The date of foundation of the enterprise is January 13, 1933, when on the basis of the plant named after Menzhinsky established an experimental design bureau under the leadership of S.V. Ilyushin. The structure of this design bureau was transferred from TsAGI several teams involved in the creation of light aircraft.
At the same time, quite a lot of design bureaus of various directions were formed, but only a few of them were able to survive to this day. The aviation complex named after S.V. Ilyushin exists to this day. The name of the designer has long been a household name. Ilyushin's planes (pictured) for many decorate computer screens.
Combat aircraft
In the context of the impending war, Ilyushin began to design military aircraft. First of all, these are long-range bombers DB-3 and DB-3F (subsequently Il-4), which in the pre-war period became the basis of Soviet attack and naval torpedo aircraft.
It was these aircraft that participated in the first bombing attack on the capital of the Third Reich, inflicted in August 1941. The Germans did not expect an air attack so much that the blackout in Berlin was turned on only after the attack was actually completed. After the bombing, the crews, without loss, having flown for 7 hours, returned to base.
However, it is worth noting without exaggeration that the aircraft of Ilyushin gained worldwide fame thanks to the Il-2 attack aircraft. The world record for the number of produced cars of this brand has not yet been broken - more than 41,000 in total. They, along with the Katyusha and the T-34 tank, are a symbol of victory in the Great Patriotic War.
German and American designers to create support for ground units followed the path of dive bombers with virtually no armor protection. Ilyushin Il-2 aircraft, in contrast to them, had an armored capsule that protected the crew and vital structural elements from fire damage, and also used different attack tactics.
For its survivability, the attack aircraft received various nicknames, including “flying tank”, “concrete plane”, and for efficiency - “plague”, “black death”. It is understood that the last nicknames were given by enemy soldiers.
Of course, everything was not so cloudless. IL-4 was extremely unstable in flight and did not forgive mistakes in piloting. The vast majority of the nearly 7,000 aircraft produced during the war were destroyed in battles or crashed in plane crashes.
The first modifications of the Il-2 attack aircraft did not have protection in the rear hemisphere and became easy prey for German fighters. But we must remember that Ilyushin’s aircraft were created in extremely difficult times and were one of the first in the Soviet aviation industry. Based on the experience of combat use, the design was promptly made appropriate changes.
Post-war aircraft for the army
After the war, the KB team, led by S.V. Ilyushin, began work on an experimental IL-22 jet bomber. Here, for the first time, a suspension scheme for engines under the wing on pylons was applied. Subsequently, the results of this experimental work were embodied in the IL-28 front-line jet bomber, which was put into service.
Subsequently, the creation of combat aircraft of bomber aircraft was transferred to the Tupolev company, and the attack aircraft to the Sukhoi company. But a number of experimental samples were also released at the Ilyushin Design Bureau, including the IL-102 jet attack aircraft, which did not go into production for various reasons.
For the country's air force in the design bureau, reconnaissance aircraft Il-20, anti-submarine aircraft Il-38, jammers, repeaters and other special aviation equipment, as well as military transport vehicles, were created.
Civil Aircraft
Back in 1943, when the war was in full swing, the Design Bureau began preparations for the design of civilian passenger airliners. The first-born of Ilyushin’s civilian aircraft was the Il-12, designed to carry 30 passengers over a distance of 2,000 km, which entered the regular Aeroflot lines already in 1947. The plane was actively used in the Polar Aviation, had many modifications, including military transport.
In the year the war ended, the team began designing a 4-engine aircraft for transporting twice as many passengers at a range of up to 5,000 km. The first flight was completed in 1946, the car was named Il-18. It installed the latest aerobatic and navigation equipment at the time, but the piston engine was not included in the series. This aircraft Ilyushin (IL-18) was commissioned later, already with turboprop engines and became the first Soviet airliner, which was exported.
In the 60s of the last century, a second-generation IL-62 aircraft was created, designed to solve the problems of transporting a large number of passengers over intercontinental distances. When designing it, many innovative solutions were applied. Twin engines according to the 2 x 2 scheme were located at the rear of the fuselage, a new landing gear scheme was developed with a retractable tail support, the swept wing received a stepped leading edge, which, combined with a set of wing profiles, made it possible to achieve high controllability and stability of the machine in the air, without complicated automatic systems installed on analogues with the same engine layout. The engine reverse system was first used on this Ilyushin aircraft, providing effective braking on slippery runways.
