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Aircraft · Soviet Union · 1944-1954

Ilyushin Il-10

ground-attack aircraft

The successor to the Il-2 Sturmovik, developed by Sergei Ilyushin's bureau from 1943 and first flown in April 1944, with an all-new, more aerodynamic airframe rather than a simple upgrade of the earlier aircraft. A more powerful Mikulin AM-42 engine gave it markedly higher speed at low altitude than the Il-2, which meant better survivability against flak and fighters while it strafed and bombed in the close-support role it inherited. It reached frontline Soviet regiments in the final months of the war in Europe during late 1944 and into 1945, seeing limited but effective combat before the war's end, and went on to a long postwar service life with the Soviet Union and its allies.

Wikipedia

engineMikulin AM-42, 1,770 hp
max speed551 km/h (342 mph)
armament2-4x 23 mm cannon, machine guns, rockets
bomb loadup to 600 kg
produced~6,166 (Soviet and Czechoslovak-built)

Eastern Front

Ilyushin Il-10M in Soviet AF markings preserved at the Monino museum near Moscow
Ilyushin Il-10M in Soviet AF markings preserved at the Monino museum near MoscowRuthAS · CC BY 3.0 · source
Ilyushin Il-10 (China Aviation Museum)
Ilyushin Il-10 (China Aviation Museum)Flavio Mucia (AMB Brescia) · CC BY 2.0 · source
Silhouette of the Ilyushin Il-10. The World's Fighting Planes (William Green and Gerald Pollinger, McDonald: London 1954) used 55 Crown Copyright silhouettes provided by the Controller of H.M. Stationery. An acknowledgem
Silhouette of the Ilyushin Il-10. The World's Fighting Planes (William Green and Gerald Pollinger, McDonald: London 1954) used 55 Crown Copyright silhouettes provided by the Controller of H.M. Stationery. An acknowledgemTSRL · CC BY-SA 3.0 · source