The Ugly Duckling series has looked at a number of aircraft which are perhaps less popular than others in War Thunder, but has then gone on to detail how in real life these aircraft were actually very capable within their field. This month, we’re taking a different approach – an aircraft which is relatively popular within the game, but in real life fell far short of the mark…

Earlier in the year, Gaijin released a number of facts, figures and statistics about War Thunder. One of these announcements was the rather less than coveted ‘most shot down aircraft’ – at the time of the announcement, this accolade fell to the Henschel Hs 129.

One of the most iconic naval fighters of all time and in the opening phases of the war also one of the most feared fighter aircraft in the world, the Mitsubishi A6M ‘Zero’ is now an aviation legend. Possessing an incredibly successful combination of agility, phenomenal range and firepower.

Even a cursory search through the War Thunder forums and status updates will identify a small number of aircraft which are highlighted for being amongst the most ineffectual in the game. One of the most commonly mentioned is the Polikarpov Po-2. But there are some aspects of real life combat which cannot be modeled in a computer game, and the Red Army Air Force was able to exploit some of these