German Stuka Dive Bomber

The Stuka dive bomber was developed in the early thirties and went into operation in 1936 in time for Germany's sweep over Europe. The plane was designed as a dive bomber and close air support machine and functioned very well in those roles. It was not a fighter as the U.S. Grummans  or the British Spitfire or the Japanese Zero. 

The Stuka had a terrifically terrifying siren on board that would wail all the way through the dive, adding to the terror of enemy forces and civilians in the way of the attack. The attack pattern is shown below. The Stuka had an automatic device to pull out of a steep dive even if the pilot blacked out during the dive. No allied dive bombers had that feature. Many allied pilots were lost due to blacking out in steep dives.

The Stuka was outfitted with 37 millimeter gun pods in 1944 for use against allied tanks. I am not aware of any allied planes with gun pods on them during the war. See below: