Wilhelm Batz shot down 46 of one type of aircraft. How many of these aircraft were made during World War 2?
36,183
Ilyushin Il-2
The Ilyushin Il-2 (Cyrillic: Илью́шин Ил-2) Sturmovik was a ground-attack aircraft (Cyrillic: Штурмови́к, "Šturmovík") produced by the Soviet Union in large numbers during the Second World War.
 With 36,183 units of the Il-2 produced during the war, 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.
Wilhelm Batz
Wilhelm Batz (21 May 1916, in Bamberg – 11 September 1988, in Mauschendorf/Ebern in Unterfranken) was a pilot in the Luftwaffe of Nazi Germany during World War II.
 The sixth-most successful fighter pilot in the history of aerial warfare, Batz flew 445 combat missions and claimed 237 enemy aircraft shot down.
 234 of these victories were achieved over the Eastern Front, including at least 46 Il-2 Sturmoviks, but he did claim three victories, including one four-engine bomber against the United States Army Air Forces (USAAF) over the Ploieşti oil fields.
 Batz was a recipient of the Knight's Cross of the Iron Cross with Oak Leaves and Swords.
Blister hangar
A blister hangar is a novel arched, portable aircraft hangar designed by notable British airport architect Graham R Dawbarn patented by Miskins and Sons in 1939.
 Originally made of wooden ribs clad with profiled steel sheets, steel lattice ribs and corrugated steel sheet cladding later became the norm.
 It does not require a foundation slab and can be anchored to the ground with iron stakes.
 Numerous examples were manufactured for military use in World War 2 and various different sizes were available.
 Many found post-war use as agricultural or industrial buildings and some still remain in use on airfields such as Fairoaks, Redhill, Coal Aston and White Waltham today.
 Denham Aerodrome still uses their blister hangar to house the only fixed wing flying school on the field, The Pilot Centre. Rex Pierson
Reginald Kirshaw "Rex" Pierson CBE (9 February 1891 – 10 January 1948) was an English aircraft designer and chief designer at Vickers Limited later Vickers-Armstrongs Aircraft Ltd.
 He was responsible for the Vickers Vimy, a heavy bomber designed during World War 1 and the first aircraft to cross the Atlantic non-stop.
 He was the chief designer of the Vickers Wellington bomber of World War 2. List of military aircraft of France
France has used many military aircraft both in its air force, the Armée de l'Air, and other branches of its armed forces.
 Numerous aircraft were designed and built in France, but many aircraft from elsewhere, or part of joint ventures have been used as well.
 Lighter-than-air aircraft such as dirigibles and balloons found use starting in the 19th century used mainly for observation.
 The advent of World War I saw an explosion in the number France's aircraft, though development slowed after.
 While having many promising designs in development in the 1930s, government wrangling delayed development enough there was little available at the out break of World War II.
 The armistice in 1940 marked a low point, with Vichy France being allowed only reduced numbers and development halting.
 Many French aircraft were captured and used by the Third Reich and its allies.
 Some aircraft that did escape served with the Allies or Free French forces, who also used many other types of allied aircraft.
 The cold-war saw the continued use of many other Western aircraft, mainly from the U.S., during a period of rebuilding of the aviation industry and under threat of war with the Soviet Union.
 Many new types would come into service including the very successful Mirage series or the latest design, the Rafale. Type R ship
The Type R ship is a United States Maritime Administration (MARAD) designation for World War II refrigerated cargo ship, also called a reefer ship.
 The R type ship was used in World War II, Korean War, Vietnam War and the Cold War.
 Type R ships were used to transport perishable commodities which require temperature-controlled transportation, such as fruit, meat, fish, vegetables, dairy products and other foods.
 The US Maritime Commission ordered 41 new refrigerated ships for the US Navy.
 Because of the difficulty of building refrigerated ships only two were delivered in 1944, and just 26 were delivered in 1945 and the remainder in 1946–48.
 The 41 R type ships were built in four groups.
 Two of design types were modified type C1 ships and two were modified type C2 ships.
 The United Fruit Company operated many of the R type ships in World War 2.
 The type R2-S-BV1 became the US Navy Alstede-class stores ship and the type R1-M-AV3 became the US Navy Adria-class stores ship. 2004 Grozny stadium bombing
The 2004 Grozny stadium bombing occurred on 9 May 2004 when a bomb exploded in the Dynamo stadium in the Chechen capital, Grozny, killing 10 people including the republic's president Akhmad Kadyrov and another 100 people were wounded.
 Kadyrov's election was considered by many to be by a fraudulent vote.
 The explosion was caused by a bomb planted underneath the concrete floor of the VIP podium and occurred at 10:35am during a parade and concert in Groznyy celebrating the 59th anniversary of the victory of Germany in World War 2.
 The blast tore a hole in the section designated for dignitaries.
 It was not clear if the explosion was specifically targeting Kadyrov or whether it would have occurred regardless of his presence, as he was not officially scheduled to be at this event.
 Khussein Isayev, chairman of the Republic's state council, and Adlan Khasanov, a reported for Reuters, were also killed in the blast.
 Col. Gen. Valery Baranov, the commander of the Russian military in the northern Caucasus was gravely wounded.
