1 00:00:36,680 --> 00:00:39,000 Hitler s invasion catches the Soviet air force off-guard. 2 00:00:39,000 --> 00:00:41,600 The German Luftwaffe is experienced and well equipped. 3 00:00:41,600 --> 00:00:44,440 For Soviet pilots, the war starts as a fight for survival. 4 00:00:47,440 --> 00:00:50,160 Originally produced for Russian television in 2011, 5 00:00:50,160 --> 00:00:52,160 this is the story of Russia s Great Patriotic War 6 00:00:52,160 --> 00:00:53,440 and the Red Army s long road from defeat to victory. 7 00:01:05,840 --> 00:01:07,560 The first day of the war. 8 00:01:08,360 --> 00:01:14,680 Two Messerschmitt 109s were on the tail of a damaged Soviet Seagull fighter. 9 00:01:16,240 --> 00:01:21,400 Suddenly, another Seagull appeared behind the two German fighters. 10 00:01:33,840 --> 00:01:37,240 The Germans left the damaged plane and went after the new arrival. 11 00:01:39,200 --> 00:01:43,760 They put several holes through the Soviet aircraft, but were unable to shoot it down. 12 00:01:45,760 --> 00:01:51,680 This Seagull was flown by Lieutenant Rechkalov. This was his baptism of fire. 13 00:01:56,080 --> 00:01:59,640 Grigory Rechkalov shot down his first German aircraft five days later. 14 00:02:00,760 --> 00:02:03,840 He went on to score 61 victories, 15 00:02:03,840 --> 00:02:06,240 making him the third highest-scoring Soviet ace of the war. 16 00:02:08,040 --> 00:02:12,360 He was twice decorated as a Hero of the Soviet Union the USSR s highest award. 17 00:02:14,960 --> 00:02:18,560 A medical board had declared Rechkalov unfit for combat, because of colour-blindness. 18 00:02:20,200 --> 00:02:22,600 But when he reported to his regiment, the war had just begun, 19 00:02:23,880 --> 00:02:25,400 and he was immediately pressed into service. 20 00:02:48,400 --> 00:02:54,400 In 1941, the main Soviet fighters were the I-153 Seagull, and the I-16. 21 00:02:56,640 --> 00:03:00,800 They were designed by the Polikarpov Bureau, led by Nikolai Nikolaevich Polikarpov. 22 00:03:03,320 --> 00:03:04,800 The Seagull had a tight turning circle, 23 00:03:06,600 --> 00:03:10,320 but it was painfully slow compared to the German Messerschmitt-109. 24 00:03:14,280 --> 00:03:18,080 Soviet pilots first encountered the 109 during the Spanish Civil War. 25 00:03:20,160 --> 00:03:23,360 It was immediately clear that it posed a serious threat. 26 00:03:26,160 --> 00:03:29,640 The Messerschmitt 109 was designed by Willy Messerschmitt 27 00:03:29,640 --> 00:03:32,400 of the Bayerische Flugzeugwerke company. 28 00:03:32,400 --> 00:03:34,720 It would become the most produced fighter of the war. 29 00:03:38,200 --> 00:03:44,480 By June 1941, the latest "F" variant had a top speed of 390 miles per hour, 30 00:03:44,480 --> 00:03:47,960 compared to the Seagull s 266 miles per hour. 31 00:03:49,760 --> 00:03:53,360 Its two machineguns and one 20 millimetre cannon 32 00:03:53,360 --> 00:03:55,680 meant the 109 was also more heavily armed. 33 00:03:59,400 --> 00:04:03,360 The manoeuvrability of the Seagull meant Soviet pilots could often escape, 34 00:04:03,360 --> 00:04:05,320 but they could never fight on their own terms. 35 00:04:10,680 --> 00:04:15,040 On the first day of the war, more than 300 Soviet aircraft were shot down, 36 00:04:15,040 --> 00:04:18,080 but as many as 1,400 were destroyed on the ground. 37 00:04:21,200 --> 00:04:25,760 The worst losses were in Byelorussia, where General Chernykh s 9th Air Division, 38 00:04:25,760 --> 00:04:31,520 equipped with new Mig-3s, lost 347 of its 409 aircraft. 39 00:04:35,880 --> 00:04:38,760 Sergei Aleksandrovich Chernykh was a Hero of the Soviet Union, 40 00:04:40,280 --> 00:04:43,240 a veteran of the Spanish Civil War and the first Soviet pilot 41 00:04:43,240 --> 00:04:45,120 to shoot down a Messerschmitt 109. 42 00:04:47,200 --> 00:04:50,720 But now he became a scapegoat for the air force s failures, and was arrested and shot. 43 00:04:52,960 --> 00:04:58,120 The Western Front lost 738 aircraft, 528 of them on the ground. 44 00:05:00,160 --> 00:05:03,240 When the Air Force Commander in Byelorrusia, General Kopets, 45 00:05:03,240 --> 00:05:06,040 realised the scale of the disaster, he shot himself. 46 00:05:09,640 --> 00:05:14,240 These men were talented young pilots who d been rapidly promoted to high command, 47 00:05:14,240 --> 00:05:17,520 to fill the vacuum created by Stalin s purge of senior air force officers. 48 00:05:18,880 --> 00:05:21,080 But when war came, they were out of their depth. 49 00:05:25,240 --> 00:05:27,400 Despite the enormous losses of the first day, 50 00:05:28,840 --> 00:05:32,360 the remnants of the Soviet Air Force began to fight back. 51 00:05:54,120 --> 00:06:00,840 On 25th June, 27 Soviet Tupolev SB bombers attacked the German 2nd Panzer Group, 52 00:06:00,920 --> 00:06:03,520 as it massed to cross the Shchara River in Byelorussia. 