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Il 2 attack aircraft all aircraft. Russian aviation. And now - “hunchback!”

Glider

Armament

Sleeve from VYA-23

  • 2 guns in the wing consoles (initially - 20 mm ShVAK, in the main series - 23 mm VYA, in the anti-tank version - mm), a sample with mm guns was tested.
  • 2 ShKAS machine guns (wing-mounted)
  • RS-82 or RS-132 missiles
  • As a defensive weapon, the two-seat versions were equipped with a 12.7 mm UBT machine gun.

Modifications

It was produced in single-seat (pilot) and two-seat versions (pilot and air gunner). Various technological and design changes were constantly being made, for example, at the end of 1941, due to a lack of materials, some specimens were fitted with a wooden tail, with additional external stiffening ribs. The armor and weapons changed.

  • IL-2 (single)- a serial modification of the attack aircraft, not equipped with a cabin for the rear gunner; Due to the large combat losses of the single-seat version, some aviation units made successful attempts to convert the single-seat Il-2 into a double-seat; in a number of cases, they even limited themselves to simulating the rear cannon, installing a dummy aimed at the tail in the cockpit slot, which, from a distance, effectively scared off German fighter pilots from approaching the tail of such an attack aircraft, simply by its appearance.
  • Il-2 (double)- serial modification, equipped with a gunner’s cabin with a canopy and ShKAS or UBT machine guns mounted on a semi-turret;
  • Il-2 AM-38F- an attack aircraft with a forced AM-38f engine, which, compared to the AM-38, had greater take-off power (by 100 hp). The first single-seat production Il-2 (production number 182412) with an experimental AM-38f engine was delivered to take flight data under the program of acceptance tests of serial aircraft with the addition of testing the operation of the VMGvLIS of the 18th aircraft plant on July 31, 1942.
    Since January 1943, AM-38f engines began to be installed on all production Il-2 attack aircraft, both single and double, at all aircraft factories that produced these aircraft. By January 1943, the 24th Aircraft Engine Plant managed to produce 377 AM-38f engines.
    Since January 1943, the two-seat Il-2 with the AM-38f engine went into large-scale production, and from February 1, all the main Ilov manufacturers - the 1st, 18th and 30th aircraft factories - completely switched to its production.
  • IL-2 KSS (wing with "arrow")- serial modification of the Il-2 AM-38F with the same AM-38F engine, but boosted to 1720 hp. pp., with some aerodynamic and design improvements.
    Instead of a metal tank, fiber protected gas tanks were installed, in which most of the small holes were repaired after some time with a special protector compound that tends to thicken in the open air.
    In order to improve the stability of the Il-2 in flight and control, shock-absorbing springs and a counterbalancer were installed in the elevator control system, developed at the LII NKAP by M. L. Mil (later the Chief Designer of helicopters) on the Il-2 AM-38f aircraft.
    The counterbalancer balanced the inertial forces arising from the weight compensation of the elevator during curved flight. The shock-absorbing spring was intended to increase the stock of longitudinal dynamic stability of an attack aircraft when flying with the control stick thrown down - the tension of the shock-absorbing spring created a constantly acting force that returned the elevator to its original position when the aircraft's flight mode changed under the influence of external forces.
    To improve the alignment of the Il-2 aircraft, the ends of the wing consoles are moved back, which returns the alignment of the aircraft to the alignment of the single-seat Il-2 aircraft, that is, to 28.0%. Instead of a wooden wing, a metal wing was installed, which increased survivability and improved the repair and operational qualities of the IL-2. By the end of 1944, factories No. 18, 1 and 30 sent KA 7377 modified Il-2 attack aircraft with metal wings of a pointed design to the Air Force KA units, while aircraft factory No. 1 produced Il-2 with a wooden wing;
  • Il-2 M-82- an experimental version of a single-seat attack aircraft, equipped with an M-82 air-cooled engine with a take-off power of 1675 hp. The single-seat Il-2 M-82IR successfully passed factory tests by mid-August 1942 (the test report was approved on August 18, 1942), but the attack aircraft was not transferred to state tests and subsequently all work on it was stopped. Didn't go into series;
  • Il-2 ShFK-37- an experimental single-seat version of the attack aircraft with an AM-38 engine, armed, in addition to two wing-mounted ShKAS machine guns, with two 37-mm aircraft cannons designed by OKB-15 B.G. Shpitalny ShFK-37 (Shpitalny, fuselage-wing, 37 mm caliber). 9 attack aircraft took part in the combat operations of the 688th ShAP of the 228th ShchAD of the 16th VA from December 27, 1942 to January 23, 1943 near Stalingrad during the liquidation of the encircled German group in the zone of the 65th Army of Lieutenant General P. I. Batov . Combat operations were carried out from field airfields. “Proletary”, then the village of Kachalinskaya. Didn't go into series;
  • IL-2 NS-37- a serial modification of the two-seat Il-2 AM-38F on which, in order to increase the anti-tank properties of attack aircraft, two 37 mm 11P-37 OKB-16 cannons were installed with an ammunition load of 50 rounds per gun, without rockets, with a bomb load of 100 kg in normal version and 200 kg in overload.
  • IL-2 NS-45- a prototype of the Il-2 AM-38f aircraft with two NS-45 wing cannons. Field tests of the Il-2 with the NS-45 showed unsatisfactory effectiveness of firing them in the air at small targets. Mainly due to the strong recoil of the guns when firing - the maximum recoil force of an aircraft gun on a ground-based machine reached 7000 kg. Didn't go into the series.
  • Il-2M/Il-4- This development was started after the capture of Smolensk by the Germans on July 16, 1941, which led to the threat of the capture of Moscow and the forced evacuation of the plant that produced A. Mikulin AM-38 engines beyond the Urals. There is a risk of a shortage of these engines. However, since May 1942, production of the M-82 engine with a power of 1676 hp began in Perm. This engine was available in quantities sufficient to prompt the Ilyushin Design Bureau to develop a variant of the Il-2 for the new engine. The M-82 engine was installed slightly lower and without armor (since it was air-cooled) and, therefore, was more vulnerable to enemy fire. At the same time, the position of an air gunner with a UBT machine gun was armored. The aircraft had a new propeller with a conical spinner and fuel tanks increased to 724 liters. In terms of its characteristics, the IL-4 was slightly inferior to the original IL-2, but by that time it became clear that there would be no interruptions with the AM-38 engines. The project was terminated, and the Il-4 designation was transferred to the DB-3F long-range bomber.
  • IL-2T- according to unconfirmed data, the modification could carry a torpedo, for which it was necessary to sacrifice guns. Of the small arms, 3 machine guns remained: 2 wing ones and a rear gunner’s machine gun. However, no documents have yet been discovered confirming the existence of this modification, although there are numerous aircraft models and the modification is used in computer games.

Combat use

Missiles under the wing of the Il-2

Tactics

  • low altitudes (400-1000 m) in a shallow dive
  • low level flight at altitudes of 15-50 m, low altitude, high angular speed and terrain folds were supposed to protect the aircraft from anti-aircraft gun fire, while the armor protected it from small arms fire from enemy infantry.

Efficiency

The least effective means of destroying enemy armored vehicles in the initial period of the war were aerial bombs. On June 25, 780 sorties made it possible to destroy only 30 tanks, 16 guns and 60 vehicles with manpower. During field tests, “three pilots of the 245th Shap, who had combat experience, were able to achieve only 9 hits on the tank with a total ammunition consumption of 300 rounds.” ShVAK cannons and 1,290 rounds of ammunition for ShKAS machine guns” (“Technique and Armament” 2001, No. 7). At the same time, the best results were achieved using high-explosive bombs of the FAB-100 type. However, the FAB-100 penetrated the 30-mm side and rear armor of German medium tanks only at a distance of 5 m and closer. And when they hit the ground, the bombs ricocheted and exploded far from the target. In addition, with low bombing accuracy, the use of the FAB-100 was ineffective. When hit from a strafing flight by a group of 4-6 aircraft, the first part of the aircraft was forced to use the FAB-100 with a fuses slowed down by 22 seconds (so that the explosion did not damage the aircraft flying behind), so that during this time the targets managed to move a considerable distance from the crash site bombs.

