During the Great Patriotic War, the following joke went around: “Why is the Li-2 so fat, the Il-2 “hunchbacked,” and the “pawn” so thin? Because Li-2 speculated throughout the war, the attack aircraft endured the war, and the “pawn”, like a prostitute, was thrown into reconnaissance aircraft, then into fighters, then into dive bombers...” There is some truth in this crude joke - it was created as a heavy fighter , during World War II, the Pe-2 became the most popular Soviet front-line bomber, the same symbol of Victory as the T-34 and Il-2. Artem Drabkin’s new book, which continues the popular series of conversations with veterans of the Great Patriotic War, collects the memories of pilots who fought on the legendary "pawn" - pilots, navigators, gunners and radio operators. These are true chronicles of dive bombers, an honest story, without omissions or self-censorship, about combat missions and deadly missions, about bombing strikes under heavy anti-aircraft fire and battles with German fighters, about life at the front and friends in battle, awards and losses, defeats and victories. ...Based on materials from the site “I Remember”