53 00:06:09,160 --> 00:06:13,040 The bombers destroyed vehicles and took out the river-crossing. 54 00:06:17,800 --> 00:06:20,840 On the way back the SBs were attacked by German fighters. 55 00:06:24,640 --> 00:06:26,240 10 were shot down. 56 00:06:28,880 --> 00:06:32,760 Soviet ground attack and fighter regiments were under army command, 57 00:06:32,760 --> 00:06:35,120 but bombers were under Front or Army Group command. 58 00:06:36,640 --> 00:06:38,680 It proved almost impossible to co-ordinate their actions. 59 00:06:41,520 --> 00:06:44,360 Bombers attacked without fighter protection, 60 00:06:44,360 --> 00:06:46,360 while fighters were ordered to attack ground targets. 61 00:06:48,560 --> 00:06:50,840 Poor Soviet tactics were also being exposed. 62 00:06:52,440 --> 00:06:55,480 Bomber pilots had been trained to fly in loose formations, 63 00:06:55,480 --> 00:06:57,600 meaning their machineguns couldn t cover each other. 64 00:06:59,960 --> 00:07:03,640 Soviet tactics and organisation needed a rapid overhaul. 65 00:07:07,680 --> 00:07:10,520 Nevertheless, Soviet bombers continued to attack German ground forces, 66 00:07:12,320 --> 00:07:16,800 as well as strategic targets including Koenigsberg in East Prussia, Warsaw, 67 00:07:16,800 --> 00:07:19,960 the Romanian port of Konstanza, and the Ploesti oil refineries. 68 00:07:24,600 --> 00:07:27,320 One of the pilots defending the vital Romanian oil fields 69 00:07:27,320 --> 00:07:28,480 was Oberleutnant Günther Rall. 70 00:07:30,640 --> 00:07:36,280 On 26th June, his unit intercepted Soviet bombers returning from a raid on Ploesti. 71 00:07:40,920 --> 00:07:45,800 Rall shot down three bombers. His fellow pilots destroyed 6 more. 72 00:07:51,360 --> 00:07:54,560 Gunther Rall enlisted in the infantry in 1936. 73 00:07:56,520 --> 00:07:59,720 Two years later he transferred to the Luftwaffe to train as a fighter pilot. 74 00:08:01,520 --> 00:08:06,840 He first saw action over France in 1940, where he scored two victories. 75 00:08:06,840 --> 00:08:10,080 He ended the war as Germany s third most successful fighter pilot, 76 00:08:10,080 --> 00:08:12,760 with 275 kills to his name. 77 00:08:16,280 --> 00:08:18,880 German pilots not only had the advantage of superior aircraft 78 00:08:20,000 --> 00:08:21,760 they also had excellent training. 79 00:08:25,240 --> 00:08:28,520 They followed the maxim of the legendary First World War fighter ace, 80 00:08:28,520 --> 00:08:31,280 the Red Baron himself, Manfred von Richthofen: 81 00:08:33,360 --> 00:08:36,800 Find the enemy and shoot him down; anything else is nonsense. 82 00:08:41,280 --> 00:08:43,600 German fighter pilots fought almost a separate war 83 00:08:45,640 --> 00:08:50,120 more like an athletic contest, in which only their individual scores mattered. 84 00:08:56,840 --> 00:08:58,640 Drawing on their experience of the Spanish Civil War, 85 00:08:59,960 --> 00:09:03,560 Luftwaffe fighter pilots had invented their own tactics. 86 00:09:03,560 --> 00:09:05,720 They flew in a flexible formation made up of two pairs, 87 00:09:07,560 --> 00:09:11,440 known as the finger four, which allowed them to utilise their superior speed. 88 00:09:14,640 --> 00:09:20,280 Other air forces, including the British and Soviet, flew in rigid V-shaped formations, 89 00:09:20,280 --> 00:09:23,920 in which pilots spent most of their time concentrating on holding position. 90 00:09:26,120 --> 00:09:29,360 In the Soviet case, a tight formation was essential, 91 00:09:29,360 --> 00:09:31,600 because most aircraft did not yet have radios. 92 00:09:36,000 --> 00:09:40,000 Section leaders had to communicate by waggling their wings or using hand signals. 93 00:09:42,640 --> 00:09:45,360 It left the pilots with no freedom to manoeuvre. 94 00:09:48,720 --> 00:09:51,920 In the weeks leading up to the German invasion, 95 00:09:51,920 --> 00:09:55,280 a brand new aircraft began to arrive at Soviet ground attack regiments. 96 00:09:57,240 --> 00:10:01,160 It was the Il-2, and it would become the most famous Soviet aircraft of the war. 97 00:10:03,640 --> 00:10:09,280 The Il-2 Shturmovik was designed by Sergei Ilyushin, and entered service in May 1941. 98 00:10:10,680 --> 00:10:13,280 His creation was soon nicknamed "the flying tank". 99 00:10:15,040 --> 00:10:18,880 The Il-2 carried cannon, machineguns, bombs and rockets, 100 00:10:20,240 --> 00:10:22,480 and was protected from ground fire by armour-plating. 101 00:10:23,880 --> 00:10:27,760 More than 36,000 were eventually built, 102 00:10:27,760 --> 00:10:31,200 making it the most produced military aircraft in history. 103 00:10:33,760 --> 00:10:36,920 The first unit to receive the Il-2 was the 4th Shturmovik Regiment. 