The most effective anti-tank weapons in the initial period of the war were capsules with white phosphorus, which were dropped en masse on tank columns. However, phosphorus turned out to be very “capricious” in terms of humidity, temperature and wind, as a result of which it was used very limitedly. In 1943, during the battles on the Kursk Bulge, PTAB (anti-tank bombs) with a cumulative warhead appeared in the Il-2 arsenal, which were loaded into containers of 48 pieces. Around this period there are references to the nickname “Black Death” in German units (in German Schwarzer Tod - plague). Dropping them at a speed of 340-360 km/h from a height of 200 m gave a spread of about 1 bomb per 15 m² and a continuous destruction zone of ~30x100 m. In the first days, the effectiveness was amazing (up to 6-8 tanks from the 1st approach). However, within a week, a change in the formation of German tanks on the march sharply reduced the effectiveness of these ammunition, and since the consumption of full ammunition to defeat 1-2 tanks (with a successful approach) was no longer considered appropriate, preference was given to air guns. Despite the fact that 12,370 thousand PTAB-2.5-1.5 were manufactured during the war, they are not mentioned directly by German sources (although their potential high efficiency is confirmed by the urgency with which the above-mentioned decision was made to change the construction of German tanks to march). The total losses of German tanks, according to Russian official data, amounted to 32.5 thousand units. , and most of them were destroyed by IPTAP and Red Army tanks. This indirectly indicates the limited effectiveness of using this IL-2 ammunition.

The combat use of the Il-2 was hampered by the lack, in the initial period of the war, of appropriate instructions and guidelines:

I don’t know how it happened, but not only in the units, but in the administration of the 8th Air Army itself there were no necessary documents on the combat use of the Il-2. And if so, then the pilots acted according to their own understanding, often not in the most rational way.

From the memoirs of Air Marshal I. I. Pstygo

In addition, the aircraft did not have sighting equipment that made it possible to drop bombs more or less accurately - the probability of one air bomb hitting an object with an area of ​​2000 square meters (larger than a destroyer) was 3.5% with a bomb-dropping altitude of 50 m, and 2.3% with a bomb. impact from a height of 200 m. Such accuracy made it extremely difficult to hit not only a trench, but also an artillery battery (whose area is an order of magnitude smaller).

Firing from a ShVAK cannon targeting a separate tank from a column during tests at the Air Force Armament Research Institute ensured that in three flights with a total expenditure of 553 rounds, 20 hits were made in the tank column (3.6%), of which only hits on the tank were aimed at the aiming point (1, 0%), the rest - to other tanks from the column. When firing from the VYA-23 cannon with a total consumption of 435 shells in 6 sorties, the pilots of the 245th ShAP received 46 hits in the tank column (10.6%), of which 16 hits in the aiming point tank (3.7%). However, enemy opposition in a real battle reduced the chances of hitting the target. In addition, VYa armor-piercing shells did not penetrate the armor of German medium tanks from any direction of attack. Moreover, even the relatively powerful 23-mm Il-2 fragmentation shells contained only 10 g of explosive, that is, even unarmored targets could only be hit by a direct hit.

The protection of the shooter was also a serious and unresolved problem. The first IL-2 prototype had a two-seat armored hull. But the military leadership decided that such an aircraft should be single-seat - the aircraft went into production as a single-seat aircraft. In the first years of the war, attack aircraft (and their pilots were not even trained in the basics of air combat), often deprived of fighter cover, when meeting with enemy fighters, tried to break away at low level flight. This technique led to massive losses, and the pilots demanded the placement of a gunner. Such modernization was often carried out directly in the units, the place for the shooter was cut out behind the armored hull and its protection was completely absent. Since 1942, a two-seat factory version appeared, but due to problems with alignment, the shooter was protected by 6 mm armor plate (for comparison, the rear wall of the armored hull is 12 mm) only on the tail side. The consequence of insufficient protection was a high mortality rate among shooters: during military tests, for every 8 shooters hit, only 1 pilot was out of action. On average, according to statistical estimates, when attacked by a fighter, the probability of hitting the shooter was 2-2.5 times higher than the aircraft he was protecting, although from anti-aircraft fire this ratio was 1:1. It should be noted that Ilov’s losses from fighters throughout the war were lower than losses from anti-aircraft artillery, and since 1943, attack aircraft sorties were carried out only with fighter cover. This reduced the importance of the gunner in the crew, and since 1944, experienced pilots often flew without gunners. Nevertheless, the next attack aircraft, the Il-10, was initially built as a two-seater, just like Ilyushin’s jet projects (Il-40, Il-102).

History of combat use

The combat use of such an unusual aircraft as the Il-2 faced a lot of problems: technical, tactical, in pilot training, and so on. The first results of the battles were unsuccessful:

Summing up the results of 1941, we can say that it was one of the most tragic periods in the history of the Sturmovik crews. The pilots were hastily retrained for these planes and sent to the front, where they were shot down in large numbers

...For example, one of the regiments, 280 ShAP, lost 11 aircraft during three days in the second decade of October. Only on October 10, three of the five vehicles of this regiment did not return from departure, and those that reached their airfield were in deplorable condition.

- “War in the Air” No. 7.8 Il-2/10

Taking into account the high risk of using the Il-2, the title of Hero of the Soviet Union was awarded for 10 combat missions. According to other sources, until 1943, the title of Hero of the Soviet Union was awarded for 30 combat missions, and after 1943 this qualification was increased to 80.

According to official statistics from the Red Army Air Force Headquarters, out of approximately 1,500 Il-2s sent to units before December 31, 1941, 1,100 were lost. However, the Il-2 had fairly good armor, and a significant portion of the total losses were non-combat losses: accidents due to maneuvers at too low an altitude in bad weather conditions.

In total, during the years 1941-1945, the USSR lost 23.6 thousand attack aircraft, of which 12.4 thousand were combat losses. The overall survival rate of the Il-2 during the war was about 53 sorties per one irretrievable loss. Throughout the war, the survival rate in attack aircraft was lower than in bomber and fighter aircraft, despite the fact that the Il-2 was superior in protection to all Soviet aircraft. The reason for this is the tactics of use. Most of the time, the Ilas hung above the front line at low altitudes, attracting the fire of all enemy anti-aircraft artillery. According to an analysis of the combat work of the assault units of the 3rd Air Army in the Vitebsk, Polotsk, Dvina, Bauska and Siauliai operations, the overall level of combat losses of the Il-2, characterized by irretrievable losses, amounted to 2.8 percent of the total number of sorties. At the same time, combat damage was recorded in 50 percent of sorties. There have been cases when an aircraft independently returned from a combat mission, having more than 500 holes in the wing and fuselage. After refurbishment carried out by army field workshops, the aircraft returned to service.

Il-2 also took an active part in the fight against the enemy as part of the air forces of the Baltic, Black Sea and Northern fleets. Along with traditional “work” against ground targets and targets (enemy airfields, troop and anti-aircraft artillery positions, ports and coastal fortifications, etc.), attack aircraft also effectively attacked surface targets using top-mast bombing. For example, during the fighting in the Arctic, the 46th ShAP of the Northern Fleet Air Force had more than 100 sunk enemy ships.

Landing on arable land without releasing the landing gear

The downed and burning Il-2 was planted on the arable land on its “belly” without releasing the landing gear, so that the landing gear would not go into the ground and the plane would not crash. After such a landing, it was necessary to quickly leave the burning plane and take cover before the plane exploded.

N.Z.

The emergency supply included chocolate bars, as products with a very high specific calorie content.

Bombs without explosives

To defeat enemy personnel, a massive drop of small iron bombs and a lance with stabilizers weighing about 100 grams without explosives was used.

Reviews from veterans

The plane was good and necessary for this war. Yes, it did not save crews very much, but as a weapon it was an excellent machine... Yes, it could not dive, but due to its work at low altitude it was very effective. We took 400 kg of bombs, rarely 600 - it didn’t take off. True, the attack aircraft did not have a real bomber sight, but it seems to me that they did not need one. What is it for? There's no time to aim! The same applies to RS - they flew, they scared. The most accurate weapons of a stormtrooper are cannons. Very good 23 mm VYa cannons. We also had to fly with 37-mm NS-37 cannons. When you shoot from them, the plane stops - very strong recoil. No pleasure, but a powerful weapon, of course.

Nikolai Ivanovich Purgin (pilot, Hero of the Soviet Union):

Shtangeev Nikolai Ivanovich (pilot):

Usov Valentin Vladimirovich (mechanic, air gunner):

I think that at that time it was the only aircraft that successfully combined firepower, good maneuverability and armor protection... Of course, the armor did not hold up a 20-mm projectile, but it took a lot of hits to ricochet... In addition, the armored hull did not Fully retractable wheels made it possible to sit the car on your stomach. In this case, naturally, the oil radiator was demolished, but such damage could be corrected in the field. The only drawback that I can highlight is the low operability.

Further development

Central Archive of the Ministry of Defense

In service

Countries that had the aircraft in service

USSR

Bulgaria

  • Bulgarian Air Force received 120 combat Il-2s and 10 training Il-2Us in 1945. The aircraft were used until 1954.

