Russian World War 2 Aircraft
The Soviet Air Force was caught in a rapid modernization program when Germany invaded in June 1941. Stalin's failure to initiate combat readiness saw the destruction of over 1000 Russian aircraft on the first day of war itself. In accordance the pre-war strategies, the Soviet Air Force responded by bombing important industrial targets within Germany. This had very little success, and with the German Blitzkrieg making rapid advancement, the role of the Soviet Air Force shifted to that of tactical ground support.
Although Soviet Air Power did not play a major role in strategic bombings of industrial targets, but the gallantry of the Russian forces had forced the Germans to keep the bulk of their forces, including their most hardened air units on the Russian Front. Allied air superiority was gained in part through the defeat of the Luftwaffe's best squadrons on the Russian front.
The Soviets started the war with woefully obsolete aircraft such as the I-153 biplane fighter which was pressed into front line service by necessity. By the war's end however, the arsenal had grown to fighters such as the Yak-3 and La-7 which was a match for the Luftwaffe's Me-109 and Fw-190.
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