104 00:10:38,760 --> 00:10:41,680 But the war began before its pilots had had a chance to train with it. 105 00:10:44,000 --> 00:10:47,320 They d practiced take-offs and landings, 106 00:10:47,320 --> 00:10:50,440 but hadn t flown in formation or even fired the aircraft s weapons yet. 107 00:10:52,920 --> 00:10:55,040 Some of the pilots had never seen an RS rocket before, 108 00:10:56,360 --> 00:10:58,200 and now they were expected to use them in combat. 109 00:11:03,400 --> 00:11:07,760 On 27th June, pilots Spitsyn, Filippov, 110 00:11:07,760 --> 00:11:10,840 and Kholobayev flew off on their first mission. 111 00:11:24,160 --> 00:11:28,480 They attacked a German column from low altitude. 112 00:11:31,480 --> 00:11:33,920 They could only use their machineguns, 113 00:11:33,920 --> 00:11:38,600 since the 20 millimetre cannon had a production defect. 114 00:11:40,480 --> 00:11:45,800 All the pilots returned to the airfield. Kholobayev s plane was riddled with holes. 115 00:11:50,640 --> 00:11:53,480 The fuselage was covered with oil. 116 00:11:53,560 --> 00:11:57,440 The aircraft was a write-off. But he had survived. 117 00:12:02,440 --> 00:12:05,080 A week later, the regiment received a citation from the Front commander 118 00:12:06,880 --> 00:12:11,600 for destroying 9 crossings over the Berezina River. But losses were high. 119 00:12:15,120 --> 00:12:20,680 By mid-July, of the regiment s 56 aircraft, only 10 remained in service. 120 00:12:24,400 --> 00:12:27,200 In August the regiment handed its last 3 aircraft to a neighbouring unit, 121 00:12:28,160 --> 00:12:30,040 and headed east for rebuilding. 122 00:12:43,920 --> 00:12:46,800 In the first summer of the war, 123 00:12:46,800 --> 00:12:51,440 an Ilyushin 2 was destroyed on average after just 8 or 9 missions. 124 00:12:51,440 --> 00:12:53,720 In some regiments, after just 3 or 4. 125 00:12:56,600 --> 00:12:59,840 But better tactics and training would gradually improve these survival rates. 126 00:13:01,160 --> 00:13:05,000 By 1945, the average had gone up to 90 missions. 127 00:13:10,160 --> 00:13:13,880 That autumn, Grigory Rechkalov was wounded during a combat mission. 128 00:13:15,920 --> 00:13:20,720 Despite serious leg injuries, he managed to land his aircraft back at base. 129 00:13:20,720 --> 00:13:24,360 By then, his score stood at 3 German aircraft destroyed. 130 00:13:31,640 --> 00:13:35,720 By the end of 1941 the Soviet air force had lost more than 20,000 aircraft 131 00:13:36,680 --> 00:13:40,040 the Luftwaffe just 3,800. 132 00:13:44,480 --> 00:13:47,800 But despite this success, the Luftwaffe proved unable 133 00:13:47,800 --> 00:13:50,840 to effectively target Soviet transport and infrastructure. 134 00:13:52,920 --> 00:13:56,000 The Luftwaffe had been designed primarily to support ground operations. 135 00:13:57,360 --> 00:13:59,840 It lacked the aircraft to carry out strategic bombing. 136 00:14:03,480 --> 00:14:07,520 The Luftwaffe was unable to prevent the evacuation of Soviet industry 137 00:14:07,520 --> 00:14:11,640 to the Urals, or, crucially, prevent Red Army reinforcements 138 00:14:11,640 --> 00:14:13,320 moving up from the Russian interior. 139 00:14:21,200 --> 00:14:24,120 German air raids against Moscow underlined this weakness. 140 00:14:25,920 --> 00:14:30,040 Soviet fighters, supported by formidable anti-aircraft defences, 141 00:14:30,040 --> 00:14:32,560 were able to prevent any serious damage to the capital. 142 00:14:42,280 --> 00:14:45,880 By the winter counterattack, the Soviet air force outnumbered 143 00:14:45,880 --> 00:14:50,640 the Luftwaffe by almost 3 to 1. And soon, 144 00:14:50,640 --> 00:14:54,200 it would start to receive some desperately-needed modern aircraft... 145 00:15:00,000 --> 00:15:03,400 Above an airfield in Russia, an aircraft slowed, 146 00:15:03,400 --> 00:15:05,880 began to shudder, and then fell into a spin. 147 00:15:07,840 --> 00:15:11,080 Down below, its designer, Semyon Lavochkin, feared the worst. 148 00:15:12,920 --> 00:15:16,640 The day before he d told the pilots, Don t test it for tailspin. 149 00:15:16,640 --> 00:15:19,040 You ll destroy the prototype and yourselves. 150 00:15:20,680 --> 00:15:24,320 But the pilot quickly recovered and returned to level flight. 151 00:15:41,400 --> 00:15:44,680 Two weeks later, the State Defence Committee approved production 152 00:15:44,680 --> 00:15:48,240 of the LaGG-3 fighter with a new M-82 engine. 153 00:15:48,240 --> 00:15:50,280 It would be called... the La-5. 154 00:15:53,800 --> 00:15:59,120 Its predecessor, the LaGG-3, was designed in 1940 by Lavochkin, Gorbunov, and Gudkov. 155 00:16:02,320 --> 00:16:06,720 Because of the USSR s shortage of aluminium, the aircraft had a wooden airframe, 156 00:16:06,720 --> 00:16:09,760 with key sections made from a wood veneer 157 00:16:09,760 --> 00:16:12,400 that was treated with Bakerlite and compressed at high temperature. 