Ilyushin Il-2 part 1
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Abandoned Il-2 of the 61 ShAP (61st Assault Aviation Regiment)
abandoned IL-2 Sturmovik
Brand new Il-2
Briefing of an Il-2 crews
Burning IL-2 code 77, 1942-43
Captured Ilyushin Il-2
Captured Ilyushin IL-2
Crashed Il-2
Crashed IL-2 "white 10"
Crashed IL-2 29
crew of an Il-2
Destroyed IL-2
Early IL-2 code 2 and I-16, Old Bychov June-July 1941
Front view of an Il-2
Ground attack aircraft Il-2M3
Ground crew performing maintenance on an Il-2
Ground-attack aircraft Il-2 code 14
IL 2 Sturmovik 1
IL 2 Sturmovik 2
IL 2 Sturmovik 3
IL 2 Sturmovik 4
IL 2 Sturmovik 5
IL 2 Sturmovik number 15
Il-2 "red 4" with skis
Il-2 "red 4" with skis 2
IL-2 "white 2" of the 4 ShAP (4th Assault Aviation Regiment), July 1941
Il-2 "white" 15 crew
Il-2 1941
IL-2 AM-38
IL-2 AM-38 1941
Il-2 AM-38 code 6
Il-2 and crews
IL-2 and SdKfz 232 of the 36 Panzer Regiment, 14th PD
IL-2 and Wehrmacht soldier with motorcycle
IL-2 and wehrmacht troops
Il-2 assembly
Il-2 assembly line
IL-2 code 1
IL-2 code 19 and GAZ AA
Il-2 code 3 of the 74 ShAP (74th Assault Aviation Regiment) 1941
IL-2 crew prepares to flight
Il-2 front view
IL-2 of the 15 GShAP (15th Guards Assault Aviation Regiment)
IL-2 of the 4 ShAP (4th Assault Aviation Regiment), July 1941
IL-2 of the 4 ShAP (4th Assault Aviation Regiment), July 1941 3
Il-2 pilot
IL-2 pilot Andrej Zvancov
Il-2 rear gunner in his position
Il-2 refueling
IL-2 single seater after a crash landing
IL-2 single seater. Shatalovo air base in Smolensk Oblast, August 1941
Il-2 sturmovik
IL-2 Sturmovik cockpit
Il-2 sturmovik photo
Il-2 Sturmovik winter
Il-2 taxiing at airfield
IL-2 white 15
IL-2 white 5 Rostov area
Il-2 with M82 engine
IL-2 with NS-37 guns
IL-2 with rockets winter
Il-2M code 12, Summer 1943
Il-2M code 15 1943
Il-2M code 19 and 16
IL-2M code 38 after a belly landing
Il-2M formation
Il-2M take off
Il-2M two seater
Il-2M white 20 and 21, 22 taxiing at airfield
Il-2M3 "19" over Berlin 16 April 1945
Il-2m3 "So Strelkoi" flown by the test pilot Kokkinaki, 1943
Il-2M3 code 1
Il-2M3 in flight
Il-2M3 of the 567 ShAP, 16th Army over Berlin, 1945
Ilyushin Il-2
Ilyushin Il-2 and pilot
Ilyushin IL-2 engine
Ilyushin IL-2 number 4
Ilyushin Il-2 single seater
Ilyushin Il-2 single-seaters of prewar production
Ilyushin Il-2 sturmovik
Ilyushin IL-2 Sturmovik
Ilyushin Il-2 Sturmovik 1942
Ilyushin Il-2 sturmovik 5
Ilyushin Il-2 sturmovik early
Ilyushin Il-2 sturmovik photo
Ilyushin IL-2 Sturmovik white 6
Ilyushin Il-2 two-seater code 5
Ilyushin IL-2 with rockets
Ilyushin IL-2M number 322
Ilyushin Il-2M3 code 2 1944
Ilyushin Il-2M3 Shturmovik
Polish Il-2M3
Polish Ilyushin Il-2M white 24
Re-arming an Il 2
Sturmovik crew briefing before flight
sturmovik Il-2 destroyed
The Flying tank Il-2
Whitewashed Il-2M
Wreckage of a IL-2 in hangar
Wreckage of a IL-2 Sturmovik
Perhaps the most famous aircraft to appear in the ranks of the Soviet Air Force during World War II, the Ilyushin Il-2 (Илью́шин Ил-2) introduced a new word into the parlance of ground attack and close support operations: Sturmovik. This aeroplane was specifically designed for such missions, and made its service debut in 1941 as a single seater. It was well armed: two 20 mm or 23 mm cannon and two 7,62 mm machine guns, and well armoured, with plating behind, beneath and each side of the pilot. Despite this protection, however, Sturmovik proved vulnerabld to attack from the rear, and in 1942 a new version appeared in which the cockpit enclosure was lengthened to accommodate a second crew member operating an additional 12,7 mm machine gun for rearward defence.
This modification proved eminently successful, and the Ilyushin Il2 finished the war with the lowest attrition rate of any Russian aircraft, not to mention an excellent record of ground strafing, train busting and similar missions in which, incidentally, it was one of the first wartime aircraft to make use of the rocket projectile (RS-82 and RS-132). Production: 36183 aircrafts