Iliouchine It-2 Sturmovik

The Iliouchine It-2 Sturmovik was one of best the planes of attack on the ground of the Second world war and it was produced by the the USSR in great quantity: more than 36.163 specimens (absolute records of production for an military apparatus).

Design

It-2 answered a schedule of conditions of VVS (Soviet Air force) bearing on an armor-plated apparatus specialized in the attack on the ground and for which it contributed vis-a-vis the Known-6, its rival eternal created by Soukhoï which will continue it throughout its career. It was conceived at the origin by Sergueï Iliouchine and its team at the Central Office of Design (OKB), in 1938 like a two-seater aircraft with a hull armor-plated protecting the crew, the Moteur, the Radiateur S and the tank, which made a genuine flying tank of it. However, it was rejected in favor of a version lighter, single-seat, which stole for the first time the October 12th 1940.

This version was then named officially It-2 and its production with large scales began at the beginning of 1941, the first deliveries arriving in May, just in time for the German invasion . She knew many modifications such as changemement system of aiming (sight PBP replaced by a sighting device calling upon fixed reference marks and more rudimentary because of the priority attribution of the PBP to the apparatuses of hunting), of the modifications of the guns (ShVak guns of 20mm replaced by VYa guns of 23mm), careenages of these guns, reinforcement of the structure of the fuselage and reduction of the number of rockets capable of being put on board because of strong trail of their rails of launching.

It-2 was frightening against the German transport and armoured tanks, but it was itself vulnerable to the attacks of hunters. Thus, certain units improvised the It-2 two-seater ones starting from cells of It-2 single-seat, with a machine gunner in outside handling a couple of machine-guns DA of gauge 7,62mm. In February 1942, Stalin reconsidered his order to produce it-2 in single-seat form and the two-seater alternative created by Iliouchine was officially adopted.

The two-seater version was called It-2M and differed from the single-seat version by the addition of a back machine gunner equipped with a machine-gun UBT of 12,7 mm under a lengthened canopy (the canopy of the machine gunner postpones was very often withdrawn in operation in order to increase the field of fire of the machine-gun). In the same way, in order to protect the sphere low apparatus of the enemy hunters postpones, them It-2M were equipped with a lance-grenade DAG-5 then DAG-10 charged with respectively 5 and 10 releasable explosive grenades in the wake with the plane. This modified version started to appear in September 1942 and the single-seat versions sometimes thereafter were thus modified. The later changes were, inter alia, the re-examined Aérodynamique apparatus, the canopy, and the equipment radios, these the last two elements being several times modified. But during the war, strategic metals started to miss, which required the use of a timber structure and fabric for the wings instead of alloy of so invaluable aluminum. Because of the more important weight of a fabric and timber structure compared to a metal alloy wing, the handiness of the apparatus was some affected. Later, this metal being again available in sufficient quantity, one took again the manufacture of It-2 entirely out of metal which one declined under several versions including one with an increase in the capacity of the tanks.

In 1943, the Standard It-2 3 or It-2M3 left the factories with redrawn wings to the dihedral more accentuated, equipped with a new radio antenna, of a new canopy more protecting the machine gunner back and equipped with an engine more powerful AM38F. The performances and the handiness were some improved well and the Type 3 became the version manufactured of It-2.

Whatever the version, the legendary one It-2 remained a vulnerable apparatus all the same. Indeed, that it is the single-seat version of origin or the late two-seater versions, these apparatuses remained targets of choice for hunting and German DCA, while being entrusted in the most critical moments to inexperienced pilots. Thus, if it-2 were the Soviet apparatus more produced second world war, it was also that whose rate of attrition was highest. The machine gunners of the two-seater versions was not inserted in the armor-plated cradle of the apparatus, becoming of this fact the first target of the German hunters, while the wings and fuselages out of wooden were sensitive to the high-explosive shells of the guns of 20 and 30 mm used by the apparatuses of the Luftwaffe.