158 00:16:14,240 --> 00:16:16,680 This made the wood very strong and fire-resistant. 159 00:16:17,760 --> 00:16:19,600 But it was heavy compared to aluminium. 160 00:16:23,120 --> 00:16:27,520 Its weight and an underpowered engine made the LaGG-3 sluggish and unmanoeuvrable. 161 00:16:30,360 --> 00:16:33,680 In the autumn of 1941 it was decided to cease production of LaGG fighters 162 00:16:34,800 --> 00:16:36,880 and concentrate instead on the Yak-7. 163 00:16:42,960 --> 00:16:47,040 In late 1941, the Yak-7B was considered the best Soviet fighter. 164 00:16:48,400 --> 00:16:51,400 It was armed with one cannon and two machineguns, 165 00:16:51,400 --> 00:16:54,520 and had a top speed of 365 miles per hour. 166 00:16:58,000 --> 00:16:59,600 The Lavochkin Design Bureau faced closure. 167 00:17:01,240 --> 00:17:05,560 Its saviour was a new, more powerful M-82 air-cooled engine. 168 00:17:07,240 --> 00:17:11,560 Installed in the LaGG-3 airframe, it gave birth to the LA-5, 169 00:17:11,560 --> 00:17:14,160 and the Lavochkin Bureau was back in business. 170 00:17:18,440 --> 00:17:24,880 On 21st March 1942, a few days before the Bureau was evacuated to the Caucasus, 171 00:17:24,880 --> 00:17:28,760 test pilot Vasily Mishchenko took the prototype for its first flight. 172 00:17:33,880 --> 00:17:36,920 In the first year of the war, the Soviets had lost huge swathes of territory, 173 00:17:37,760 --> 00:17:39,600 and suffered devastating losses. 174 00:17:41,560 --> 00:17:47,520 Of 22,600 tanks available at the start of the war, about 2,000 were left. 175 00:17:47,520 --> 00:17:49,960 From 20,000 aircraft, just 2,000. 176 00:17:51,160 --> 00:17:55,320 And of 110,000 guns and mortars, 2,800. 177 00:17:57,960 --> 00:18:01,160 These losses had to be made good quickly, 178 00:18:01,160 --> 00:18:04,640 but at the same time Soviet factories had to be evacuated east to safety. 179 00:18:06,080 --> 00:18:09,160 The People s Commissariat of Aviation Industry 180 00:18:09,160 --> 00:18:13,600 had evacuated 118 factories, 85% of its facilities. 181 00:18:15,160 --> 00:18:17,400 9 major tank plants were evacuated. 182 00:18:19,720 --> 00:18:22,120 By the end of 1941, more than 10 million people 183 00:18:23,360 --> 00:18:26,240 and 2,500 enterprises had been relocated. 184 00:18:28,240 --> 00:18:30,760 The task required more than 1.5 million rail-wagons. 185 00:18:32,200 --> 00:18:35,240 On arrival, most factories resumed production immediately. 186 00:18:39,160 --> 00:18:44,000 The Soviet Air Force, meanwhile, was putting into practice the painful lessons of 1941. 187 00:18:48,720 --> 00:18:52,960 In March 1942, the air force received a new commander, General Novikov. 188 00:18:54,960 --> 00:18:59,160 He immediately recommended that its units be concentrated into "air armies", 189 00:18:59,160 --> 00:19:01,960 making it easier to manage and co-ordinate air operations. 190 00:19:03,560 --> 00:19:06,800 Soviet fighter pilots learnt new tactics, 191 00:19:06,800 --> 00:19:10,440 some drawn from combat experience, others borrowed from the Luftwaffe. 192 00:19:12,400 --> 00:19:16,160 The air force abandoned its "mixed air groups". 193 00:19:16,160 --> 00:19:20,880 Instead, fighters, shturmoviks and bombers were formed into specialised divisions. 194 00:19:24,120 --> 00:19:26,960 Obsolete aircraft such as the Seagull 195 00:19:26,960 --> 00:19:30,840 were gradually replaced by new Yaks, Lavochkins, and Ilyushins. 196 00:19:35,400 --> 00:19:40,000 The La-5 made its debut in August 1942, over Stalingrad. 197 00:19:41,840 --> 00:19:44,160 Gunther Rall gave his assessment of the new aircraft: 198 00:19:47,280 --> 00:19:48,600 The Russians were quick learners. 199 00:19:50,200 --> 00:19:53,480 The La-5, based on the inefficient LaGG-3, was a great plane. 200 00:19:56,480 --> 00:20:00,600 All German pilots soon learned to respect the La-5. 201 00:20:00,600 --> 00:20:02,880 It had particularly impressive performance at low-altitude, 202 00:20:04,720 --> 00:20:08,880 where it could out-turn a Messerschmitt 109, and outclimb a Focke Wulf 190. 203 00:20:16,640 --> 00:20:19,240 However, the Soviets continued to suffer heavy pilot losses. 204 00:20:21,440 --> 00:20:24,600 The situation was described in a report by the 49th Fighter Regiment. 205 00:20:26,960 --> 00:20:29,160 The La-5 is the best type of Soviet fighter. 206 00:20:31,520 --> 00:20:35,640 The regiment s losses are explained by the fact that 45% of personnel are young pilots. 207 00:20:38,160 --> 00:20:42,000 Casualties included 3 sergeants with 15 to 17 flying hours on La-5s, 208 00:20:43,200 --> 00:20:45,120 and two lieutenants with similar background. 209 00:20:46,360 --> 00:20:48,480 Only one in five is an experienced pilot. 