Attack Aircraft First flight: 1951 Ilyushin

In October 1950, the Commander-in-Chief of the SA Air Force, Marshal P.F. Zhigarev turned to S.V. Ilyushin with a letter in which he proposed to consider the issue of resuming the serial production of the Il-10 AM-42 attack aircraft as a combat aircraft for direct support of troops, "which has not yet lost its combat capabilities." At the same time, the Commander-in-Chief proposed "installing a new wing to simplify piloting techniques" and strengthening the offensive armament of the attack aircraft by replacing the NS-23 cannons and ShKAS machine guns with 4 NR-23 cannons and replacing the VU-9 with a modified VU-9M.

The reason for this decision of the military was to a large extent the very successful use of Il-10 attack aircraft by Korean and Chinese pilots in the war against the troops of South Korea and the UN.

After some coordination, on January 12, 1951, the Decree of the Council of Ministers of the USSR No. 4525-1997 on the organization of serial production of the Il-10 at the aircraft factory No. 168 (Rostov-on-Don). According to the Decree, the 168th aircraft plant was supposed to produce 5 attack aircraft by the end of the year, and 150 Il-10 next year.

On July 2, 1951, OKB Chief Pilot V.K. Kokkinaki performed the first flight on the Il-10M. By August 28, the Il-10M had successfully passed the factory test program.

As the main drawback of the serial Il-10M, the pilots of the GK Research Institute of the Air Force noted unsatisfactory directional stability. This drawback was eliminated by installing a ventral ridge.

The composition of the Il-10M equipment ensured the combat use of the attack aircraft in almost any weather conditions and at night.

Armament: four 23-mm NR-23 cannons, fixed, dual in the wing (600 rounds), on the back of the shooter one B-20 EN cannon (150 rounds).

Bomb load: 400-600 kg of caliber from 1 to 100 kg in the bomb bays of the center section. Eight RS-82 or four PC-132 shells could be suspended under the wing.

Plant No. 168 in the period 1952-54 built 136 copies of the Il-10M, of which in 1952 - 1 vehicler, in 1953 - 100 pieces and in the 54th - 35 attack aircraft. In 1953, aircraft plant No. 1 was connected to the production of the Il-10M. 47 in Orenburg, which produced 4 attack aircraft of this type in 1953 and 6 vehicles in 54.

As of January 1, 1955, the Soviet Army Air Force included 19 assault aviation regiments, armed with 1,700 Il-10 and Il-10M attack aircraft and 130 MiG-15bis jet fighter-bombers.

Photo	Description
	Drawing IL-10M
	Postwar Attack Aircraft IL-10M
	IL-10M, note the ventral ridge for increased longitudinal stability.

In April 1956, Minister of Defense Marshal G.K. Zhukov presented to the leadership of the country a report prepared by the General Staff and the Main Staff of the Air Force on the state and prospects for the development of attack aviation. The report concluded that attack aircraft were not very effective on the battlefield in modern warfare and, in fact, proposed to eliminate ground attack aircraft, ensuring the solution of combat missions for direct air support of ground forces in the offensive and defense by bomber and fighter aircraft. As a result of the discussion "at the top", an order was issued by the Minister of Defense dated April 20, 1956, according to which attack aircraft were abolished in the SA Air Force, the existing Il-10 and Il-10M were decommissioned, and the development program for the promising Il-40 was closed.

After resounding glory in the Great Patriotic War, the Red Army attack aircraft "gone" into oblivion until the spring of 1969, when Defense Minister A.A. Grechko turned to the MAP with a request to begin work on the creation of an attack aircraft that meets the requirements of modern warfare, and announced a competition for its development. The Il-102 attack aircraft (which was a deep study of the Il-40) with two crew members and the now well-known Su-25 Grach, which won the competition, were developed.

Bibliography

• "The history of designs of planes in USSR 1938-1950" /Vadim Shavrov/
• "Planes of Stalin falcons" /Konstantin Kosminkov and Dmitriy Grinyuk/
• "Planes of Ilyushin`s design bureau" /Genrih Novojilov/
• "The Soviet planes" /Alexander Yakovlev/

April 02, 2018

In the photo at the top of the page, the Il-10M prototype is being tested at the Air Force Research Institute. There is still no ridge under the fuselage to improve longitudinal stability.
On the stabilizer you can see the radio altimeter antennas.