Ilyushin Il-2

what is it?

The Ilyushin Il-2 (Russian: Илью́шин Ил-2) is a ground-attack plane that was produced by the Soviet Union in large numbers during the Second World War. The word shturmovík (Russian: штурмовик), the generic Russian term for a ground-attack aircraft, became a synecdoche for the Il-2 in English sources, where it is commonly rendered Shturmovik, Stormovik and Sturmovik. To Il-2 pilots, the aircraft was known by the diminutive "Ilyusha".

🔎How to recognise it: 1 piston engine with propeller · 14.6 m wingspan

base stats

• speed 410 km/htop speed
• range 765 kmwithout refuelling
• size 6,360 kgmax take-off weight
• built 36,163made in total

Bars compare against all aircraft: 3,500 km/h, 20,000 km, 850 seats; size and number built on a log scale up to 640 t (An-225) and 45,000 built (Cessna 172).

fun facts

• 🎂First flew 87 years ago, in 1939.
• 🏎️Top speed is 3.2× a car on the Dutch motorway (130 km/h).
• 🚗Wingspan of 14.6 m: about 3 cars parked nose to tail.

piston: A car-like piston engine turning a propeller: simple and cheap, the classic small plane.

spec sheet

first flight

1939-10-02

introduced

1941

retired

1954

status

retired

number built

36,163

role

ground-attack aircraft

origin

🇷🇺 Soviet Union

makers

Ilyushin

engines

1× Mikulin AM-38F / Mikulin AM-38

crew

2

length

11.7 m

wingspan

14.6 m

height

4.2 m

max take-off weight

6,360 kg

top speed

410 km/h

range

765 km

ceiling

4,525 m

Specs are for the version in the Wikipedia article's specification section. Blank means the sources don't say.