Czechoslovakia

  • Czechoslovak Air Force received 33 combat Il-2s and 2 training Il-2Us. The planes were used until 1949.

Poland

  • Polish Air Force received 250 Il-2 attack aircraft between 1944 and 1946. All aircraft were withdrawn from service in 1949.

Mongolia

  • Mongolian Air Force received 78 Il-2 attack aircraft 1945. All aircraft were withdrawn from service in 1954

Yugoslavia

  • Yugoslav Air Force received 213 aircraft of various modifications and operated them until 1954.

Performance characteristics

Profiles of a single-seat (left) and double-seat (right) IL-2. View from above.

The characteristics below correspond to the modification Il-2M3:

Specifications

  • Crew: 2 people
  • Length : 11.6 m
  • Wingspan: 14.6 m
  • Height : 4.2 m
  • Wing area: 38.5 m²
  • Empty weight: 4,360 kg
  • Curb weight: 6,160 kg
  • Maximum take-off weight: 6,380 kg
  • Armor weight: 990 kg
  • Engines:: 1× liquid-cooled V-shaped 12-cylinder AM-38F
  • Traction: 1× 1720 hp (1285 kW)

Flight characteristics

  • Maximum speed: 414 km/h
    • at an altitude of 1220 m: 404 km/h
    • near the ground: 386 km/h
  • Range of flight: 720 km
  • Run length: 335 m (with 400 kg bombs)
  • Rate of climb: 10.4 m/s
  • Service ceiling: 5500 m
    • 160 kg/m²
  • Thrust-to-weight ratio: 0.21 kW/kg

Armament

  • Cannon and machine gun:
    • 2× 23 mm VYa-23 cannons, 150 rounds per barrel
    • 2× 7.62 mm ShKAS machine gun, 750 rounds per barrel
    • 1× 12.7 mm UBT defensive machine gun in the rear cockpit, 150 rounds
    • up to 600 kg bombs
    • 4× RS-82 or RS-132

Comparative table of performance characteristics of various modifications

Data source: Shavrov, 1988

, kg/m²
TTX Il-2 of various modifications
IL-2
(TsKB-55P)		 IL-2 IL-2
(1942) 		IL-2 KSS
(IL-2M3)		 IL-2
(1944) 		IL-2
NS-37
Specifications
Crew 1 (pilot) 2 (pilot and gunner)
Length, m 11,6
Wingspan, m 14,6
Height, m 4,17
Wing area, m² 38,5
Empty mass, kg 3 990 4 261 4 525 4 360 4 525 4 625
Curb weight, kg 5 310 5 788 6 060 6 160 6 360 6 160
Payload weight, kg 1 320 1 527 1 535 1 800 1 835 1 535
Fuel weight, kg 470 535
Engine 1× AM-38 1× AM-38F
Power, hp 1× 1 665 1× 1 720 1× 1 760 1× 1 720
Flight characteristics
Maximum speed
on high, km/h/m		 433 / 0
450 / 2 460 		396 / 0
426 / 2 500 		370 / 0
411 / 1 200 		403 / 0
414 / 1 000 		390 / 0
410 / 1 500 		391 / 0
405 / 1 200
Landing speed, km/h 140 145 145 136
Practical range, km 638 740 685 720 765 685
Service ceiling, m 7 800 6 200 6 000 5 500 6 000
Rate of climb, m/s 10,4 n/a 6,95 10,4 8,3 7,58
Climb time,
m/min		 1 000 / 1,6
5 000 / 9,2 		1 000 / 2,2
3 000 / 7,4
5 000 / 14,7 		1 000 / 2,4
3 000 / 7,8
5 000 / 17,8 		5 000 / 20,0 5 000 / 15,0 1 000 / 2,2
3 000 / 7,0
5 000 / 15,5
Run length, m 450 420 400 n/a 395 370
Run length, m 400 500 n/a 535 138 150 157 160 165 160
Thrust-to-weight ratio, W/kg 230 210 204
Armament
Cannon and machine gun 2× 20 mm ShVAK
210 each
2× 7.62 mm ShKAS
750 p.		 2× 23 mm VYA
150 stitches each
2× 7.62 mm ShKAS
750 p.		 2× 23 mm VYA
150 stitches each
2× 7.62 mm ShKAS
750 p.
1× 12.7 drill collar		 2 × 37 mm NS
50 stitches each
2× 7.62 mm ShKAS
750 p.
1× 12.7 drill collar
Rocket 8 × RS-82 or RS-132 4 × RS-82 or RS-132 No
Bomb 400-600 kg bombs 100-200 kg bombs

Production

Factories 1941 1942 1943 1944 1945
No. 1 (Kuibyshev) 5 2991 4257 3719 957
No. 18 (Voronezh) 1510 3942 4702 4014 931
No. 30 (Moscow) - 1053 2234 3377 2201
No. 381 (Leningrad) 27 243 - - -

IL-2 in art

  • A particularly important task is a feature film dedicated to the creators of the IL-2 (designers, workers and testers). The prototype for the plot of the film was Aviation Plant No. 18, which was evacuated from Voronezh to Kuibyshev and there, in the shortest possible time, launched serial production of attack aircraft IL-2.
  • Il-2 named “Experienced” became one of the main characters in the full-length cartoon “From the Screw” (), dedicated to the 100th anniversary of Russian aviation.

In gaming and souvenir products

  • Prefabricated bench models are produced in scales 1:48 and 1:72.
  • In 2011, as part of the DeAgostini publishing house's magazine series "Legendary Aircraft", with a model appendix to the magazine, the Il-2 KSS was released in issue No. 3, and the single-seat Il-2 was released in issue No. 16.
  • In 2001, the IL-2 Sturmovik flight simulator was released (Developed by Maddox games, distributed by 1C). Due to additions, it has grown far beyond the “limits” of the Red Army Air Force and the Russian audience. Includes unusual models: the aforementioned Il-2T and Il-2I, which is not equipped with ShKAS machine guns.
  • In the online MMO game World of Warplanes, IL-2 single and double are USSR attack aircraft of levels 5 and 6.

Airplane monuments

Monument in Novorossiysk. July 2008

  • In the city of Samara in 1975 it was installed monument to the Il-2 attack aircraft as a symbol of the military and labor valor of the townspeople.
  • On May 9, 1979, in the city of Voronezh, near the central entrance of the Voronezh aircraft plant, the Il-2 monument was erected in honor of the labor feat of Voronezh aircraft manufacturers during the Great Patriotic War.
  • In the village of Lebyazhye, Leningrad Region, there is a monument to the defenders of the Baltic sky - a full-size Il-2 aircraft.
  • In the city of Istra, in the city park, a monument to the Il-2 attack aircraft (architect L. Orshansky) was erected on a pedestal. The monument was opened on May 9, 1965. The first version of the monument was a duralumin model, directed upward on a pedestal directed to the West. By the next anniversary of the Victory, the monument was replaced with a titanium one, developed and manufactured by the Ilyushin Design Bureau. The inscription on the pedestal: The Il-2 attack aircraft was needed “like air, like bread.” The legendary “flying tank” became the “Black Death” for the invaders and until the end of the war it destroyed enemy personnel and equipment.

The most popular aircraft of World War II is the Soviet Il-2 attack aircraft. In total, about 36 thousand of them were built. This plane became a symbol of the air power of the Red Army.

Armored “flying tanks” hanging above the enemy’s head terrified the enemy. The Germans gave the Il-2 the nickname "zementbomber" - "cemented bomber" - for its ability to withstand hits from enemy bullets and shells, and "Schwarzer Tod" - "plague", "black death".

Our infantrymen nicknamed the Il-2 “humpbacked” - for its characteristic silhouette. The planes hanging over the heads of the Germans, bombarding enemy positions with shells and eres (missiles), were helpers of our army. Their massive attacks paved the victorious path of the Red Army to Berlin. The IL-2 is rightfully considered the best attack aircraft of the Second World War.

Proactively

The idea to create a special armored attack aircraft came to the leadership of the Red Army Air Force after studying the experience of using aircraft in the civil war in. The reconnaissance and fighter aircraft used to attack enemy mercenary troops showed high vulnerability in conditions of strong enemy air defense.

At the beginning of 1938, the head of the 1st Main Directorate of the People's Commissariat of Defense Industry, Sergei Ilyushin, sent a memo addressed to Stalin, which stated: “With the current depth of defense and organization of the troops, the enormous power of their fire (which will be directed at attack aircraft), attack aircraft will suffer very large losses.