210 00:20:53,440 --> 00:20:56,800 Pilot training would remain one of the Soviet Air Force s greatest failings 211 00:20:56,800 --> 00:20:58,080 until the end of the war. 212 00:21:01,080 --> 00:21:04,400 Soviet flight schools suffered from a shortage of instructors, and of fuel. 213 00:21:07,760 --> 00:21:10,600 Pilots graduated after just 90 days of basic instruction. 214 00:21:11,960 --> 00:21:13,960 They concentrated on take-offs and landings. 215 00:21:17,480 --> 00:21:20,960 Acrobatics were strictly forbidden, because they led to too many accidents. 216 00:21:23,760 --> 00:21:27,520 As a result, pilots often arrived at their unit 217 00:21:27,520 --> 00:21:30,680 with as little as 8 hours flying experience often, 218 00:21:32,120 --> 00:21:34,280 none of it on the aircraft the unit was equipped with. 219 00:21:36,120 --> 00:21:38,720 Nor had they been trained how to fly in bad weather. 220 00:21:44,240 --> 00:21:47,360 Flight school graduates received virtually no instruction in air combat. 221 00:21:48,480 --> 00:21:49,880 Most had done some target-shooting. 222 00:21:52,600 --> 00:21:56,240 But few knew much about deflection shooting or how to use their gun sights. 223 00:21:58,200 --> 00:22:01,360 These men were expected to fight German pilots 224 00:22:01,360 --> 00:22:03,840 with hundreds of combat missions under their belt. 225 00:22:07,200 --> 00:22:10,320 But what they lacked in experience, they made up for in spirit. 226 00:22:12,800 --> 00:22:15,920 Sergey Gorelov typified the commitment of Soviet fighter pilots: 227 00:22:18,760 --> 00:22:21,120 We were eager for battle and ready to die in combat. 228 00:22:23,440 --> 00:22:25,440 We even said our goodbyes before going on a mission. 229 00:23:06,720 --> 00:23:11,080 In late 1942, Grigory Rechkalov s regiment 230 00:23:11,080 --> 00:23:13,720 was withdrawn from the front in order to retrain on new aircraft: 231 00:23:15,640 --> 00:23:19,600 American Airacobras, sent to the USSR 232 00:23:19,600 --> 00:23:22,360 as part of the Allied Lend-Lease programme of military aid. 233 00:23:24,880 --> 00:23:27,240 Of all the types of Allied aircraft supplied through Lend-Lease, 234 00:23:28,120 --> 00:23:29,840 this was the pilots favourite. 235 00:23:35,680 --> 00:23:39,640 The Bell P-39 Airacobra had one unusual design feature 236 00:23:41,520 --> 00:23:47,560 the engine was situated behind the pilot. Half of the 10,000 Airacobras 237 00:23:47,560 --> 00:23:51,320 built by Bell were sent to the Soviet Union under the terms of Lend-Lease. 238 00:23:53,200 --> 00:23:57,080 The aircraft carried a 37 millimetre cannon and two heavy calibre machineguns. 239 00:24:01,040 --> 00:24:05,600 Besides Rechkalov, other Airacobra pilots included Nikolay Guliayev, 240 00:24:05,600 --> 00:24:09,640 the fourth highest-scoring Soviet ace with 57 confirmed kills, 241 00:24:09,640 --> 00:24:13,080 and Aleksandr Pokryshkin, the third highest with 59 kills. 242 00:24:20,880 --> 00:24:25,800 Rechkalov, who liked to hunt alone in his Airacobra, won 42 victories in 1943. 243 00:24:27,160 --> 00:24:30,040 He finished the war with 61 confirmed victories. 244 00:24:38,520 --> 00:24:42,960 By the war s end, Rechkalov had twice been decorated as a Hero of the Soviet Union. 245 00:24:56,560 --> 00:25:01,280 In April 1943, the Red Army s North Caucasus Front 246 00:25:01,280 --> 00:25:03,960 began an offensive against the Kuban Bridgehead, on the Black Sea Coast. 247 00:25:05,720 --> 00:25:08,880 Their aim was to break through the German fortification system 248 00:25:08,880 --> 00:25:11,680 known as the Blue Line, and to liberate Taman. 249 00:25:14,960 --> 00:25:19,720 After 6 days of fierce fighting, the 56th Army had succeeded in capturing 250 00:25:19,720 --> 00:25:22,880 just one German stronghold, the village of Krymskaya. 251 00:25:28,920 --> 00:25:31,840 Any further Red Army advance became impossible 252 00:25:31,840 --> 00:25:33,200 in the face of massive German air strikes, 253 00:25:34,560 --> 00:25:37,160 launched from Luftwaffe bases in the Kerch Peninsula. 254 00:25:40,800 --> 00:25:44,600 The Soviet offensive had to be called off on 15th May. 255 00:25:51,080 --> 00:25:55,480 That summer, a vicious struggle for air superiority raged over the Kuban Bridgehead. 256 00:25:57,800 --> 00:26:00,960 On one side, the Soviet 4th Air Army under General Vershinin, 257 00:26:02,600 --> 00:26:05,840 on the other, Field Marshal von Richthofen s 4th Air Fleet. 258 00:26:08,360 --> 00:26:12,560 It would prove the beginning of the end for Luftwaffe supremacy on the Eastern Front. 259 00:26:22,000 --> 00:26:25,360 The Soviet Union s top ace was Ivan Nikitovich Kozhedub. 