Sovietwarplanes

Dear friends,
   As Jason Nicholas Moore rightly says, the Ilyushin Il-2 is regarded as the Russian equivalent of the Spitfire.
   But for a number of reasons, to describe the differences between the more than 36000 planes produced, in the West have been used several invented subtypes, that have also been used in Russian literature, as in the official documents all the serial planes were called just Il-2.
   Now for the first time we have a description of the several differences between all the Il-2 series, starting from 1941 and ending in 1945!
   The author of this study is Professor Ivan Rodionov, who published a first article with scale drawings from factory material, in the May edition of Modelist Konstructor for the year 1982, from which most if not all the subsequent scale drawings are derived.
   Research discovers new material, so after little more than forty years, he published a second article in January 2023 in M-Hobby with scale drawings by Trufanov.
   Now he has prepared the most detailed description that I have ever seen of all the visible differences in the different series produced by the different factories.
   Thanks to Massimo courtesy, you can find the first part, dedicated to the first single seaters produced by Zavod 18 in 1941, with the serial number 18 6 XX XX.
   It is 126 pages long, with just about 10% of text, and 90% of images.
   You can find it in English at the index address https://massimotessitori.altervista.org/sovietwarplanes/pages/index.html
   And the good news are that other parts will follow, and I hope that in about one week time, you will be able to enjoy the description of the 18 7 XX XX series.
   Then others will follow describing the other factories and the two seaters.
   Obviously many things still remain to be clarified, and so corrections and additions are welcome, but I would say that with the information we have now everybody can produce an Il-2 model faithful to the original.
Regards
Daniele

Well done Daniele. Thank you for your efforts.

Wow - very impressive! It's an honour to Massimo's web site to have documents like this available on it - thank you very much, Daniele!

John

Dear friends,
   The second installment of Prof. Rodionov about the single seater of the 18 (7) series is just online, and you can find it at the above address or at the end of:
https://massimotessitori.altervista.org/sovietwarplanes/pages/il-2/il-2.htm
Enjoy!
Regards
Daniele

Thank you Daniele, the work is very informative.
The 18 (7) series were the typical singleseaters of 1942 made by Factory 18.
Regards
Massimo

Dear friends,
   Thanks to Massimo, he has uploaded three files, describing the single seaters produced by factory 1, 30 and 381.
   So now we have a description of the series of all the single seaters.
   How you will see, it is not a simple situation, as all four plants introduced changes not simultaneously, most of them in the space of a couple of months, but some characteristics were peculiar to one zavod.
   Well, springtime has come and I would say that it is time to unbox our single seaters Il-2 and compare them to the drawings and to the description!
Regards
Daniele

Hi Daniele,
yes, the planes built by different factories had some pecularities both for their hardware and their painting. This research will allow to improve the existing page too.  Thank you and to prof. Rodionov for your efforts.
Regards
Massimo

Dear friends,
   Maybe you have already noticed it, but I wanted to draw your attention to the fact that Massimo has uploaded 270 pages of a detailed description of the Il-2 two seaters built by zavod 30, the builder of the "etalon" or prototype two seater.
   Prof. Rodionov has changed the page layout, choosing a landscape format, which allows seeing better the many photos in this work.
   I know that such an amount of information is impressive and intimidating, but I hope to hear comments and corrections, that will increase our collective knowledge of such an important airplane.
Regards
Daniele

Hi Daniele,
I'm very impressed for this file, thank you to you and compliments for Mr. Rodionov.
I've noticed a pair of small things. One photo is of planes of Zavod 1, not 30, and shows them still with old camouflag and markings, so it can't be of the fall but around July 1943. Another thing is that one photo, with the silver-black livery and the cover on the canopy, should be of a UIL-2 and not a combat version.
Being the painting of Il-2s made in factory, it can be used as a trace to identify the factory itself and sometimes the timeframe.
Anyway this is a very important work and will allow to improve the existing pages too.
Best regards
Massimo

Dear Friends,
   I suppose that by now you are expecting new files about the Il-2.
   What I had not expected is that the latest file about the zavod 18(7) two-seaters is almost 500 pages long!
   Massimo has just published it; I have to thank him for all his efforts, and for the corrections he suggested, which will be implemented in a future version of the last file.
   Any new correction and amendments will be as usual welcome.
Regards
Daniele

Hi Daniele,
thank you again for your efforts and compliments to Mr. Rodionov for his deep research. The most part of the work on this type is completed, and is a wide improvement over what was known before.
Best regards
Massimo

This will prove to be an excellent reference source! Thank you to all concerned!