Our types of attack aircraft, both those being built in the series - VULTI, KHAI-5 (designed by Neman), and experienced ones - "Ivanov" (designed by Sukhoi) and "Ivanov" (designed by Neman), have great vulnerability, since none The vital parts of these aircraft - the crew, the engine, the oil system, the gas system and the bombs - are not protected. This could greatly reduce the offensive capabilities of our attack aircraft.

Therefore, today there is a need to create an armored attack aircraft or, in other words, a flying tank, in which all vital parts are armored.

Realizing the need for such an aircraft, I worked for several months to resolve this difficult problem, the result of which was the project of an armored attack aircraft.

In order to implement this outstanding aircraft, which will immeasurably increase the offensive capabilities of our attack aircraft, making it capable of delivering crushing blows to the enemy without losses or with very small losses on its part, I ask you to relieve me from the post of Chief of the Main Directorate, instructing me to release the aircraft for State tests in November 1938.

The task of creating an armored attack aircraft is extremely difficult and involves great technical risk, but I take on this task with enthusiasm and full confidence in success.

So, on his own initiative, the brilliant Soviet aircraft designer Sergei Ilyushin began work on the aircraft that immortalized his name. At the same time, he himself proposed to transfer him to a lower and more responsible position.

With or without a shooter?

Work on the armored attack aircraft was difficult primarily due to the fact that it was originally conceived as a two-seat single-engine aircraft of mixed design. The main highlight of the attack aircraft is the inclusion of an armored hull in the power circuit of the aircraft's airframe. The hull armor became the frame and skin of the entire nose and middle fuselage. The armored hull was made of homogeneous steel armor AB-1 (AB-2), which reliably protected the engine, cockpit, radiators and some other units. The transparent frontal armored glass of the pilot's cockpit visor was 64 mm thick and could withstand a 7.62 mm armor-piercing bullet.

The difficulty was that the plane was originally designed as a two-seater. But then, at the direction of the leadership of the Red Army Air Force, an order was received to convert the almost finished prototype of the attack aircraft into a single-seat one. An additional fuel tank and additional armor were installed in place of the gunner. All this had a negative impact on the alignment of the aircraft.

But after the start of the war, faced with heavy losses of single-seat Il-2s, which did not have defensive weapons in the rear hemisphere, the command of the Red Army Air Force demanded that Ilyushin again make the plane a two-seater, which was done by the end of 1942.

However, in order not to stop production, and Stalin wrote to the plant that manufactured the Il-2 that their aircraft were “needed by the front, like air, like bread,” the armored hull remained the same, and the gunner was placed outside the armored hull, leaving him practically defenseless from enemy fire and protected only a 6-mm sheet of armor on the tail side. At the same time, the pilot’s rear protection was quite strong - 12 mm thick “HD” transverse armor (plus 6 mm armored back), which was part of the armored hull design.

To maintain the changed alignment, it was still necessary to make the wing consoles swept-shaped (“wing with an arrow”).

How the IL-2 was designed

The Il-2 attack aircraft was a low-wing aircraft of mixed or homogeneous construction, initially wood-metal with mixed metal-plywood-fabric covering, later - all-metal with metal-fabric (rudders) covering.

The bomb bays were located in the center section, and at the edges of them there were nacelles for the landing gear niches. The armament was located in detachable parts of the wing, and on the right side of the center section, almost at the fuselage, there was an air intake into the carburetor.

The fuselage was divided into two parts: the front armored and the rear of a mixed or all-metal structure. The working armored hull covered the entire front part of the fuselage on all sides, ending behind the pilot's cabin. The rear part of the fuselage was wooden and was attached to the armored hull using mounting bolts. The armor, which acts as part of the structure, was made of armor steel in the form of separate plates 4-6 mm thick, which were then assembled together. Only in the front part of the armored hull, which housed the engine, was a system of movable and removable plates used. The pilot himself was located in a well-armored cockpit, which, however, turned into a death trap due to the cockpit canopy often jamming due to deformation of the armor. An additional disadvantage of this type of cabin reservation was very poor visibility, which was the result of using steel rather than armored glass for its reservation.

In contrast to the pilot, the gunner was in an almost unprotected cockpit under an unarmored canopy that opened to the starboard side. The air gunner sat on a transverse canvas strip just behind the armored partition of the rear gas tank. The UBT heavy machine gun (universal Berezina, turret) of 12.7 mm caliber with 150 rounds of ammunition was installed on a semi-turret mount and had firing angles: up - 35°, down - 7°, to the left of the shooter - 25° and to the right - 35 °.

The engine - AM-38, U-shaped, 12-cylinder, liquid cooled, developed a power of 1600 kW, and in the AM-38F version - 1700 kW.

Since the beginning of the war, Il-2s flew mainly without a radio station, and only in 1942 did the installation of the RSI-4 radio station begin on the commanders' vehicles and receivers on all other aircraft. The fuel system included two, and later three, tanks located in front, under and behind the cockpit. The main tank held 350 liters of fuel, and the remaining 540 liters.

The standard armament of the two-seater aircraft consisted of two 7.62 mm ShKAS machine guns with 750-1000 rounds of ammunition per barrel (depending on the production series) and two VYA-23 cannons of 23 mm caliber with 300-360 rounds of ammunition per gun, mounted inside the wings, as well as one UBT machine gun - 12.7 mm with a reserve of 150 pcs. cartridges in the rear gunner's cabin.

On the first IL-2 models from the summer of 1941, two 20 mm ShVAK cannons with 200 rounds of ammunition per barrel were installed in the wings. The ShKAS machine gun had a mass of 10 kg and a rate of fire of 1880 rounds/min. The ShVAK cannon had a mass of 45 kg, and the initial velocity of the projectiles was 800 m/s, the VYA cannon was 21 kg heavier, and the initial velocity of its projectile was 900 m/s. The armor-piercing shells of the VYa-23 cannon could penetrate 25 mm thick armor at a distance of 400 m. The UBT machine gun had a mass of 21.5 kg, a rate of fire of 1000 rounds/min, and an initial bullet speed of 860 m/s.

Bombs and rockets

The standard suspended armament of the Il-2 attack aircraft consisted of 400-600 kg of various bombs (from 2.5 kg to 250 kg), as well as 4-8 RS-82 missiles. The maximum weight of all suspended weapons (missiles and bombs) could not be more than 800 kg, since after this the aircraft became dangerous in flight. But even with a standard full load (bombs, missiles and shells), serious difficulties arose in controlling the aircraft. The most commonly used bombs were fragmentation bombs, as well as high-explosive fragmentation, high-explosive, armor-piercing, phosphorus and incendiary bombs.

The latter was as difficult to use as the phosphorus bomb, but unlike the phosphorus bomb AZ-2, it was made in the form of a cassette filled with 30 round bombs with KS (four cassettes per IL-2), and was suspended in the internal bomb bays, then how phosphorus bombs were the equivalent of fuel tanks filled with extremely flammable granular phosphorus and suspended under the wings. Both bombs were dangerous for the crew, since in the event of an enemy hit, their contents splashed onto the aircraft and burned its wooden parts.

Bombs of four calibers were used: 2,5,50,100,250 kg. The most commonly used bombs were 100 kg bombs, but the smallest ones, weighing 2.5 kg, were also widely used. At the beginning of the war, they were widely used as anti-personnel, but since 1943, these bombs were equipped with a 1.5-kilogram shaped charge, intended to fight tanks. They were designated PTAB - 2.5 - 1.5, which meant that a 2.5-kilogram bomb had a 1.5-kilogram charge. A very interesting fact is that these bombs were loaded into bomb bays one by one, and this took the gunsmiths up to 30 minutes. The pilots called them “cabbage.”

Additional weapons were missiles. Three types of missiles were used: RS (missile projectile) - a standard projectile, FORS (high-explosive fragmentation projectile RS) - a new head (with notches) and a new, more powerful warhead, as well as RBS (armor-piercing rocket-propelled projectile) - an armor-piercing projectile. Until 1944, when armor-piercing missiles were introduced, eres were ineffective against enemy tanks, because their relatively small explosive force was unable to penetrate tank armor. They could destroy, smash or disable only what was outside the tank, but not inside. On the contrary, the RBS-82 projectile could already penetrate armor 50 mm thick, and its “big brother” - RBS-132 - even 70 mm.

Bombs could be dropped either in series or individually. Firing from the wing weapons was carried out thanks to two trigger mechanisms - an electric one for machine guns and an electromechanical one for cannons.

