Ju 87D vs Il-2

Even fighters like the P-38 could carry a 2,000lb bomb!

 

Yes, but could they dive-bomb?

 

My sources were mainly discussions with veterans and finnish aviation museum personel. I've read some books like "luftwaffes northern flank" but I can't be sure where I've heard every peace of information in my post above. So today on my way home I visited finnish aviation museun located at Tikkakoski and I had half an hour discussion with my "friend" about the subject...

He had a bit different opinion about the il-2 than I. He told that the first versions of il-2 really had big problems and Stalin wanted that the mass production must be continued at all costs which is very understandable. The new version of il2 was delayd because of that. Finally the new version il-2 m3 was put into production and its first flight was in late 1942. He said that the position and shape of the wings were changed a bit and the plane become more balanced and maneuverable and reliability problems with the motor were mainly solved. Some bombs il2 used had a timer and the bombs exploded 2 seconds after they hit ground. Those bombs with timer had a problem that about 1/3 of them didn't explode, if they hit hard surface like rock. Pilots weren't awarded as a "Hero of the Soviet Union" later that easily. At the beginning when il-2s were so dangerous to fly, it was really awarded if a pilot could survive 10 flights with il-2.

He couldn't say accurately which plane was better because they were used in different circumstances and pilots skills varied so much. il-2 was very good at operation over enemy territory when enemy had aa. Stuka was excellent when enemy didn't have aa and germans had air superiority. As you mentioned, Stuka was easy pray for enemy fighters and it relied heavily on air superiority... He considered il-2 better from year 1942 when il-2 m3 was introduced and late war germans didn't have air superiority. Early war he considered Stuka better than the first il-2s.
All in all, he convinced me with his statistics and books that overall il-2 m3 must be better plane than any stuka if airplanes are compared and other circumstances are not included.

btw. Does anyone know who was the best il-2 pilot?