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Ilyushin Il-2 Image Gallery (there are a total of 52 images)
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Aircraft description (most info is taken from Wikipedia)
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The Ilyushin Il-2 Shturmovik was a ground attack aircraft in the Second World War, and was produced by the Soviet Union in huge numbers; in combination with its successor, the Ilyushin Il-10, a total of 36,163 were built, making it the single most produced military aircraft design in all of aviation history as well as the second most produced aircraft in history behind the Polikarpov Po-2.
Design and development The idea for a Soviet armored ground-attack aircraft dates to the early 1930s when Dmitry Pavlovich Grigorovich designed TSh-1 and TSh-2 armored biplanes. However, Soviet engines at the time lacked the power needed to provide the heavy aircraft with good performance. Il-2 was designed by Sergey Ilyushin and his team at the Central Design Bureau in 1938. TsKB-55 was a two-seat aircraft with an armoured shell weighing 700 kg (1,540 lb), protecting crew, engine, radiators, and the fuel tank. Standing empty, the Ilyushin weighed more than 4,500 kg (almost 10,000 lb), making the armoured shell about 15% of the aircraft's gross weight. The prototype, which first flew on 30 December 1939, won the government competition against Sukhoi Su-6 and received VVS designation BSh-2. However, BSh-2 was eventually rejected in favor of a lighter single-seat design, the TsKB-57, which first flew 12 October 1940. The original Mikulin AM-35 1,370 hp (1,022 kW) engine proved too weak and was replaced by the 1,680 hp (1,254 kW) Mikulin AM-38 before the aircraft entered production. The aircraft entered production in 1941 as Il-2, and 249 had been built by the time Nazi Germany invaded the Soviet Union on 22 June 1941. Operational history The Il-2 aircraft played a crucial role on the Eastern Front, and in Soviet opinion it was the most decisive aircraft in the history of modern land warfare. Flying day and night, they could defeat the thick armour of the Panther and Tiger I tanks, and occasionally shot down Bf 109s when the German pilots got careless while attacking them. Josef Stalin paid the Il-2 a great tribute in his own inimitable manner: when a factory building them fell behind on its deliveries, Stalin sent the following cable to the factory manager: "The Red Army needs the Il-2 as it needs air or bread. I demand more. This is my last warning." The first use in action of the Il-2 was with the 4th ShAP (Ground Attack Regiment) over the Berezina River days after the invasion began. So new were the aircraft that the pilots had no training in flight characteristics or tactics, and the ground crew no training in servicing or re-arming. Unsurprisingly, by 10 July, 4th ShAP was down to 10 aircraft from a strength of 65. Tactics changed as the Soviet aircrew got used to the Il-2's strengths. Instead of a low horizontal straight approach at 50 metres altitude, the target was usually kept to the pilot's left and a turn and shallow dive of 30 degrees was utilised, using an echeloned assault by four to twelve aircraft at a time. Although the Il-2's RS-82 rockets could destroy armoured vehicles with a single hit, they were so inaccurate that experienced Il-2 pilots mainly utilised their cannon armament. Thereafter, the Il-2 was widely deployed on the Eastern Front. The aircraft was capable of flying in low light conditions and carried weaponry capable of defeating the thick armour of the Panther and Tiger I tanks. They were also proven capable of downing enemy aircraft, claiming an occasional Bf 109. The true abilities of Il-2 are difficult to determine from existing documentary evidence. W. Liss in Aircraft profile 88: Ilyushin Il-2 mentions an engagement during the Battle of Kursk on 7 July 1943, in which 70 tanks from the German 9th Panzer Division were destroyed by Ilyushin Il-2 in just 20 minutes.[4] In another report of the action on the same day, a Soviet staff publication states that : Ground forces highly valued the work of aviation on the battlefield. In a number of instances enemy attacks were thwarted thanks to our air operations. Thus on 7 July enemy tank attacks were disrupted in the Kashara region (13th Army). Here our assault aircraft delivered three powerful attacks in groups of 20-30, which resulted in the destruction and disabling of 34 tanks. The enemy was forced to halt further attacks and to withdraw the remnants of his force north of Kashara. Thanks to the heavy armour protection, an Il-2 could take a great deal of punishment and proved a difficult target for both ground and aircraft fire to down. Some pilots favoured aiming down into the cockpit and wing roots in diving attacks on the slow, low-flying Il-2 formations [6]. Several Luftwaffe aces claimed to attack while climbing from behind, out of view of the rear gunner, and aim for