It-2 was also tested in various roles:

It-2I of heavy hunting, single-seat armoured tank intended to be caught some with the German bombers. Slow and vulnerable to hunting, it was abandoned after some operational tests.
It-2T, two-seater derived from It-2 standard 3 intended to embark a torpedo and which one had withdrawn the guns drawing in hunting. Small series built for the Soviet Naval Aviation.
It-2RK, two-seater of recognition derived from It-2 standard 3 whose machine-gun postpones had yielded the place to a camera.
It-2M37, two-seater derived from It-2M whose VYa guns had been withdrawn and two nacelles carrying each one a gun Chpitalny Ch37 of 37 mm fixed under the wings. Nonconclusive tests because of size and of the lack of aérodynamisme of the nacelles generating a strong trail and an overweight of the apparatus, reducing its speed considerably, as because of the vibrations at the time of the phases of shooting which damaged the structure of the wings.
It-2 type3M: two-seater derived from It-2 type3 whose VYa guns had been withdrawn and two nacelles carrying each one a gun Nioudelman Souranov NS37 of 37 mm fixed under the wings. The tests of this version with guns NS37 (less cumbersome and penalizing for qualities of flight of the aircraft that the Ch37 nacelles) were carried out successfully, involving the construction of this version in series.

After the war, it-2 was useful in various countries of the Europe of the East during a few years and more particularly in Poland and Czechoslovakia (this country accepted the authorization to manufacture it under license).

Engagement

Undoubtedly the Plane more built of all times: 36.163 specimens of 1939 to 1950. (It was also used during the Guerre as Korea). Its determining role in the defense of the Soviet Union made say to Stalin that “the IL-2 was as important for the Red Army as the Air as it breathes and the Pain which it eats! ”

Alternatives

IL-2 single-seat

IL-2 single-seat modified in unit to accommodate a machine gunner of tail

IL-2M (or It-2 Type2): first two-seater series

IL-2 Standard 3: modified wings and new engine AM38F

IL-2T: derived from It-2 Type3 intended for torpedoing

IL-2I: heavy hunter derived from It-2 single-seat

IL-2M82: Two-seater been driven by a radial engine ASh-82 in the place of the engine in line AM38. A prototype construct and tested without success, involving the abandonment of the program.

L' It-2 did not evolve/move according to these only great alternatives, to only receive denominations distinguishing them. As it was current in the aircraft industry of Soviet war, the very many small modifications made to It-2 were gradually built-in the course of manufacture without change of denomination and without the assembly lines having to stop (in accordance with the orders of Stalin who accepted only seldom the modifications involving an even temporary interruption of the assembly lines, with the result that one could not frequently distinguish different the " séries"). Thus, one It-2 single-seat of end of production appears very different from a single-seater of beginning of production, while not having any nominal differentiation.

Other characteristics

Pilots

Among the pilots who acquired a notoriety while flying on one It-2, one finds a woman, the lieutenant Anna Yegorova. She counted 260 missions. She was decorated three times including once on a purely posthumous basis, because supposed deceased after its plane was cut down. In fact, she will survive and will be interned in a German concentration camp.

Lt Ivan Grigorevich Drachenko was one of the only pilots to have received the distinction of Héros of the Soviet Union and the three classes of the Ordre of Glory. Begeldinov, Mylnikov, Alekseenko and Gareev accepted each one two medals of gold star of Héros of the Soviet Union. Gareev obtained to them his the same day.

The Hero of the Soviet Union T. Kuznetsov as for him crasha with its It-2 in 1942 while returning from a reconnaissance mission. It succeeds in being extracted from the fuselage and hid in the vicinity. A Messerschmitt Bf 109 was posed close to the site of the crash landing and its pilot started to excavate in the remains to recover a " souvenir". Kuznetsov courrut towards the Messerschmitt and flew away. After having wiped Soviet shootings of hunters, it could return at its base.

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