The Ilyushin IL-2 is a ground-attack plane that was produced by the Soviet Union in large numbers during the Second World War. The word shturmovik, the generic Russian term for a ground-attack aircraft, became a synecdoche for the IL-2in English sources, where it is commonly rendered as Shturmovik, Stormovik and Sturmovik. To IL-2pilots, the aircraft was known by the diminutive "Ilyusha". To the soldiers on the ground, it was called the "Hunchback", the "Flying Tank" or the "Flying Infantryman". Its postwar NATO reporting name was Bark.

During the war, 36,183 units of the Il-2 were produced, and in combination with its successor, the Ilyushin IL-10, a total of 42,330 were built, making it the single most produced military aircraft design in aviation history, as well as one of the most produced piloted aircraft in history along with the American postwar civilian Cessna 172 and the German then-contemporary Messerschmitt Bf 109.

The IL-2 played a crucial role on the Eastern Front. When factories fell behind on deliveries, Joseph Stalin told the factory managers that the IL-2s were "as essential to the Red Army as air and bread."

Pictured here is a 1:72 scale replica of a Soviet Ilyushin IL-2M Shturmovik ground attack aircraft that was piloted by Sargent M. Gareyev, who was attached to the 3rd Squadron, 505th Air Assault Regiment, 226th Air Assault Division, then defending Stalingrad during 1942. Now in stock!

Dimensions:
Wingspan: 8-inches
Length: 6-1/4-inches

Release Date: December 2023

Historical Account: - "Unto the Beasts of Hell" - The first use in action of the Il-2 was with the 4th ShAP (Ground Attack Regiment) over the Berezina River days after German invasion began. The aircraft was so new that the pilots had no training in flight characteristics or tactics, and the ground crew no training in servicing or re-arming. The training received enabled the pilots only to take-off and land; none of the pilots had fired the armament, let alone learned tactics. There were 249 Il-2s available on June 22nd, 1941. In the first three days, 4th ShAP had lost 10 Il-2s to enemy action, a further 19 were lost to other causes, and 20 pilots were killed. By 10 July, 4th ShAP was down to 10 aircraft from a strength of 65. New tactics

Tactics improved as Soviet aircrews became used to the Il-2's strengths. Instead of a low horizontal straight approach at 50 metres (160 ft) altitude, the target was usually kept to the pilot's left and a turn and shallow dive of 30 degrees was used, using an echeloned assault by four to twelve aircraft at a time. Although the Il-2's RS-82 and RS-132 rockets could destroy armored vehicles with one hit, they were so inaccurate that experienced Il-2 pilots mainly used the cannon. Another potent weapon of the Il-2 were high-explosive anti-tank (HEAT) shaped charge bomblets named protivotankovaya aviabomba (PTAB, "anti-tank aviation bomb"). They were designated PTAB-2.5-1.5, as they had a total weight of 2.5 kg (5.5 lb), and an explosive charge of 1.5 kg (3.3 lb). Up to 192 were carried in four external dispensers (cluster bombs) or up to 220 in the inner wing panels' internal ventral weapon bays. The charge could easily penetrate the relatively thin upper armor of all heavy German tanks. PTABs were first used on a large scale in the Battle of Kursk with little success, perhaps due to the poor bombing accuracy of the Il-2.

The Il-2 was thereafter deployed widely on the Eastern Front. The aircraft could fly in low light conditions and carried weapons able to defeat the thick armor of the Panther and Tiger I tanks.