Legendary Il-2 in air again

Russian designers have reconstructed the legendary Soviet attack aircraft Il-2, which was used by the Red Army during the Second World War. One of such planes was discovered in a swamp in Russia’s Pskov region in 2005.  Performed on a step-by-step basis, the reconstruction finally saw the repaired Il-2 soaring upward earlier this year.

Russian designers have reconstructed the legendary Soviet attack aircraft Il-2, which was used by the Red Army during the Second World War. One of such planes was discovered in a swamp in Russia’s Pskov region in 2005.  Performed on a step-by-step basis, the reconstruction finally saw the repaired Il-2 soaring upward earlier this year.

The Ilyushin Il-2 was a ground-attack aircraft in WWII, produced by the Soviet Union in very large numbers. More than 36,000 such planes were built during the war, making it the most widely produced piloted aircraft in aviation history. The Il-2, nicknamed “The Flying Tank” and “Ilyusha” in the USSR, was created at a Soviet design bureau headed by Sergei Ilyushin.  Luftwaffe pilots called the plane “Concrete Bomber “, while German ground troops dubbed it “Slaughterer” or “Iron Gustav” – nicknames that reflected the Il-2’s high survivability and combat power.

It took Novosibirsk designers six years to turn the wreck into the operating Il-2 plane, which was reconstructed on the basis of dozens of drawings designers obtained in archives. Specialists said that the wrecked plane, which was found in Pskov, is a modernized version of the Il-2, which was produced after the year of 1942.

The repaired Il-2’s fuselage is still peppered with traces of bullets and shells, which, however, failed to damage the plane’s armored engine cowl and the main load-carrying framework structures.  Beyond repair were a wooden tail and landing gear doors, chief designer Viktor Lushin explains, touting the new handmade aluminum undercarriage doors, which he says are fully in line with a relevant drawing of the Il-2. They contribute considerably to the Il-2 ’s unique design, Lushin says.
“We decided not to use plastic during the reconstruction of the landing gear doors, which proved to be a tricky task, Lushin says. In this sense, the new undercarriage doors are an exact copy of the original ones. This is also the case with the Il-2’s other parts and mechanisms, including a cockpit panel, which are in excellent working condition,” Viktor Lushin concludes.

He is echoed by Boris Osetinsky, head of Russia’s Federation of Air Restorers, who praised the designers’ meticulous approach to the reconstruction process. In particular, it was decided to paint the plane’s parts white and blue.

“We would like to pay tribute to all those flying the Il-2, including Hero of the Soviet Union and Air Marshal Alexander Yefimov,” Boris Osetinsky says, referring to the reconstruction.

During WWII, Yefimov flew more than 200 missions, destroying 126 enemy tanks and 80 enemy ground-based aircraft. In a telephone conversation ahead of the repaired Il-2’s flight, Yefimov advised test pilot Vladimir Barsuk on the plane’s technical characteristics. The flight saw the Il-2 successfully making several aerodrome and surrounding circles.

Novosibirsk designers voiced hope that the repaired Il-2, along with other vintage planes, will take part in an upcoming military fly-over in Moscow in August 2012, when the Russian Air Force will mark its 100th birthday. 


Julia Galiullina