260 00:26:26,840 --> 00:26:28,840 Kozhedub spent two years as a flight instructor, 261 00:26:30,480 --> 00:26:33,400 and only joined a frontline fighter regiment in the spring of 1943, 262 00:26:34,680 --> 00:26:37,720 where he flew La-5s. By the end of the war, 263 00:26:37,720 --> 00:26:39,320 he had shot down 62 enemy aircraft, 264 00:26:40,720 --> 00:26:44,000 making him the highest-scoring Allied ace of the war. 265 00:26:44,000 --> 00:26:46,360 He was also a three-times Hero of the Soviet Union. 266 00:26:49,440 --> 00:26:52,600 In his first 40 missions, Kozhedub failed to shoot down any enemy aircraft. 267 00:26:54,280 --> 00:26:57,000 Instead, he often returned with his own plane badly damaged. 268 00:27:16,440 --> 00:27:19,160 But his chance would come at the Battle of Kursk. 269 00:27:23,600 --> 00:27:27,200 In the summer of 1943, near Kursk, 270 00:27:27,200 --> 00:27:31,360 the Wehrmacht planned a massive two-pronged offensive 271 00:27:31,360 --> 00:27:35,680 that would lead to the encirclement and destruction of substantial Red Army forces. 272 00:27:40,280 --> 00:27:44,080 The Red Army had never before withstood the combined German assault of tanks, 273 00:27:44,080 --> 00:27:46,040 artillery and aircraft. 274 00:27:48,680 --> 00:27:51,880 Kholobayev, meanwhile, was instructing young pilots 275 00:27:51,880 --> 00:27:53,800 of the 7th Guards Shturmovik Regiment. 276 00:28:07,960 --> 00:28:11,720 Above all, Kholobayev extolled the virtues of aggression in his pilots. 277 00:28:12,960 --> 00:28:15,360 He urged them to attack without hesitation. 278 00:28:19,760 --> 00:28:23,880 By 1943, Soviet shturmovik regiments had developed tactics 279 00:28:23,880 --> 00:28:25,360 based on solid combat experience. 280 00:28:27,080 --> 00:28:31,000 They began with a nosedive from 3000 feet, to just a few hundred. 281 00:28:32,240 --> 00:28:34,760 Then they would form a circle. 282 00:28:34,760 --> 00:28:37,600 This formation gave them freedom to manoeuvre, 283 00:28:37,600 --> 00:28:40,680 select their ground targets, and engage them with cannon, 284 00:28:40,680 --> 00:28:43,480 machineguns, bombs and rockets. 285 00:28:45,240 --> 00:28:48,080 As they made their attack, 286 00:28:48,080 --> 00:28:51,000 the aircraft following behind protected them from German fighters. 287 00:28:52,800 --> 00:28:55,760 Just before the battle of Kursk, 288 00:28:55,760 --> 00:29:00,400 IL-2 units received a new anti-tank weapon, the PTAB aerial bomb. 289 00:29:03,800 --> 00:29:07,440 Grigory Cherkashyn was one pilot to use the new weapon: 290 00:29:09,000 --> 00:29:12,320 PTABs are our best weapon against tanks. They re a beast! 291 00:29:13,840 --> 00:29:16,080 6 Shturmoviks approach an armoured column. 292 00:29:18,520 --> 00:29:24,080 The first unloads its four hatches, then the second, then the third 293 00:29:27,120 --> 00:29:31,960 The Germans unleashed their Kursk offensive on 5th July 1943. 294 00:29:33,520 --> 00:29:36,520 The next day Kozhedub shot down his first German aircraft. 295 00:29:38,040 --> 00:29:41,200 Over the next 2 days, he shot down 3 more. 296 00:29:49,960 --> 00:29:54,080 In one battle, Lieutenant Gorovets was credited with destroying nine Stukas 297 00:29:55,880 --> 00:30:00,120 the last by ramming it before his heavily damaged LA-5 was shot down. 298 00:30:02,840 --> 00:30:06,640 At the cost of his own life, Aleksandr Konstantinovich Gorovets 299 00:30:06,640 --> 00:30:10,600 set a Soviet record of destroying 9 enemy aircraft in a single mission. 300 00:30:13,400 --> 00:30:15,400 The exact number of aircraft shot down by the World War Two aces 301 00:30:16,520 --> 00:30:18,040 remains the subject of heated debate. 302 00:30:20,080 --> 00:30:22,880 The nature of air combat made it difficult to be sure 303 00:30:22,880 --> 00:30:25,720 if an aircraft had been shot down or just damaged. 304 00:30:28,560 --> 00:30:31,720 The Soviet air force, like all others, 305 00:30:31,720 --> 00:30:36,000 required victories to be corroborated by witnesses in the air or on the ground, 306 00:30:36,000 --> 00:30:38,360 or for kills to be confirmed by gun-camera footage. 307 00:30:40,400 --> 00:30:43,520 But pilots on all sides were prone to exaggerate 308 00:30:43,520 --> 00:30:45,120 the number of aircraft they d shot down. 309 00:30:46,920 --> 00:30:47,960 In the Battle of Britain, for instance, 310 00:30:50,000 --> 00:30:53,240 fighter pilots claimed for about twice as many aircraft as were actually shot down. 311 00:31:01,240 --> 00:31:04,960 At Kursk, the air battle raged with as much ferocity as the fighting on the ground. 312 00:31:06,960 --> 00:31:11,720 One thing was clear the Luftwaffe no longer had things all its own way. 313 00:31:15,800 --> 00:31:20,160 Experienced German aces, flying high-performance modern aircraft, 314 00:31:20,160 --> 00:31:22,920 continued to exact a heavy toll on the Soviet Air Force. 315 00:31:29,640 --> 00:31:32,680 But Sergey Gorelov exemplified the Soviet learning curve: 316 00:31:34,400 --> 00:31:36,520 By Kursk I d learned how to manoeuvre and shoot accurately. 317 00:31:38,520 --> 00:31:40,640 Now we had reliable radios and ground control. 318 00:31:42,040 --> 00:31:45,800 I destroyed one plane in 1941, five in 1942, 319 00:31:46,960 --> 00:31:49,320 and in the summer of 1943 twenty. 320 00:31:54,080 --> 00:31:56,960 The Lavochkin fighter played an important role in his success. 321 00:31:58,600 --> 00:32:03,720 In 1943 it received a new engine with direct fuel injection, 322 00:32:03,720 --> 00:32:06,680 which made it a solid match for the latest Messerschmitt 109. 323 00:32:10,920 --> 00:32:16,280 On 3rd August, Gorelov and nine other La-5 pilots were escorting Shturmoviks 324 00:32:16,280 --> 00:32:19,680 to their target, when they were jumped by 35 enemy fighters. 325 00:32:36,160 --> 00:32:40,640 In the ensuing dogfight, 8 Messerschmitts were shot down, two of them by Gorelov. 326 00:33:18,920 --> 00:33:21,640 When attacking a formation of Soviet shturmoviks and fighter escorts, 327 00:33:23,040 --> 00:33:25,360 German fighters would climb 500 metres above them. 328 00:33:27,360 --> 00:33:31,040 There they would circle, waiting for the optimum moment to make a diving attack. 329 00:33:32,440 --> 00:33:36,120 Their plan was simple: strike at maximum speed, 330 00:33:36,120 --> 00:33:38,800 take out a shturmovik, and then climb away to safety. 331 00:33:42,040 --> 00:33:46,000 These high-speed diving attacks were made at more than 400 miles per hour. 332 00:33:51,840 --> 00:33:55,360 The escort fighters orders were to stay with the slower, 333 00:33:55,360 --> 00:33:58,320 less manoeuvrable Shturmoviks, and protect them from these attacks. 334 00:34:03,160 --> 00:34:07,360 They would turn to face the attacking German aircraft and open a defensive fire, 335 00:34:07,360 --> 00:34:10,320 which, even if it missed, might force him to break off his attack. 336 00:34:11,840 --> 00:34:14,320 The escort would then rejoin the formation. 337 00:34:25,080 --> 00:34:29,120 It could be a frustrating experience for Soviet fighter pilots, 338 00:34:29,120 --> 00:34:31,920 forbidden to pursue and destroy damaged enemy fighters. 339 00:34:36,120 --> 00:34:39,680 German aces scored many victories with these high-speed diving attacks. 340 00:34:44,920 --> 00:34:47,800 But there weren t enough of them to prevent the Shturmoviks carrying out their mission, 341 00:34:49,240 --> 00:34:52,760 to bomb and strafe German ground forces without mercy. 342 00:34:58,280 --> 00:35:03,120 On 4th February 1944, 1st Lieutenant Kozhedub 343 00:35:03,120 --> 00:35:05,720 was awarded the Gold Star of a Hero of the Soviet Union, 344 00:35:06,880 --> 00:35:11,040 for destroying 20 enemy aircraft in 146 missions. 345 00:35:13,280 --> 00:35:17,120 His comrade Sergey Kramarenko described this exceptional pilot: 346 00:35:18,920 --> 00:35:22,760 Lots of pilots envied him, thinking he must be really lucky. 347 00:35:22,760 --> 00:35:25,360 Hitting so many planes without being hit it s really rare. 348 00:35:28,320 --> 00:35:32,000 But after flying with him a few times, I realised that behind the "luck", 349 00:35:32,000 --> 00:35:34,800 lay lightning reactions and excellent situational awareness. 350 00:35:36,840 --> 00:35:40,840 Kozhedub had an instinctive understanding of aerial combat. 351 00:35:40,840 --> 00:35:42,600 He was always in the right place at the right time. 352 00:35:43,840 --> 00:35:45,600 Then all he had to do was push the gun button. 353 00:35:56,400 --> 00:36:00,400 In 1943 British and American air forces launched 354 00:36:00,400 --> 00:36:02,840 their Combined Bomber Offensive against Germany. 355 00:36:04,120 --> 00:36:06,200 The Casablanca Directive stated its goals: 356 00:36:08,160 --> 00:36:11,920 The progressive destruction and dislocation of the German military, industrial, 357 00:36:11,920 --> 00:36:17,160 and economic system, and the undermining of the morale of the German people 358 00:36:17,160 --> 00:36:20,320 to a point where their capacity for armed resistance is fatally weakened. 359 00:36:23,880 --> 00:36:27,280 Germany was to be bombed around the clock 360 00:36:27,280 --> 00:36:30,200 the Americans attacking by day, the British at night. 361 00:36:39,480 --> 00:36:42,640 On the Eastern front German pilots were able to hunt freely. 362 00:36:44,000 --> 00:36:47,360 But against Allied bombers and their fighter escorts, 363 00:36:47,360 --> 00:36:50,080 they no longer had the option to fight only on their own terms. 364 00:36:52,880 --> 00:36:57,200 On two fronts, the Luftwaffe was slowly being ground into submission. 365 00:37:10,000 --> 00:37:12,840 Shortly before dawn on 23rd June 1944, 366 00:37:14,400 --> 00:37:17,240 the alert was sounded at the 7th Guards Shturmovik Regiment. 