 Although estimates of total casualties varied, at least ten people were killed and around fifty more injured.
 The numbers include many civilians and WW2 veterans who were also attending the celebrations.
 Officials believe that the blast was detonated by remote control and was intentionally installed below the VIP section.
 The bomb may have been planted some time ago during the recent renovations to the stadium.
 Preliminary reports suggest that the bomb was equivalent to one ton of TNT.
 The location of the bomb made it impossible for existing equipment to detect.
 The type of explosive appeared identical to one used to blow up the military parade two years ago in the Dagestani city of Kaspiysk.
 Rescue workers prevented two other blasts in the stadium.
 They were able to defuse another landmine and an additional explosive device equipped with a timer set to go off 30 minutes after the first explosion. Waco Standard Cabin series
The Waco Standard Cabin series is a range of American single-engine 4–5 seat fabric covered cabin biplanes produced by the Waco Aircraft Company beginning in 1931 with the QDC and continuing until 1942 when production ended for the VKS-7F.
 They were used as light passenger and utility transports, navigational trainers, bushplanes and briefly as maritime reconnaissance aircraft during World War 2. RCAF Western Air Command
Western Air Command was the part of the Royal Canadian Air Force's Home War Establishment responsible for air operations on the Pacific coast of Canada during the Second World War.
 When Canada declared war against Germany in September 1939 the command consisted of only five squadrons.
 Four of them equipped with obsolete aircraft including a bomber squadron with aircraft from the Great War and there were no fighter aircraft at all for its only fighter squadron (113 Fighter Squadron was thus disbanded).
 With the Japanese threat after Pearl Harbor it grew rapidly and played a critical role in fighter and anti-submarine operations in Canadian and American waters during the Aleutian Islands Campaign.
 It was there that Squadron Leader K.A. Boomer of No. 111 Squadron shot down a Rufe fighter, the RCAF's only kill in the Pacific Theatre.
 On 7 July 1942 a Bristol Bolingbroke pressed home an attack on the Japanese Submarine Ro 32 the pilot F/Sgt.
 P.M.G. Thomas of No. 115 Squadron RCAF then led American Destroyers to sink the damaged submarine.
 By January 1943 Western Air Command had expanded to include many bomber, fighter and operational units under its control.
 By the end of the war the command would involve some twenty squadrons when the last units to join were added in 1943.
 These were the 163 Army Cooperation Squadron in March flying Bristol Bolingbrokes and Hawker Hurricanes, in May the 160 Bomber-Reconnaissance Squadron was added flying Cansos from Sea Island BC (before moving to Yarmouth NS in July) and the 166 Communication Squadron formed in September flying various types.
 In addition to the new squadrons, new aircraft types came on line replacing the command's remaining Supermarine Stranraers and Blackburn Sharks with Canso's and the Bolingbrokes and Beauforts with the Lockheed Ventura.
 Countless training missions and operational patrols bolstered the air activity over the coastal areas but there was not much action until RCAF Western Command was on the look out for General Kusaba's Fire Balloons that the Japanese called the Fūsen Bakudan Campaign.
 In February and March 1945, P-40 fighter pilots from 133 Squadron, Royal Canadian Air Force operating out of RCAF Patricia Bay (Victoria, British Columbia), intercepted and destroyed two fire balloons, On 21 February, Pilot Officer E. E. Maxwell While shot down a balloon, which landed on Sumas Mountain, in Washington State.
 On 10 March, Pilot Officer J. O. Patten destroyed a balloon near Saltspring Island, British Columbia.
 During another interception a Canso forced down a fire balloon which was examined at the army headquarters.
 Patrol activity was joined by the Operational Training Schools (OTS) operated by Number 4 Training Command of the BCATP.
 They were the No. 3 OTS flying the Canso and Catalina and No. 32 OTS with Ansons, Beauforts and Swordfish at Patricia Bay.
 In April, 1944 the No. 5 OTS Heavy Conversion unit stood up at Boundary Bay when 16 B-24 Liberators arrived fresh from American factories.
 By the end of September 1944 RCAF 5 O.T.U. had grown to sizeable force of some 87 aircraft including 38 B-24 Liberators, 35 B-25 Mitchells, 5 Bolingbrokes, 8 P-40 Kittyhawks and a single Norseman.
 With the end of the war in Europe these aircraft were joined by a number of Victory Aircraft Lancaster X bombers which were to be used to train the British Commonwealth's Very Long Range Bomber Tiger Force that would soon be sent to bomb the Japanese mainland from Okinawa.
 With the unconditional surrender of Japan the RCAF's Tiger Force bomber squadrons were disbanded before they flew overseas and the total draw down of the Western Air Command was suddenly undertaken.
 Within several months almost all the flying squadrons would be completely stood down. John Kingsman Beling
John Kingsman Beling (October 29, 1919 – November 5, 2010) was a retired Rear Admiral of the United States Navy whose final assignment was as Commander, Iceland Defense Force in the early 1970s.
 Commissioned in 1942, he served as a Naval Aviator in the Pacific Theater in World War 2, and was seriously burned when his aircraft was shot down during the Marianas Campaign.
 He made a full recovery from his injuries, and went on to serve in a variety of staff positions, attended the Naval War College, and commanded three attack squadrons and two ships.