From this follows a straightforward conclusion: the effectiveness of the "battlefield aviation" primarily depends on the competent interaction between the ground forces and the air force. High-quality, communication, organization, correct tactics, competent actions of commanders, air traffic controllers-spotters. If everything is done correctly, aviation will bring victory on its wings. Violation of these conditions will inevitably cause "friendly fire".