EVERETT - What's believed to be the only flying Ilyushin II-2
Shturmovik - a Russian plane known as a "tank killer" - left in the
world will make its U.S. public flying debut this weekend.
The
World War II-era ground-attack aircraft was built in Kuybyshev, Russia,
in the middle of 1943, according to the Flying Heritage Collection that
now has it. The plane was assigned to the 828th Attack Aviation Regiment
of the 260th Composite Air Division operating on the lower part of the
Karelian Front.
After flying more than a year of combat
missions, the plane was hit by anti-aircraft fire on Oct. 10, 1944,
while attacking an enemy airfield southeast of Luostari, near the
Norwegian border, according to Cory Graff, military aviation curator for
the Flying Heritage Collection.
The pilot attempted to land the
damaged plane on a frozen lake. The wreck was abandoned and sank into
the lake during the spring thaw.
Read more here: http://www.thenewstribune.com
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