According to official statistics from the Red Army Air Force Headquarters, in just 1941-1945 the USSR lost 23.6 thousand attack aircraft, of which 12.4 thousand were combat losses. The overall survival rate of the Il-2 during the war was about 53 sorties per one irretrievable loss. Throughout the war, survival rates in attack aircraft were lower than in bomber and fighter aircraft, despite the fact that the Il-2 was superior in protection to all Soviet aircraft. There have been cases when an aircraft independently returned from a combat mission with more than 500 holes in the wing and fuselage. After refurbishment carried out by field army workshops, the aircraft returned to service.

The Il-2's cumulative anti-tank bombs, which appeared in the summer of 1943, turned out to be especially effective. One hit was enough to disable any German tank or self-propelled gun, and the Il-2 could carry from 192 to 220 such bombs. In the early days of the Battle of Kursk, when these bombs were first used, the effectiveness of Il-2 attacks on tanks actually increased significantly. Thus, on July 7, 1943, two strikes by 79 aircraft of the 1st Assault Air Corps of the 2nd Air Army of the Voronezh Front on the accumulation of equipment of the SS Totenkopf division on the southern front of the Kursk Bulge led, as decoding photographs of the battlefield showed, to the defeat of more than 200 tanks, self-propelled guns and armored personnel carriers.

CHARACTERISTICS OF IL-2 AIRCRAFT

Length: 11.6m.
Wingspan: 14.6 m.
Height: 4.2 m.
Wing area: 38.5 sq. m.
Empty weight: 4369 kg.
Maximum take-off weight: 6380 kg.
Engine: liquid-cooled U-shaped 12-cylinder AM-38F 1720 hp. With.
Maximum speed: 414 km/h.
Flight range: 720 km.

THE HISTORY of the development of attack aircraft of the Soviet Air Force is not only of educational interest. Her lessons are still useful today.

FIRST STORM TROOPERS

One of the first mass-produced military air support vehicles was the R-5 reconnaissance and light bomber designed by Nikolai Polikarpov. From 1929 to 1937, more than 7,000 P-5s of various modifications were produced. The two-seat biplanes were armed with turret and synchronous (engine-mounted) machine guns and carried up to 400 kg of bombs on the ventral suspension.

At the beginning of 1936, a competition was announced to create a machine to replace the R-5. The P-10, designed by Neman, was the first to be adopted, but they soon became disillusioned with its merits and were taken out of production in 1938. Pavel Sukhoi's plane seemed preferable. Serial production of the short-range bomber BB-1 began in August 1938 at the Kharkov Aviation Plant. A year later, he received the Su-2 designation at three factories.

It was a successful type of light bomber and attack aircraft, which had good bomb load characteristics, a well-thought-out system of defensive weapons and passive protection - an air-cooled engine, 9 mm thick armor tiles in the cockpit, a neutral gas system.

ILYUSHIN INITIATIVE

However, Sukhoi attack aircraft (including the armored cannon Su-6) did not become widespread during the Great Patriotic War. Preference was given to Sergei Ilyushin's car.

On May 5, 1938, the armored attack aircraft TsKB-55 was included in the pilot construction plan of the People's Commissariat of the Aviation Industry (NKAP). On January 3, 1939, the customer was presented with a preliminary design of the BSh-2 (TsKB-55) and at the same time the technical requirements for the new machine were agreed upon with him. Prototypes flew on October 2 (#1) and December 30, 1939 (#2). Factory tests continued until March 1940. State tests at the Air Force Research Institute ended quite successfully on April 20, not counting complaints about the engine and visibility from the cockpit.

A year and a half after the approval of the technical specifications at a meeting, Stalin suddenly discovered that there was insufficient firepower and armor protection for attacks from low altitudes on protected maneuverable targets. There is an urgent need to install 23-mm Taubin cannons in the wings, strengthen the armor on the sides of the pilot's cabin and make the aircraft single-seat. That is, the previous concept is rejected.

Instead of the gunner's cabin, a partition made of 12 mm thick sheet metal and a gas tank were installed in the armored hull. The first flight of the TsKB-55P (cannon) took place on December 29, 1940, six months before the start of the war and almost three years after the start of design. The changes in its design were quite significant - the engine was lowered, the pilot's seat and canopy were raised to improve visibility. Transparent armor and a short transparent fairing were installed behind the pilot's head. However, many problems arose with the PTB-23 guns. Firstly, they turned out to be too powerful to be placed on the wings - when firing, the plane lost stability and the accuracy of hits on the target was not ensured. In addition, the guns themselves were unfinished and were never put into mass production. The installation of ShVAK-20 guns instead had a purely symbolic meaning.

At the end of February 1941, the attack aircraft under the designation Il-2 was transferred to state tests, and in March its serial production began. In July 1941, the Il-2 was used in combat conditions. As expected before the war, strikes were carried out mainly from low altitudes, at low level flight. This was a way to achieve surprise and evade enemy fighters. However, practice has shown that with such tactics, attack aircraft successfully hit only unsheltered manpower and vehicles in concentration areas or in columns. The need to destroy tanks and other military equipment required an attack from a shallow dive, jumping out to a height of 300 m before the attack. At the same time, the bomb fuses were set to slow down to 22 seconds so that fragments did not hit the carrier itself. Cannon fire was only effective against weakly defended targets.

Meanwhile, at first, air bombs were underestimated in attack aviation, which caused criticism in the order of the People's Commissariat of Defense dated July 17, 1942. In this document, the IL-2 was called the best daytime short-range bomber. And in the directive of the Air Force command of August 22, 1942, it was recognized that the actions of low-level attack aircraft do not allow the full use of the striking power of the Il-2. It was belatedly recognized that such tactics limited the combat capabilities of the aircraft. Bombing accuracy is reduced due to bomb ricocheting. The expectation of increasing the survivability of the vehicle only through armor and low-altitude flights did not justify itself. The directive strongly recommended increasing bombing altitudes, mastering dive attacks and new battle formations.

Thus, the IL-2 took shape as a light tactical bomber for operations against accumulations of equipment and manpower on the march, in places of concentration in the near and middle rear, and, less often, against forward positions (bombing accuracy is low for work against point targets) with modest bomb armament. The desire to strengthen the anti-tank power of the Il-2 and its effectiveness in attacking point-protected targets led to its equipping in 1942 with special armor-piercing rockets. However, the dispersion of RBS-82 and RBS-132 turned out to be so large that it devalued them as an anti-tank weapon.

The IL-2 became a real “tank destroyer” in mid-1943, after the inclusion of PTAB small-caliber cumulative bombs in its ammunition. As for the guns, from mid-1942, instead of the ShVAK-20, they installed the VYA-23, created on the basis of the PTB-23. Fire from them could hit weakly armored targets and even light tanks when firing at the upper armor plates. But by this time, the basis of the tank fleet of the German army were medium and heavy T-4, T-5 and T-6. In April 1943, the Il-2 with 37-mm Nudelman guns was successfully tested. It was already a typical cannon attack aircraft (only 200 kg of bombs). It was produced in a small series, since it was again revealed that accurate shooting from powerful guns spaced apart relative to the axis of symmetry of the aircraft was impossible, either from two at once or individually.

Il-2 suffered very heavy losses, especially from the fire of German anti-aircraft small-caliber automatic guns, whose positions were located at a distance of 1-2 km from the front edge. Enemy medium-caliber anti-aircraft artillery hit our attack aircraft from extreme distances (up to 8 km) and inflicted the main damage with the first salvo. Therefore, an anti-aircraft maneuver and suppression of anti-aircraft positions both from the air and by ground artillery were used over the battlefield. In the depths of enemy defenses, it was necessary to fly at low altitudes, bypassing dangerous areas.

Luftwaffe fighters were also very dangerous, shooting attack aircraft from close range with impunity, attacking from the unprotected rear hemisphere. Already at the beginning of 1942, they ordered the development of a two-seat version with defensive weapons and its introduction into series without stopping the production line. Naturally, we could only talk about a simplified solution. A gunner was placed outside the armored hull, covered from the rear by a thin 6-mm armor plate and armed with a UBT heavy machine gun. The weight of the armored box reached 990 kg. A version of the two-seat Il-2 was also developed with full armor for the gunner's cabin and a blister machine gun mount. Instead of a fuselage fuel tank, two armored tanks were placed in the center section bomb bays. However, reducing the bomb load to 200 kg made such a modernization meaningless. As a result, an attack aircraft with primitive shooter protection was launched into production.

"KILLER" PLANE

The first use of the Il-2M dates back to the fall of 1942, and its mass production by January 1943. Combat effectiveness has increased. But the losses of the shooters, so poorly protected, were 7 times greater than the losses of the pilots. During the Great Patriotic War, attack aircraft carried out 17.2% of the total number of sorties of all Soviet aviation, and fighter aircraft - 47%. At the same time, combat sanitary losses (those wounded in battle and sick admitted to medical institutions) among attack pilots amounted to 39.3% of the sanitary losses of our Air Force, and irrevocable losses (missing, killed, captured) - 35.4% .