the Il-2's non-retractable oil cooler. The veracity of this has been disputed by some Il-2 pilots in postwar interviews since Il-2s typically flew very close to the ground (cruise altitudes below 50 m (160 ft) were common) and the radiator protruded a mere 4 in (10 cm) from the aircraft. A major threat to Il-2 was the German ground fire. In postwar interviews, Il-2 pilots reported 20 mm and 50 mm artillery as the primary threat. While the fabled 88 mm gun was formidable, low-flying Il-2s presented a fast-moving target for the 88's relatively low rate of fire and while occasional hits were scored, Soviet pilots apparently did not treat the "88" with the same respect as high-flying Allied bomber crews. The armored tub ranging from 5 to 12 mm (0.2 to 0.5 in) in thickness and enveloping the engine and the cockpit could deflect all small arms fire and glancing blows from larger-calibre ammunition. There are reports of the armored windscreen surviving direct hits from 20 mm rounds. Because of this ability to absorb damage Luftwaffe pilots referred to the Il-2 as the Betonflugzeug (Concrete aircraft). Unfortunately, the rear gunners did not have the benefit of all-around armor protection and suffered about four times more casualties than the pilots. Added casualties resulted from the Soviet policy of not returning home with unused ammunition which typically resulted in repeated passes on the target. Soviet troops often requested additional passes even after the aircraft were out of ammunition to exploit the intimidating effect Il-2s had on German ground troops who had given it the nicknames Schwarzer Tod (Black Death) and Eiserner Gustav (Iron Gustav). The Finnish nickname Maatalouskone ("The Agricultural Machine" or "crop duster") derived from the habitual low attack pattern, "crop dusting," of the Il-2 While Il-2 proved to be a deadly air-to-ground weapon, heavy losses resulted from vulnerability to fighter attack, consequently, in February 1942, the two-seat design was revived. The IL-2M with a rear gunner under the stretched canopy entered service in September 1942 with surviving single-seaters were eventually modified to this standard. Later changes included an upgrade from 20-mm to 23-mm to 37-mm cannons, aerodynamic improvements, use of wooden outer wing panels instead of metal and increased fuel capacity. In 1943, the IL-2 Type 3 or Il-2m3 came out with redesigned wings that were swept back 15 degrees on the outer panels. Performance and handling were much improved and this became the most common version of the Il-2. A radial-engine-powered variant of the Il-2 with Shvetsov ASh-82 engine was proposed in 1942 to remedy projected shortages in Mikulin inline engines. However, ASh-82 was also used in the new Lavochkin La-5 fighter which effectively secured all available engines to the Lavochkin bureau. The radial engineSukhoi Su-2 ground attack aircraft was produced in small quantities, but was generally considered unsuitable due to inadequate performance and lack of defensive armament. Soviet anti-aircraft artillery frequently mistook it for German aircraft, often with lethal consequences. After the war, the Il-2 could be found in service with several Eastern European countries, with most of the Il-2/10 planes eventually scrapped with the advent of military jets. Only a handful of Il-2 survive to this day, including museum rebuilds of crashed airframes. In recent years, several Il-2 wrecks have been located and recovered from Lake Balaton, a large, shallow lake in Hungary, which is located near the historic site of a large WWII tank battle. Production The Il-2 was produced in vast quantities, becoming one of the most widely produced military aircraft in history. Production early in the Great Patriotic War was slow, due to the aircraft factories near Moscow and other major cities in western Russia being relocated east of the Ural mountains after the German invasion. Ilyushin and his engineers had time to reconsider production methods, and two months after the move, Il-2s were again being produced. The tempo was not to Premier Stalin's liking, however, and he issued the following telegram to Ilyushin: YOU HAVE LET DOWN OUR COUNTRY AND OUR RED ARMY. YOU HAVE NOT MANUFACTURED IL-2S UNTIL NOW. THE IL-2 AIRCRAFT ARE NECESSARY FOR OUR RED ARMY NOW, LIKE AIR, LIKE BREAD. SHENKMAN PRODUCES ONE IL-2 A DAY AND TRETIAKOV BUILDS ONE OR TWO MIG-3S DAILY. IT IS A MOCKERY OF OUR COUNTRY AND THE RED ARMY. I ASK YOU NOT TO TRY THE GOVERNMENT'S PATIENCE, AND DEMAND THAT YOU MANUFACTURE MORE ILS. I WARN YOU FOR THE LAST TIME. STALIN. According to one reference, "the production of Shturmoviks rapidly gained speed. Stalin's notion of the Il-2 being 'like bread' to the Red Army took hold in Ilyushin's aircraft plants and the army soon had their Shturmoviks available in quantity." Versions
Operators
General characteristics ( Il-2M3 )
Performance ( Il-2M3 )
Armament ( Il-2M3 )
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