367 00:37:21,040 --> 00:37:22,880 All personnel formed up on the airfield. 368 00:37:24,320 --> 00:37:26,400 The regiment had been completely re-manned three times, 369 00:37:27,960 --> 00:37:30,200 and the men who began the war in Byelorussia were long gone. 370 00:37:31,960 --> 00:37:34,320 Commander Kholobayev had been promoted and transferred. 371 00:37:36,120 --> 00:37:39,240 The men stood to attention: 372 00:37:39,240 --> 00:37:43,080 a parade was being held to mark the start of Operation Bagration. 373 00:38:05,400 --> 00:38:09,560 Operation Bagration, with Shturmovik regiments in the lead, 374 00:38:09,560 --> 00:38:12,360 resulted in the destruction of an entire German Army Group. 375 00:38:14,040 --> 00:38:17,280 The Red Army had cracked the Eastern Front wide open. 376 00:38:23,080 --> 00:38:26,920 A commission had been sent to assess the efficiency 377 00:38:26,920 --> 00:38:31,280 of the 230th Ground Assault Division, of which the 7th Guards Regiment was a part. 378 00:38:34,640 --> 00:38:38,040 They found that in one day, the division destroyed more than 100 vehicles, 379 00:38:39,520 --> 00:38:44,120 6 tanks, and 20 guns. 380 00:38:53,320 --> 00:38:56,160 As the Germans retreated through Byelorussia, traffic jams formed, 381 00:38:57,400 --> 00:38:59,200 particularly around the river crossings. 382 00:39:04,840 --> 00:39:07,480 With the Luftwaffe nowhere to be seen, 383 00:39:07,480 --> 00:39:09,880 the columns were at the mercy of the Soviet Air Force. 384 00:39:46,000 --> 00:39:51,040 In April 1945, the Soviet Air Force prepared to support the Red Army s final offensive, 385 00:39:51,080 --> 00:39:54,360 across the Oder river and into Berlin. 386 00:39:54,360 --> 00:39:58,120 They would outnumber the Luftwaffe almost 7 to 1, 387 00:39:58,160 --> 00:40:00,920 but the German 6th Air Fleet could be counted on to fight desperately 388 00:40:00,960 --> 00:40:02,240 in defence of the capital. 389 00:40:20,480 --> 00:40:23,720 Three pairs of La-7s took off to guard the crossings. 390 00:40:24,720 --> 00:40:26,760 Ivan Kozhedub was in the lead. 391 00:40:34,480 --> 00:40:38,800 Below them, they spotted 32 Focke-Wulf-190s flying in two groups. 392 00:40:43,120 --> 00:40:45,600 Kozhedub descended, slipped under the German formation, 393 00:40:46,480 --> 00:40:48,200 and attacked the lead aircraft. 394 00:40:54,040 --> 00:40:57,160 A Focke-Wulf opened fire on Kozhedub. 395 00:40:57,160 --> 00:41:00,120 His wingman shot down the German at almost point-blank range. 396 00:41:03,840 --> 00:41:07,160 Using their speed, the Soviet fighters climbed and attacked the second enemy group. 397 00:41:08,400 --> 00:41:10,000 Kozhedub destroyed another plane. 398 00:41:16,360 --> 00:41:20,840 Then, another. A dogfight began, as pilots twisted and turned, 399 00:41:22,360 --> 00:41:25,200 trying to get into a good firing position on an enemy aircraft. 400 00:41:30,880 --> 00:41:34,560 In spite of their superior numbers, the Focke-Wulfs turned tail and fled west, 401 00:41:35,600 --> 00:41:37,640 pursued by the Lavochkins. 402 00:41:55,880 --> 00:42:00,640 Back at base, the scores were tallied up. Kozhedub had shot down three aircraft, 403 00:42:00,680 --> 00:42:03,920 getting away with a few holes in his tail. 404 00:42:03,920 --> 00:42:09,440 Gromakovsky had 2, and Kumanitsky, Stetsenko and Orlov, one each. 405 00:42:19,280 --> 00:42:22,000 The once mighty Luftwaffe had been chased from the sky, 406 00:42:23,720 --> 00:42:26,720 and Soviet fighter pilots roamed at will over the enemy s capital. 407 00:42:28,880 --> 00:42:33,480 Several became aces in the final days of the war, amongst them, 408 00:42:33,480 --> 00:42:37,640 Vladimir Gromakovsky who shot down 5 aircraft during the Berlin offensive, 409 00:42:37,640 --> 00:42:39,920 and Viktor Aleksandriuk, who claimed 7. 410 00:42:48,160 --> 00:42:52,760 On the night of 9th May, pilots woke to the sound of gunshots. 411 00:42:52,760 --> 00:42:55,320 They sprung out of bed and raced outside with their sidearms. 412 00:42:57,680 --> 00:43:00,080 German regiments were still trying to fight their way to the West, 413 00:43:01,360 --> 00:43:03,640 sometimes attacking airfields on their path. 414 00:43:07,240 --> 00:43:10,320 But the shots were being fired into the air. 415 00:43:10,320 --> 00:43:12,960 News had arrived of the German unconditional surrender. 416 00:43:13,920 --> 00:43:16,360 The war was finally over. 417 00:43:22,600 --> 00:43:25,800 For the Soviet Air Force, it had been a costly and bloody struggle. 418 00:43:27,440 --> 00:43:31,280 But from the devastating defeats of 1941 419 00:43:31,280 --> 00:43:33,600 had emerged a ruthless and powerful air force, 420 00:43:35,120 --> 00:43:38,680 that had played its full part in the final Soviet victory.