All the experience in testing and combat use of the Il-2 was reflected in its modification, the Il-10. A more powerful engine of the same family was mounted on it. The aerodynamics were significantly improved - the wooden wing and tail were replaced with an all-metal one. The air intakes were moved to the junction of the center section and the body, etc.

But the main changes were made to the armored hull. It housed the gunner's cabin. The thickness of the lower side walls of the engine hood was increased and the thickness of the side walls of the pilot and gunner's cabin was reduced. The armor from the top of the engine compartment was removed as useless. The armored backrest of the seat and the pilot's headrest, as well as the gunner's armored partition, were made of two-layer armor 8 mm thick, with an air gap. It effectively protected against 20 mm aircraft shells. The armament of the Il-10 did not differ from that of the Il-2.

We can say that only by the middle of 1944 (state tests began in May) Ilyushin’s attack aircraft acquired the qualities that it should have had in the summer of 1941 - rational, effective armor combined with thoughtful active defense, good speed and maneuverability, stability and controllability.

"THING" AND HIS "COLLEAGUES"

The German experience in creating and using close support aircraft was more successful. Let's remember first of all the Yu-87.

In 1938, production of its “B” version began with a more powerful engine, armor elements, and a bomb load of up to 1000 kg. In February 1941, the Yu-87D1 was tested. Vehicles of this version of various modifications have been produced in large series since May 1941. The maximum bomb load could exceed 2000 kg (during anti-tank or assault operations it did not exceed 1800 kg). The wing machine guns were replaced with two MG151/20 cannons. This is on the D7 series, and on the D4 there could be two machine gun batteries - six each of the MG type, 7.9 mm caliber. There was also armor: sheets 4-10 mm thick protected water and oil radiators and center section tanks. In the pilot's cabin there is an armored backrest and seat headrest (8-10 mm), 5 mm armor plates on the sides and bottom, and armored glass. The shooter was protected by a vertical 10-mm plate with sidewalls, a plate in the floor, and an armored disc in the turret.

The Yu-87D was produced until September 1944. In 1943, a specialized cannon version with powerful 37-mm Flak-18 cannons went into production.

The single-seat Focke-Wulf 190 was also widely used as an attack aircraft and fighter-bomber. Thus, in 1942, the A5/UZ version (two synchronized center-section cannons MG151/20, two synchronized machine guns MG17) had a bomb load of 1000 kg. In 1943, the FV-190 A5/U11 added two 30-mm MK-103 underwing cannons to its center-section cannons for attacking area targets. In addition to 500 kg of bombs, it could carry two more 280-mm rockets (FV-190 A8/RZ in the same year, in addition to 500 kg of bombs, had two suspensions of three 280-mm rockets in tubular guides).

In 1944, along with machines of the A6 and A8 series, attack aircraft of the F and G series were produced. The F-2 had two synchronized heavy machine guns MG-131, two center-section MG-151/20, and two wing-mounted MG-151/20 on its engine. The total mass of a second salvo is 7196 g/sec versus 4416 g/sec for the IL-2. Of course, the fire was effective only against weakly protected targets. The main thing is 900 kg of bombs and rockets. And for the FV-190 GZ, the bomb load reached 1800 kg with two synchronous MG17 and two synchronous MG151/20.

The FV-190 attack aircraft had good armor. The pilot was protected from frontal attacks by a star-shaped air-cooled engine and bullet-resistant 50-mm glass installed in the front window of the visor. Behind the pilot was covered by a 12-mm headrest mounted on a movable canopy, an armored seat backrest (8 mm), and an armored partition. The annular oil cooler in the nose of the engine had a 5 mm front hood ring and an armored cap. In addition, the lower walls of the engine hood, the lower surfaces of the center section, and the lower part of the fuselage under the gas tanks were armored.

A Messerschmitt attack aircraft and fighter-bomber based on the Me-110 were produced in a small series. In 1940, the Me-110Ts6 with a bomb load of 1000 kg was armed with two MK-101 fuselage cannons of 30 mm caliber and four MG17 machine guns, as well as an MG15 turret. The Me-110E2 carried up to 2400 kg of bombs under the fuselage and wings. Anti-tank aircraft of the G series were produced. Thus, the Me-110G2/R1 was equipped with a fuselage Flak-18 with 72 rounds of ammunition, four fuselage MG17s, a turret-mounted MG15 and up to 1000 kg of bombs. The Me-110G2/RZ added two 30-mm MK-108 guns to the 37-mm cannon. In addition to bombs, rockets could be suspended. The crew cabin was armored.

To support ground combat operations, Henschel developed a special, heavily armored, single-seat, twin-engine, small aircraft. In the fall of 1941, serial production of the Khsh-129 began. 6-12 mm armor protected the cockpit, fuel tanks in the middle of the fuselage, ammunition compartment, and oil cooler. Armored glass 75 mm thick stood in a 6 mm steel frame. The total mass of the armor reached 1080 kg.

The Khsh-129 was initially armed with two 20-mm MGFF cannons and two MG17s in the forward fuselage. Up to 100 kg of fragmentation and cumulative bombs on a suspension. Then the guns were replaced with faster-firing MG151/20. In the summer of 1942, the machine guns on the Khsh-129B2 were replaced with large-caliber MG131 ones and another 30-mm MK-103 was added under the fuselage. The bomb and missile load (70-280 mm shells with high-explosive fragmentation or combat armor-piercing parts) reached 350 kg. Soon the MK-103 was replaced by Flak-18 (there were options with even more powerful 50 mm and even 75 mm guns). With equal flight weight, the Khsh-129 was not inferior to the IL-2 in speed. But the modest bomb armament (only slightly inferior to that of the Il-2) determined the modest volume of their production - neither the guns nor the armor helped.

The production of attack aircraft and direct support aircraft during the war in Germany was less than in the USSR, but these machines were superior to the Il-2 in firepower and were not inferior in survivability. Judging by the volume of production, which correlates well with the level of losses, then in 1942 the damage of the Il-2 was six times greater than that of German close support aviation. In 1943 - three and a half times. And even in 1944, IL-2 losses exceeded the German figure.

The Soviet state, they showed the titanic capabilities of the domestic industry, which was able to quickly launch the world's most massive production of military aircraft. During the war, more than 36 thousand “humpbacked” Ilovs were built. History has never seen such a “circulation” before. This record has not been broken to this day.

Two stormtroopers

At the end of the thirties, the general concept of offensive tactical weapons of all countries had an aviation component. The wars in Spain and Khalkhin Gol showed that it is difficult to carry out an attack without aircraft support, and air supremacy ensures success on the ground. During this period, a certain class of aircraft called attack aircraft emerged. Its most famous representatives during the Second World War were two models - the German Yu-87 and our Il-2. 1941 marked the beginning of their practical comparison. For clarity, the main characteristics are shown in the table.

Parameter

Take-off weight, kg

Engine power

Speed

Course weapons

2 machine guns 7.92 mm

2 guns 23 mm,

2 machine guns 7.62 mm

Rear hemisphere protection

1 7.92 mm machine gun

1 7.62 mm machine gun

Missiles

non-removable

retractable

Booking

local (seats)

armored hull

To be fair, it is worth mentioning that the Il-2 aircraft was designed somewhat later than the German aircraft (five years is a long time for aviation). In addition, the Junkers-87 had an undoubted advantage when delivering precision strikes due to the possibility of an almost vertical dive and a perfect aiming system.

Nevertheless, in most respects the German attack aircraft is inferior to the Soviet Il-2. 1941 marked the start of its mass production. It started in February, even before the war.

Basic concept

In the fall of 1939, the famous pilot V.K. Kokkinaki took into the air a classified “product” under the designation TsKB-55, also known in the narrow circles of the Soviet military-technical elite as BSh-2. This was only a prototype, which, when finalized, resulted in the Il-2 aircraft. The attack aircraft was developed in accordance with a revolutionary concept, according to which fuselage parts such as frames and spars were practically eliminated, and the power load was taken on by an armored hull, which simultaneously protected the crew and vital components, including the engine, oil cooler and fuel tank, from damaging factors. . Previously, airplanes were built differently: skin, sometimes armored, was mounted on a frame of transverse and longitudinal profiles. S.V. Ilyushin treated the issue of survivability with all attention.

