Originally shared by Lord Anubis

Junkers Ju-87Ds starting their engines on the Eastern Front, Spring/Summer 1943. By this stage of the war the famed Stuka was more of a hinder acne than a benefit to the Germans, needing extensive fighter cover all the way to the target and back. However, losses were still high- one Soviet pilot, Aleksander Gorovetz, was responsible for the destruction of nine Stukas in one sortie alone on July 6th 1943 (though he paid for this feat with his life after being shot by Bf-109s immediately after). Many Stuka aces lost their lives during the Kursk offensive alone, to which too Stuka ace Hans-Ulrich Rudel commented “bitterness and bereavement nearly smashed us.” From late 1943 onwards Fw-190s replaced the ageing Ju-87 in the dive bomber role, though it served as a flying tank destroyer as the Ju-87G “Kannonenvogel”.