Ilyushin Il-2 Sturmovik

The Ilyushin Il-2, widely known by its Russian nickname Sturmovik meaning ground-attack aircraft, is a Soviet single-engine armored ground-attack aircraft designed by Sergei Ilyushin that entered service in 1941, built around a heavily armored fuselage section protecting the engine, cockpit and fuel system so the aircraft could survive sustained ground fire while attacking German tanks, artillery and troop columns at low altitude. Soviet industry produced the Il-2 in greater numbers than any other combat aircraft in history, reflecting both its central role in supporting Red Army ground operations on the Eastern Front and the enormous scale of Soviet wartime aircraft production, and German troops who faced it gave it the grim nickname the Black Death, or Cement Bomber for its distinctive armored construction. Soviet leadership and military historians alike credit the Il-2 as an essential element of the close air support that helped the Red Army blunt and then reverse major German offensives during the Second World War.