I also should give some credit to the Russians for fielding some very fine tactical fighers...the Mig-3, the various Yak fighters, and the Lavochkin fighters La-5 and La-7. All of them presented the Germans with tough competition in the air, and the Yaks and Lavochkins eventually won close to complete air superiority in the the Eastern theatre, though at the cost of literally thousands of slain Russian pilots.