The Germans attempted to counter the IL-2 threat by adjusting their tactics to pre-empt the aircraft strikes. They flew at extremely low altitudes, sometimes as little as 20 metres or less! This meant that casualties among Il-2 crews could be high, despite the high armouring of the plane – the bigger danger came from simply flying so close to the ground itself.
GERMAN TANK BUSTER PLANE PATCH
The IL-2 was known for flying in large squadrons, allowing them to conduct a ground offensive over a large patch of terrain very efficiently. It is unknown exactly how many tanks met their ends at the hands of the IL-2, but numerous Shturmoviks were present at the Battle of Kursk in July 1943, a major tank battle during World War II. The plane was called the ‘Flying Tank’ for a reason! Not only was it extremely heavily armoured for an aircraft of the time, its main function was for destroying enemy tanks. Fortunately, by this point the pilots and ground crews had learned the right tactics to use the plane, and so it proved to be far more effective! They were by far the most numerous aircraft type to be produced by the Soviet Union during the war, and as a result, IL-2s served everywhere. Over the course of the war, over 30,000 IL-2s were manufactured. With such positive encouragement, the factories got to work. I ASK YOU NOT TO TRY THE GOVERNMENT'S PATIENCE, AND DEMAND THAT YOU MANUFACTURE MORE ILS. IT IS A MOCKERY OF OUR COUNTRY AND THE RED ARMY. SHENKMAN PRODUCES ONE IL-2 A DAY AND TRETIAKOV BUILDS ONE OR TWO MIG-3S DAILY. THE IL-2 AIRCRAFT ARE NECESSARY FOR OUR RED ARMY NOW, LIKE AIR, LIKE BREAD. YOU HAVE NOT MANUFACTURED IL-2S UNTIL NOW. YOU HAVE LET DOWN OUR COUNTRY AND OUR RED ARMY. It was this situation that led Stalin to make his famous quote:
GERMAN TANK BUSTER PLANE HOW TO
Even those didn’t help though, as none of the pilots had yet received any training on how to fly this particular aircraft! Although the planes took to the air to help in the defence, they did little to no actual damage due to the lack of experience by the pilots. When Germany invaded in 1941, 249 IL-2 planes had been manufactured, but only 18 of them were available in the field. The plane was officially designated IL-2 (codename Shturmovik meaning stormbird), and production slowly began. For armament, the prototype sported four wing-mounted 7.62 mm machine guns and was able to launch underwing rockets. The plane also now featured a raised canopy for the pilot.
It had an upgraded engine without a supercharger, the Am-38, giving it 1,700 hp. Perhaps the most major change was a significant reduction in weight by reducing it from a two-seater to a single-seater plane. Another prototype was created – the TsKB-57. They saw ample ways to improve on the design, and so some fundamental changes were made before the plane went into production. However, that wasn’t enough for the perfectionist Soviets. The result was a solid aircraft, well-suited for the role of low-altitude ground attacks. Ilyushin had created a ‘flying tank’ in which the armoured shell was designed before any consideration was given to aerodynamic performance. It was powered by a 1,350 hp AM-35 engine with a supercharger. The key feature of the design was the 7 mm armoured shell which protected the crew, engine, radiators and fuel tanks. The original prototype was known as the TsKB-55, and it was a two-seater aircraft. Two designs were submitted – one by Sergey Ilyushin, perhaps the Soviet Union’s top aviation designer, and certainly the most prolific. With war looming on the horizon, a formal request for an anti-tank aircraft was finally issued in 1938.
Throughout the 1930s, studies were made into methods of tankbusting from the air, but all proved fruitless. The rise of the tank throughout the early decades of the 20 th Century presented a problem to the Soviet military, who did not have a way to deal with enemy armour. Indeed Josef Stalin himself described the plane as ‘necessary for the Red Army, like air, like bread’. Today we take a close look at the IL-2, a Soviet ground attack plane that was the staple of the Soviet Air Force during World War II.
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