i read somewhere that the gunners position in a sturmovic attack fighter was not amoured at all...the pilot was very well protected but tail gunners were killed in such numbers that aftter a while only penal battalion troops were used in this position...is this true ,simonr ,anyone?
Early versions of the Il-2 had unarmoured rear seats, but later versions apparently did have rear armour.
The number I've heard bandied about was that the casualty rates of rear gunners were about 5 times that of pilots.
From interview with Yuri Khukhrikov Il-2 pilot: http://www.iremember.ru/pilots/khukhrikov/khukhrikov.html Those were field modified single seaters. Production versions had rear facing armour for the gunner. It coused some problems becouse weight ( MG + ammo + armour + gunner) it pushed CG (center of gravity) too far back. In 1943 wing of Il-2 was modified. Wings outside of centroplan were turned back giving the plane distinct arrow like look and allowed CG to be further back. This modification was called by Soviets So strelkoi (eng. with arrow) or two spar wing. In western literature this modification is erronusly called Il-2m3 ( soviets did not specificaly mark modifications (all IL-2 produced were simply called Il-2 same goes for other planes). If you are interested in Il-2 pilots life you should read book written by Vassili Emelyaneko (2x HSU with 92 combat sorties) who flew with 7.GShAP (Guards Attack aviation regiment). It was recently published in English under the title: Red star against the swastika (original Russian title was: In the cruel air of war)
Pic's of Emelyanenko and his plane (Il-2 two seat with straight wing): His plane being rearmoured. He is the guy with balalaika left of the guitar player (I. Chernec) Ansamble of 3-rd squadron 7.GShAP - Emelyanenko ( balalaika) and Ivan Chernec (guitar & vocals): Emelyanenko in his plane:
