Il-2M3 Stormovik

Russian close support and ground attack aircraft Ilyushin Il-2M3 Stormovik.
History, development, service, specifications, pictures and 3D model.

Soviet ground attack plane Ilyushin Il-2 Stormovik

Ilyushin Il-2 Stormovik.
Type: Close support and ground attack aircraft.

The Ilyushin Il-2 Sturmovik was a Soviet ground-attack aircraft used extensively during World War II.

Overview

Design and Development:
– Designed by Sergey Ilyushin in the late 1930s
– First flew in October 1939
– Entered service in 1941

Nickname:
– Known as the “Flying Tank” due to its heavy armor
– Called “Black Death” by German troops

Specifications:
– Single-engine, two-seat aircraft
– Length: 11.6 meters (38 ft 1 in)
– Wingspan: 14.6 meters (47 ft 11 in)
– Maximum speed: 414 km/h (257 mph)

Armament:
– Two 23 mm cannons
– Two 7.62 mm machine guns
– Up to 600 kg (1,320 lb) of bombs or rockets

Armor:
– Heavily armored cockpit and engine
– 5-12 mm thick armor plates protecting vital areas

Production:
– Over 36,000 built during World War II
– Most produced military aircraft in history at the time

Combat role:
– Primarily used for close air support
– Effective against tanks, armored vehicles, and infantry

Impact:
– Played a crucial role in Soviet victory on the Eastern Front
– Stalin called it “as essential to the Red Army as air and bread”

Variants:
– Single-seat and two-seat versions produced
– Later models featured improved armor and armament

The Il-2 Sturmovik was a formidable ground-attack aircraft that significantly contributed to the Soviet war effort during World War II, earning a reputation as one of the most effective and important aircraft of the conflict.

History

‘It is at least as essential to the Red Army as oxygen and bread.’ These were the words that Joseph Stalin used in 1941 to describe one of the most effective aircraft to emerge from Russian factories during the war. He was talking about the Ilyushin Il-2, a veritable ‘flying tank’ which turned out to be the best ground-attack type of the war.

More than 36,000 Il-2s came off the produc­tion line in several versions. The career of the ‘Stormovik’ (as the Il-2 and its direct successors were known) con­tinued after WW2, with the Il-10 going to Soviet satellite countries (Hungary, Romania, China, North Korea, Albania, Czechoslo­vakia, Bulgaria and East Germany) and serving in the Korean War.

Design of the Stormovik was begun in 1938 by Sergei Ilyushin and his team in answer to a specification calling for a single-engined monoplane for ground attack and tactical bombing. The same request was issued to Pavel Sukhoi, who came up with the undistinguished Su-2.
The first Stormovik appeared in the spring of 1939 under the designa­tion TsKB-55. Flight-test results were not outstanding, however: the engine was not powerful enough, and there was also some longitudinal instability. It was not until the development of the third prototype, which took to the air in October of the following year, that the Il-2 was regarded as accept­able. The Il-2 then went into immediate production.

The most original aspect of the Il-2 design was the fact that the entire forward part of the aircraft (from the engine compartment to the cockpit) was a single-armored shell that also had structural functions. This solution provided maximum protection for the engine, its main accessories and the crew. It was also substantially lighter than traditional armor plating. The steel armor of the Il-2 varied in thick­ness from an average 4-8 mm to 13 mm on the rear fuselage. There was also duralumin armor 5 mm thick on the upper surfaces, and the cockpit canopy had bullet-proof transparencies and a 65 mm-thick windscreen. The fuselage was conventional in structure, being made originally of wood and later of metal.

Stormowik drops a bomb.

Ammunition for the rear gun of a Stormovik. Note, the ground crew and the rear gunner are both women.

Stormovik’s over Berlin in 1945.

3D model of Ilyushin Il-2 Stormovik.

3D model of Ilyushin Il-2 Stormovik.

The first Stormoviks went into service in the summer of 1941 and proved to be extremely effective against enemy tanks. As better German types entered the field, it became necessary to im­prove the Il-2’s offensive and defensive armament.

July 1942 saw the appear­ance of the II-2M3 with a more power­ful engine, better armament consisting of two 23 mm cannon plus three machine guns, and a second crew member.
This was the most numerous variant. The Il-2M3 took part in every major operation on the Eastern Front, winning particular distinction in the Battle of Kursk in the summer of 1943, when Stormoviks attacked massive formations of German tanks.

Users: Soviet Union (Russia).

Animated 3D model Ilyushin Il-2M3 Stormovik

Specifications Ilyushin Il-2M3 Stormovik

Specification:

Armament:

Service statistics:

References and literature

Luftkrieg (Piekalkiewicz)
Operation Barbarossa: the Complete Organisational and Statistical Analysis, and Military Simulation, Volume I – IIIB (Nigel Askey)
The Encyclopedia of Weapons of World War II (Chris Bishop)
Combat Aircraft of World War II (Bill Gunston)
Technik und Einsatz der Kampfflugzeuge vom 1. Weltkrieg bis heute (Ian Parsons)
Das große Buch der Luftkämpfe (Ian Parsons)
Luftkrieg (Piekalkiewicz)
Flugzeuge des 2. Weltkrieges (Andrew Kershaw)
World Aircraft World War II (Enzo Angelucci, Paolo Matricardi)