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”The book’s text has been translated from the original language using an artificial intelligence system. In most cases, the translation is accurate and clear, but occasionally there may be incorrect phrasing or individual words left untranslated.