Best Regards,

Jason

Dear friends,
   Thanks to Massimo courtesy and Prof. Rodionov work, you have a new file about the two seaters of zavod 18(8) the late war "arrows" that probably are the most impressed in the minds of old men like me.
   It will be "only" 65 pages, but to complete the two seaters' description, a last file of more than double that number of pages is nearing publication.
   And of course it will describe the zavod 1 two seaters.
Regards
Daniele

Hi Daniele,
thanks to you and to Mr Rodionov, the informations in this research are of great value.
Best regards
Massimo

Dear friends,
   Massimo has just published the latest work of Prof. Rodionov on the two seaters of zavod 1.
   If you believe that it is the latest part of this work, then soon you will be surprised!
Regards
Daniele

Hi Daniele,
thank to you and Mr. Rodionov for this important work. My curiosity about the next step is huge,
Regards
Massimo

Dear friends,
   Massimo has just loaded a last installment on the Il-2; it is a file containing information about the airplane geometry, and above all the fuselage sections, that were missing from the excellent Trufanov drawings in MHobby.
   While it completes an exhaustive description of such an important airplane, it is not the end, because Prof. Rodionov has updated the files on the single seaters, which were originally published in a portrait format.
   Changing them to a landscape format, to make them uniform with the later variants, he has also updated them, and much enlarged.
   So stay tuned, as there is still some new material to be published!
Regards
Daniele

Hi Daniele, well made, after this work much more is known and clear about Il-2. I was a bit surprised looking at the rear fuselage section, I never realized that the curvature was so different between the upper and lower part. Thanks to you and prof.  Rodionov for this work.
Best regards
Massimo

Amazing work.
Wait - there were two types of 'Arrow' wings?

For what I know, a first increase of the angle, compared to the prototype,  was already on early production Il-2s of 1941 and a further increase in late 1943.

Dear friends,
   Massimo is right.
   The central part of the Il-2 wing, said inspired to that of the DB-3, had a general geometry that did not change through its development.
   The external part of the wing had three main variations: an extension of the central part angle, 0 degrees, for the TsKB55 prototype only, illustrated on page 13.
   One angled by 8.5 degrees, as used in the TsKB55P prototype, the single seaters and the early two seaters, illustrated on page 15.
   Finally, what we usually call arrow, angled by 13.5 degrees, illustrated on page 20, used in the later two seaters.
   On page 23, you have a comparison of the latter two.
   I must say that work is in progress to prepare correct scale drawings of the prototypes, but it is impossible to guess a date when they will be ready.
   When there is a reasonable idea, you will of course know.
   Then, if you have the description of the zavod 18(6) single seaters, of something more than 100 pages, the good news is that Massimo has uploaded the revised version.
   To say revised is a little understatement, as now it has more than 400 landscape numbered pages.
   You can browse for little gems, like a scale drawing of the KAS-4 cassette for flares, on page 239, a detail often present but overlooked, you can hunt for photographs where they are visible, like on page 252 and 253.
   This time Massimo has not prepared a new entry, so you must download it from the March 7, 2023: a Research of Ivan Rodionov on single-seater Il-2s built in Factory 18 in 1941 line.
Regards
Daniele

Hi Daniele,
thank you for your efforts.
Someone has difficulty to open all the pdf files. I've checked, and my browser hadn't any problem in doing this.  If anyone interested can't access the files, he can try again changing his browser.
Best regards
Massimo

Dear friends,
   Massimo has just published the landscape version of the file on the single seaters of zavod 18(7).
   It is 230 pages long, and as the smaller files about the other single seaters of the zavods with lower production are almost done we should soon have a complete picture.
Regards
Daniele

Dear friends,
   Massimo has just published an article about the Il-2 prototypes, the TsKB-55, TsKB-57 and TsKB-55p.
   It is a more than one hundred pages pdf, with scale drawings in 1/72 and 1/48 scale, and many high-resolution photos from the state trials report.
   The late Klimov has prepared the original drawings, I have finalized and expanded them under Prof. Rodionov guidance, he has made available the original photos, and Massimo has prepared the pdf for everyone to enjoy.
   I believe that it is the most complete visual history of these airplanes produced today, but of course, any suggestion and correction of the inevitable mistakes is welcome.
Best regards
Daniele

Is the pdf available for us? If so, where? Link?

Mark Proulx

http://massimotessitori.altervista.org/sovietwarplanes/pages/

It is the first on the list.
Regards
Daniele

Thanks!

Mark Proulx

Hi,
Daniele has worked a lot on these vector drawings. He has acquired a graphical experience that could be helpful for future works of the site. Thank you for all your efforts, Daniele.
Regards
Massimo