The Ilyushin Il-2 is a ground-attack aircraft produced by the Soviet Union in large numbers during the Second World War. The Il-2 was never given an official name and 'shturmovik' is the generic Russian word meaning ground attack aircraft. The word also appears in Western sources as Stormovik and Sturmovik, neither of which give correct pronunciation in English.

During the war, 36,183 units of the Il-2 were produced, and in combination with its successor, the Ilyushin Il-10, a total of 42,330 were built, making it the single most produced military aircraft design in aviation history, as well as one of the most produced piloted aircraft in history along with the American postwar civilian Cessna 172 and the Soviet Union's own then-contemporary Polikarpov Po-2 Kukuruznik multipurpose biplane.

To Il-2 pilots, the aircraft was simply the diminutive "Ilyusha". To the soldiers on the ground, it was the "Hunchback", the "Flying Tank" or the "Flying Infantryman". Its postwar NATO reporting name was "Bark". The Il-2 aircraft played a crucial role on the Eastern Front. When factories fell behind on deliveries, Joseph Stalin told the factory managers that the Il-2s were "as essential to the Red Army as air and bread."

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  • RandyLahey [he/him]
    ·
    3 years ago

    lol

    Young Australians are now so ashamed of themselves and their country that given the choice between fighting for the nation or fleeing they would choose to leave, according to new polling. The Institute of Public Affairs undertook a survey of 1,000 Australians in March and found 40 per cent of 18 to 24-year-olds would leave the country if it was in the same position as Ukraine. The institute's Director Daniel Wild believes there are several reasons for what he described as a “deeply concerning and revealing result”. “One is that we’ve simply taken our way of life and our values for granted for many years,” Mr Wild told Sky News Australia. “But the second point is also that young Australians are too often presented with a very negative view of our way of life, a very negative view of Australia’s culture and history.”

    :aus-delenda-est: more people are saying it folks

    • ultraviolet [she/her]
      ·
      3 years ago

      I wonder why so many young people don't feel any desire to be patriotic? Could it be the fact that the rotten core of neoliberalism has shown itself so much and they're seeing through all the bullshit? Nope must be because they're ungrateful and entitled.

      • RandyLahey [he/him]
        ·
        3 years ago

        i also cant imagine why theyd be ashamed of australias history

        its not like anything bad ever happened, keith windschuttle told me so

    • Dirt_Owl [comrade/them, they/them]
      ·
      3 years ago

      I love how they just assume Australia is great and don't consider that maybe the country should work harder to earn the respect of its people.

      Like fuck you. You can't fuck multiple generations and then be like "huh you wouldn't die for me?

      • RandyLahey [he/him]
        ·
        3 years ago

        i mean its the ipa, they think that australias most egregious crime is 18c preventing them saying slurs about aboriginal people in public

      • Frank [he/him, he/him]
        ·
        3 years ago

        Maybe they realize that Australia's saber-rattling at China is a mouse squeaking at a lion and don't want to get ground in to bonemeal for nationalism and capitalism?

    • Frank [he/him, he/him]
      ·
      3 years ago

      "Young Australians have a very negative view of the campaign of genocide that exterminated dozens of distinct cultures in order to create Australia, which isn't very poggers".