Means of combating survivability

The most vulnerable point of an aircraft is its rear hemisphere. “Getting behind” means almost guaranteed aerial victory. The gunner controlling this danger zone is present on all bombers, including the Yu-87. differed from world analogues in that it was produced in two versions: single and double (but more on that later). The fuel tanks had a unique design that minimized fuel losses if they were shot through. A special substance that hardened in the open air “healed” wounds received in battle.

The armored glass of the canopy protected the pilot in the same way as the metal of the cockpit. These and other design techniques turned out to be so effective that Soviet attack aircraft returned to their airfield, even after receiving five hundred holes.

Main options

A total of six modifications were developed, but the main two deserve special description. Initially, Ilyushin planned a two-seat attack aircraft with a gunner-radio operator protecting the rear hemisphere. However, the dominant concept at that time, which assumed absolute air superiority after delivering an instant crushing blow and transferring hostilities to enemy territory, prompted the country's leadership to build simpler machines. The general designer was given instructions to “remove the unnecessary.” The fallacy of this decision (and many others) was revealed by the war that soon began. Il-2, deprived of protection, became easy prey for the Messers. Mechanics at rear airfields began to independently alter the aircraft, cutting holes in the upper skin for the gunner's nest. The Stalinist leadership, however, cannot be blamed for stupid stubbornness. The two-seat scheme was again given the green light, although, unfortunately, the shooter remained poorly protected.

"Little brother" IL-10

Of course, this legendary aircraft was a masterpiece of aircraft design, but the peculiarities of tactical use at low altitudes determined the high level of losses of Il-2 attack aircraft. The years 1941-1945 formed the general statistics, according to which on average the Ilyushin flew approximately 53 sorties before being shot down. At the final stage of the war, an improved version of the front-line attack aircraft was ready, the design of which took into account the shortcomings of the prototype: the aerodynamics were significantly improved (the landing gear was retracted into the wing, and not into special nacelles, the oil cooler was hidden from the “underbelly” into the fuselage), the gunner-radio operator’s cabin was reliably armored and etc.

This modification received the designation Il-10 and even managed to fight in World War II and Korea, but not for long. The era of jet speeds has begun...

Sergei Ilyushin's aircraft accounted for more than 30% of all combat vehicles of the Great Patriotic War and made an invaluable contribution to the common cause of the Great Victory. The IL-2 became the most popular combat aircraft not only of World War II, but also in the entire history of aviation. A total of 36,163 attack aircraft were produced from 1939 to 1945.

In January 1938, Sergei Vladimirovich Ilyushin turned to the government with a proposal to create a two-seat (pilot and defensive machine gunner) armored attack aircraft he designed - a “flying tank”, which in its combat effectiveness was superior to the light bombers and reconnaissance aircraft that were being created at that time under the “Flying Tank” program. Ivanov."

“I didn’t start designing the attack aircraft right away; I prepared for about three years. I analyzed already created machines down to detail. I came to the conviction: the main thing is to best combine weight, armor, weapons and speed,” Ilyushin later recalled in his memoirs.

The problem of protecting an aircraft from fire from the ground arose with the beginning of the use of aviation for military purposes. At first, the pilots themselves had to take the initiative - placing pieces of metal or just a cast-iron frying pan under the seat.

Aircraft designers from Great Britain, Germany and Russia have repeatedly tried to solve the problem of aircraft protection.

The Junkers and Sopwith companies even built planes armored with flat sheets. But as soon as the armor was added, the plane turned into a heavy, poorly and slowly flying machine. For a long time, no one was able to combine the requirements of supporting ground troops and combat survivability in one vehicle. For some time, aviation designers even assumed that it was impossible to design an armored attack aircraft.

“The task of creating an armored attack aircraft is difficult and involves great technical risk, but I take on this task with enthusiasm and full confidence in success,” Ilyushin wrote in his letter to Stalin, Molotov and Voroshilov.

Such confidence of Ilyushin was based on the implementation of his outstanding design idea. He made the armor not only protect, but also work instead of the conventional frame of the airframe, which significantly reduced the weight of the aircraft.

The power plant, engine cooling radiators, cockpit and gas tanks were inscribed into the contours of the armored hull, which formed the contours of the nose of the fuselage.

Since October 1937, Ilyushin combined two responsible positions: chief designer of the Design Bureau of Plant No. 39 and head of the Main Directorate of Experimental Aircraft Manufacturing in the People's Commissariat of Defense Industry of the USSR. Wanting to concentrate on design activities, he asks the government to relieve him of his high government post, promising to create a new type of attack aircraft - a “flying tank” in the shortest possible time. Such permission was received, “Ilyushin flew from Glavka on an Il-2,” they joked later.

Based on the analysis of combat use for direct support of ground troops of reconnaissance attack aircraft and fighters in Spain and China, Sergei Vladimirovich, on his own initiative, which was a characteristic feature of his design creativity, conducted design studies of the parameters and layout of an armored attack aircraft.

The creation of the IL-2 was made possible thanks to the new AB-1 armor steel, developed at VIAM under the leadership of Sergei Kishkin and Nikolai Sklyarov. The armor had good impact strength and, most importantly, made it possible to produce armor parts by hot stamping. Armored parts were stamped in air, after which they were cooled in oil, and from the quenching bath they were fed back into the stamp for final dimensional adjustment.

As Sergei Ilyushin said, at the training ground there was an endless crackle of machine guns firing at the armored hull.

This was how the optimal armor thickness for different sections of the cabin was determined, which ranged from 4 to 12 mm. For the first time in the USSR, transparent armor of the K-4 type was used. The windshields of the pilot's cockpit canopy were made from it.

Not everyone understood what Ilyushin was proposing. “When the military found out the thickness of the armor, they convinced us that it would be easily penetrated. But they were wrong, because it’s one thing when a bullet pierces armor at an angle of 90 degrees, and another when the plane flies at high speed, and the cabin has a streamlined shape. In this case, try to hit the bullet perpendicular to the surface of the armor,” argued Sergei Vladimirovich.

The experimental aircraft TsKB-55 with the AM-35 engine of Alexander Mikulin made its first flight on October 2, 1939 under the control of Vladimir Kokkinaki. Due to the underestimation by some experts of the flight and combat characteristics of the aircraft, its launch into mass production was delayed. After carrying out a large amount of development work associated with the use of a more powerful low-altitude AM-38 engine, the transition to a single-seat version at the request of the military, and the installation of more powerful offensive weapons in 1940, the aircraft under the designation Il-2 was finally put into serial production at Voronezh aircraft factory. The plant workers worked around the clock along with a group of designers, which was headed personally by Ilyushin and representatives of the Mikulin Motor Design Bureau.

On March 1, 1941, the first production IL-2 arrived at the factory flight test station. By the beginning of the Great Patriotic War, 249 Il-2 attack aircraft were built. On June 27, 1941, Il-2 aircraft received a baptism of fire.

In the evening of that day, five aircraft of the 4th attack aviation regiment attacked a column of German tanks and motorized infantry in the Bobruisk area at the turn of the Berezina River.

Simple piloting techniques, powerful weapons, and invulnerability to ground-based small arms fire, and partly to small-caliber anti-aircraft guns, made the IL-2 a formidable weapon in the fight against enemy ground forces, especially tanks and motorized infantry.

In the fall of 1941, due to the evacuation of serial factories to the east, the production of Il-2 dropped sharply. In the most difficult conditions, aircraft manufacturers began producing attack aircraft in new places; people worked in unheated rooms, sometimes in the open air. But the battle for Moscow was underway, and the front needed Il-2 aircraft more than ever before.

Stalin sends the famous telegram to Kuibyshev to plant directors Matvey Shenkman and Anatoly Tretyakov.


Telegram from I.V. Stalin addressed to the directors of Plant No. 18 Matvey Shenkman and Plant No. 1 Anatoly Tretyakov, December 23, 1941.

Il-2 aircraft began to arrive at front-line units in ever-increasing numbers. By the beginning of the Battle of Kursk, more than 1,000 Il-2 aircraft were arriving at the front every month.

Combat experience also revealed a significant drawback of the single-seat Il-2 - its vulnerability to attacks from behind by enemy fighters. This drawback was eliminated by installing a rear gunner's cabin with a heavy machine gun by Mikhail Berezin. The work at Stalin's request was carried out by Ilyushin, designers and serial factories without stopping the conveyor.

In February 1942, Stalin summoned Ilyushin: “But you were right. You made a two-seat Il-2 attack aircraft, and we, without understanding it properly, at the insistence of some advisers, forced us to convert it into a single-seat one. Single-seat attack aircraft require cover and suffer heavy losses from fighter attacks from the tail. We need to get back to the two-seater immediately! Do what you want, but don’t let the conveyor stop!”

