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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
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- Il-2M3 in flight
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- Il-2M white 20 and 21, 22 taxiing at airfield
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- Abandoned Il-2 of the 61 ShAP (61st Assault Aviation Regiment)
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- Burning IL-2 code 77, 1942-43
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- Il-2M code 12, Summer 1943
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- Il-2M3 code 1
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- IL-2 pilot Andrej Zvancov
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- Abandoned IL-2 and SB-2, 1941
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- Front view of an Il-2
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- IL-2 crew prepares to flight
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- Polish Il-2M3
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- IL-2 AM-38 1941
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- Il-2 front view
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- Il-2 assembly line
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- Brand new Il-2
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- IL-2 code 19 and GAZ AA
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- IL-2 with NS-37 guns
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- Il-2M3 of the 567 ShAP, 16th Army over Berlin, 1945
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- Il-2 pilot
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- IL-2 and SdKfz 232 of the 36 Panzer Regiment, 14th PD
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- Ground crew performing maintenance on an Il-2
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- Il-2 “white” 15 crew
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- Re-arming an Il 2
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- Briefing of an Il-2 crews
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- Il-2M code 15 1943
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- IL-2M code 38 after a belly landing
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- IL-2 single seater after a crash landing
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- IL-2 single seater. Shatalovo air base in Smolensk Oblast, August 1941
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- Ground attack aircraft Il-2M3
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- Il-2 assembly
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- Ground-attack aircraft Il-2 code 14
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- Crashed Il-2
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- Sturmovik crew briefing before flight
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- IL-2 white 15
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- Il-2 rear gunner in his position
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- Captured Ilyushin Il-2
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- Ilyushin Il-2 two-seater code 5
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- Whitewashed Il-2M
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- crew of an Il-2
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- Il-2 AM-38 code 6
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- Il-2 code 3 of the 74 ShAP (74th Assault Aviation Regiment) 1941
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- Crashed IL-2 29
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- Early IL-2 code 2 and I-16, Old Bychov June-July 1941
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- Il-2 refueling
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- IL-2 of the 4 ShAP (4th Assault Aviation Regiment), July 1941
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- IL-2 “white 2” of the 4 ShAP (4th Assault Aviation Regiment), July 1941
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- Ilyushin Il-2 single seater
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- Il-2 and crews
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- Ilyushin IL-2 with rockets
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- Ilyushin Il-2M3 code 2 1944
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- Polish Ilyushin Il-2M white 24
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- Il-2M code 19 and 16
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- Destroyed IL-2
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- IL-2 of the 4 ShAP (4th Assault Aviation Regiment), July 1941 3
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- Il-2M3 “19” over Berlin 16 April 1945
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- Ilyushin Il-2 single-seaters of prewar production
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- Il-2 1941
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- IL-2 white 5 Rostov area
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- IL-2 Sturmovik cockpit
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- The Flying tank Il-2
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- IL-2 code 1
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- Il-2 with M82 engine
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- Il-2M two seater
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- Il-2m3 “So Strelkoi” flown by the test pilot Kokkinaki, 1943
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- IL-2 of the 15 GShAP (15th Guards Assault Aviation Regiment)
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- Il-2 Sturmovik winter
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- Ilyushin Il-2M3 Shturmovik
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- Il-2 “red 4” with skis
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- Il-2M formation
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- Crashed IL-2 “white 10”
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- Il-2 “red 4” with skis 2
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- Ilyushin Il-2 Sturmovik 1942
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- Il-2M take off
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- IL-2 AM-38
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- Il-2 taxiing at airfield
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- IL-2 and wehrmacht troops
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- Ilyushin IL-2 number 4
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- Captured Ilyushin IL-2
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- Ilyushin IL-2 Sturmovik white 6
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- Wreckage of a IL-2 Sturmovik
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- IL-2 and Wehrmacht soldier with motorcycle
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- abandoned IL-2 Sturmovik
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- Wreckage of a IL-2 in hangar
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- IL-2 with rockets winter
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- Ilyushin IL-2 engine
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- Ilyushin IL-2M number 322
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- IL 2 Sturmovik number 15
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- IL 2 Sturmovik 4
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- IL 2 Sturmovik 3
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- IL 2 Sturmovik 5
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- IL 2 Sturmovik 1
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- IL 2 Sturmovik 2
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- Il-2 sturmovik photo
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- Ilyushin Il-2 sturmovik early
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- Ilyushin Il-2 sturmovik photo
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- Ilyushin Il-2 sturmovik
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- Ilyushin Il-2 sturmovik 5
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- Il-2 sturmovik
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- Ilyushin IL-2 Sturmovik
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- Ilyushin Il-2 and pilot
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- sturmovik Il-2 destroyed
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- Ilyushin Il-2
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