Junior Lieutnant V.P. Aleksukhin and the gunner A.D. Gatayunov are the most successful crew of 617th ShAP, that fought on the Kharkov front on August 1943.

The plane, shows the inscription Aleksandr Suvorov on the fuselage and his portrait painted on the stabilizer, on both sides.

This image shows also a monogram underlying the inscription; this monogram seems to have been deleted in a second time.

The planes on the background don't show the same markings, but white caps on their tails.

The whole plane seen from the right side. We see that both the inscription and the portrait are on both sides. The spinner looks partially painted red.

The plane is typical of Zavod 18, with the black-green camouflage and the black 'amoeba' around the star on the tail. The planes built in this factory are characterized by all-metal wings and a fully hinged rear canopy, with the short section shortened, and red stars with thin white outlines.

A red half-cap with a thin white outline is on the rudder.

Below: we see the tail of the plane on the background. The rudder shows an hand-made black/green repainting; the trim tab has a tiny white outline on three sides.

The monogram, overpainted with camouflage paint, is vaguely visible in front of the fuselage star.

The code number on the rudder looks 1873483 or something similar.

Maj. Lomotsev, commander of 617 ShAP, commends Se,ior Lieutnant Garin in August 1943. On the background, the tail of another plane with the portrait of Suvorov on the stabilizer, and a white half-cap.

The unit became the 167th Gv.ShAP on 5 April 1944.

Below: a drawing of this plane made for the book on Il-2 of Jason Moore.

The yellow (?) monogram was deleted in a second time.