The Pravda newspaper wrote about this aircraft in 1944: “The Ilyushin-2 aircraft are not only an achievement of aviation science - they are a remarkable tactical discovery.”

Ilyushin himself called the aircraft he developed a “flying tank.” In the Red Army, the IL-2 received the nickname “humpbacked”. Probably not so much because of his profile, but because, as a hard worker, he got results with his hump. “Humpbacked because he bore the war on his shoulders,” said the pilots.

German pilots nicknamed it “concrete plane” for its survivability. The Wehrmacht ground forces, for the effectiveness of their strikes, called the IL-2 nothing less than “butcher”, “meat grinder”, “iron Gustav”. There is also a mention that in some German units the plane was called the “Black Death”.

For the creation of the Il-2 in March 1941, Ilyushin received the Stalin Prize, II degree. And five months later, in August, for the excellent combat qualities of the aircraft, another one - already 1st class. This is probably almost the only case when the author was awarded two Stalin Prizes in a row for the same work.

Of all the variety of tasks that Il-2 aircraft solved during the Great Patriotic War, their use as fighters was especially unusual. Of course, Il-2s could not fight on equal terms with faster and more maneuverable front-line enemy fighters, but when meeting with some of the German Il-2 bombers and transport aircraft that were widely used in combat, they were usually shot down.

Based on the combat experience of using the Il-2, the State Defense Committee on May 17, 1943 decided to create a single-seat armored fighter Il-1.

Sergei Vladimirovich did not share the concept of an armored fighter, and the design of the IL-1 was carried out from the position of the possibility of further using the aircraft as a high-speed and maneuverable two-seat armored attack aircraft. The new aircraft was designated Il-10.

On April 18, 1944, Vladimir Kokkinaki performed the first flight on an Il-10 attack aircraft from the Central Airfield named after. M. V. Frunze on Khodynskoye Field in Moscow. The aircraft was built at Aviation Plant No. 18 in Kuibyshev, and its final assembly was carried out at Plant No. 240 in Moscow. The attack aircraft was equipped with an AM-42 engine and had powerful artillery weapons - four NS-23 wing guns with a total ammunition capacity of 600 rounds and a UB-20 turret gun. The maximum speed of the Il-10 was 551 km/h - almost 150 km/h more than the maximum speed of the Il-2.

Military pilots highly appreciated the IL-10 as being simple in terms of piloting technique and not requiring special retraining from the IL-2. According to military testers, “the Il-10 aircraft is a classic example of an attack aircraft.”


Review of the Chapaev squadron. The Il-2M "Chapaevtsy" squadron was built
at the expense of the workers of the city of Chapaevsk and transferred to the 1st Belorussian Front.
September 12, 1944.

After testing, the Il-10 attack aircraft was put into production and began to take part in combat operations on April 15, 1945.

Shortly before this, on March 28, 1945, as part of aircraft testing over the Sprottau airfield in Selesia, a demonstration air battle of the Il-10 attack aircraft, piloted by Captain Alexander Sirotkin from the 108th Guards Attack Aviation Regiment, was organized with the La-5FN fighter, piloted by Hero of the Soviet Union captain Vitaly Popkov from the 5th Guards Fighter Aviation Regiment.

By that time, Popkov was considered an ace, having about 100 battles and 39 downed enemy aircraft.

The battle ended in a draw, but the camera film impartially showed that both the pilot and the air gunner of the Il-10 more than once caught the fighter in the crosshairs.

This allowed us to draw the main conclusion that if there is an experienced, proactive pilot and an accurate air gunner in the cockpit of an attack aircraft, they have a good chance of winning a duel with a fighter. In addition, at altitudes up to 2,000 meters, the Il-10 was not inferior in speed to the German Me-109G2 and FW-109A-4 fighters.

By the end of the Great Patriotic War, the high combat qualities of the Il-10 aircraft were successfully used by several attack air regiments. Il-10 attack aircraft were used in large numbers in the war with Japan.

After the end of the Great Patriotic War, the Il-10 was used to re-equip all the attack air units of the Red Army Air Force that remained after the disbandment. In addition to the USSR Air Force, they were in service with attack air regiments of the Air Forces of Poland, Czechoslovakia, China, and North Korea.


Veteran pilots about the Il-2 aircraft

Council of Veterans of the 6th Guards, Moscow, Orders of Lenin, Red Banner and Suvorov 2nd Class Assault Aviation Regiment.

Dear Sergei Vladimirovich!

... During the Great Patriotic War, the pilots of our regiment were among the first to master a new machine at that time, designed by you - the Il-2 attack aircraft. This wonderful, magnificent equipment withstood all the harsh tests over the battlefield “excellently”.

How many times has he helped us out in difficult moments! How many times have we and our colleagues managed to save our lives thanks to the high, amazing survivability of the aircraft itself! Our attack aircraft was an indispensable, reliable assistant to ground troops. It was not for nothing that at that time they called it a “winged tank”, and attack aircraft - “air infantry”. The Nazis feared this formidable machine more than anything else, and the appearance of attack aircraft over enemy targets inevitably sowed panic and confusion in the enemy camp.

That’s why the Nazis dubbed it the “Black Death.”

The aircraft’s high flight-tactical qualities and its enormous combat capabilities allowed us to perform complex combat missions in an exemplary manner and deliver effective strikes against enemy positions. And our regiment, the first among the assault aviation units, was awarded the title of Guards already in December 1941. We, the pilots who flew into battle on the machines you designed, will always be grateful to you for your inspired and creative work that you contributed and continue to contribute to the development of aviation technology. We consider you an outstanding aircraft designer of our era...

Chairman of the Veterans Council, former regiment commander, retired aviation major general L. Reino
Member of the Regiment Veterans Council, Hero of the Soviet Union, Reserve Major D. Tarasov
Deputy Chairman of the Regiment Veterans Council, Reserve Major I. Korchagin
Executive Secretary of the Regiment Veterans Council, Reserve Lieutenant Colonel B. Shchukanov.

Dear Sergei Vladimirovich!

During the Patriotic War, or more precisely in 1942, I had the opportunity to land an Il-2 plane on a large spruce forest, because... the plane was shot down by the enemy over the target.

I won’t describe how I landed. But at a height of half the trees, the fuselage fell off along the rear armor plate, the trees cut off the wings, after which the plane hit the ground with its nose. Armor, just like in battle, saved my life.

I am eternally grateful to you for your IL-2, thanks to which I owe my life to you. If this had happened on another plane, of course, I would not have had to write these lines.

With respect to you, former pilot Borisov Fedor Alekseevich
Angarsk-24, Engelsa-3, apt. 4.

Dear Sergei Vladimirovich! Hello!

Sorry that you are bothered by a person about whom you, of course, do not remember... Remembering you since 1940, and especially since August 1941, when you personally accompanied us on the Il-2 to the city of Leningrad from the Voronezh plant 18 for training flight personnel 13 GShAP KBF (13th Guards Assault Aviation Regiment of the Red Banner Baltic Fleet - ed.) SA Air Force. I was then a plant LIS engineer - Evgeniy Ilyich Maksimov - 3rd category military engineer. You then told us: “Comrades, beat the fascists so that the appearance of Il-2 aircraft causes fear and horror among the fascists, and death by fire. Have a safe flight! Regiment 13 GShAP survived until Victory Day, and the memory of you will remain for centuries, and with me until my deathbed. I went with “Ilami” after Leningrad, Stalingrad - 6th ShAD (6th Assault Aviation Division - ed.), Polar Region - 17th GShAP (17th Guards Assault Aviation Regiment - ed.), Moscow Defense - 6th GShAP (6- 1st Guards Assault Aviation Regiment - ed.), 1st Air Army - East Prussia - Berlin. He ended the Great Patriotic War with “Ilami”, having received five wounds and two shell shocks...

Maksimov Evgeniy Ilyich
Kyiv, st. Geroev Sevastopol, building 17a, apt. 29.

Guard weapons mechanic Sergeant of the 15th Guards Attack Aviation Regiment Konstantin Ugodin prepares a bomb load for the Il-2.
Leningrad Front, September 1942.

In the Museum of the Aviation Complex named after. S.V. Ilyushin contains unique documents, for example, a poem written in the Baltic states in 1945.

"Ilyushin-2" over Courland

Our strength beats the fascist -
Soon the kaput will come to them:
Over the Baltics "Ily"
They are marching in battle formation.
Shaking the earth with a roar,
Where the fascist sits like a mole,
Doing "Eels" again
Deadly reversal.
Carcasses of blunt-nosed tanks
They ripple with camouflage,
But - “Ily” is already above them:
They storm and bomb!
Tanks crawl like toads

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