Later, to further increase the flight range, the IL-62M airliner was developed, equipped with other engines and received an additional fuel reserve in the caisson tank in the keel. All this made it possible to bring the maximum flight range to 12,000 km. For a long time, the aircraft was the flagship of the domestic civilian fleet.
The passenger capacity of the IL-62 airliner was limited to 165 passengers, a further increase was not possible, and the construction of airbuses, that is, wide-body aircraft, began in the world. The pioneer in this area in our country was KB Ilyushin. In a short time, an IL-86 airbus was created, capable of transporting 350 passengers at a distance of 3,600 km. It had a fuselage with a diameter of 6.08 meters and two aisles between the seats.
Given the above specialization, a new concept of “baggage with you” was applied here, although it did not exclude the classical method of baggage drop-off and its transportation in containers. Its essence was that passengers independently placed their luggage on the lower deck and then went up to the upper to their seats. In addition, the aircraft had built-in ramps, which made it possible to use it in various conditions and at any airports.
The second airbus created at the company was IL-96, which was supposed to replace the obsolete IL-62 and provide a longer flight range. Initially, the IL-86 was supposed to be taken as the base of the new aircraft, however, a decision was made on the need to unify the engines for the new Tu-204 and IL-96 aircraft.
The PS-90 motor did not allow the dimensions and wing of the IL-96 to remain unchanged. As a result, the fuselage was shortened, and the wing area was reduced. The prototype was assembled directly in Moscow, on the territory of the company Ilyushin and made its first flight in 1988. Only managed to build only 29 of these machines, mass production was mastered in Voronezh. Most are operated by the presidential air squad. The latest Soviet development of this design bureau, the Il-114, a regional turboprop airliner that made its first flight on the day of the collapse of the USSR, had a similar fate.
Military transport aircraft
In addition to civilian topics, which became the main one for the design bureau, the Il-76 military transport aircraft was developed. It was the first car of this class equipped with turbojet engines, making its first flight in 1976.
The military, accustomed to the classic An-brand propeller-driven military transport aircraft, at first strongly resisted the acceptance of this machine into service. However, over time, the IL-76 has established itself from the very best side, having received the affectionate name "Ilyusha" in the troops. To date, it remains the main aircraft of the military transport aviation of the Russian Aerospace Forces.
On the basis of the IL-76, a large number of modifications have been developed designed to solve a variety of problems. In addition to purely transport and military aircraft, the Il-78 refueling tank was developed, as well as the A-50 AWACS, the machine was used to train astronauts in zero gravity, mastered the Arctic and Antarctic, and extinguished forest fires.
Modernity
As a result of the collapse of the USSR, Russia was left without military transport aircraft. Most of these machines were designed in Kiev, and their mass production was established in various cities of Ukraine and Uzbekistan, even the Il-76 was made in Tashkent. To rectify the situation, it was decided to establish the production of Il-family aircraft in Russia.
The first flight of the upgraded IL-76MD-90A aircraft was made in 2014 from the Vostochny airfield in Ulyanovsk. In parallel with this, the task of reproduction of the tanker that took off in 2018 was solved.
In addition to modernization, the design bureau is completing the design and preparing the first flight of the new light military transport aircraft Il-112V.
Of course, the team of Ilyushin’s company is also engaged in maintaining the airworthiness of operating aircraft, both in the country and abroad. They are being modernized.
Prospects
The new aircraft of Ilyushin include, first of all, military transport aircraft. The layout options of the IL-276 are being worked out. In the near future, it is planned to carry out research work to determine the appearance of a super-heavy promising transport aircraft Ilyushin, which should exceed the outdated An-124.
Work is also underway to resume the production of IL-96, but in a new modification, the IL-96-400, close to the original appearance of this aircraft with an extended fuselage and new engines, as well as the regional IL-114, previously produced in Tashkent.
There are plans to work together with relevant organizations to develop reusable systems for near-Earth orbit.