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17. The Red Air Force’s Most Successful WWII Aircraft Was Also the Most Produced Airplane in Military History (Part 1)
With over 36,000 built, the Soviet Ilyushin Il-2 Sturmovik, nicknamed “The Flying Tank”, was the most produced military airplane in history. Designed in 1938, the Sturmovik’s most distinguishing feature was a 1500-pound armored tub that protected the pilot, engine, fuel tank, and radiator. That made it one of the toughest and most survivable airplanes of its day, nearly impervious to bullets and 20 mm cannon fire from below. That in turn gave Il-2 pilots the confidence to press and persist in attacks in the teeth of fierce ground fire that would have been foolhardy or even suicidal with other airplanes. Prototypes first flew in 1939, and Sturmoviks entered operational service in May, 1941. Armed with two 23mm cannons, two machine guns, and loaded with up to 1300 lbs of bombs plus 12 rockets, it carried a devastating punch.
The Sturmovik’s punch became stronger still in 1943, with the introduction of shaped charge bomblets. Weighing just 3.3 lbs, these bomblets could penetrate the thinner armor atop German tanks, and the Sturmoviks carried them in clusters of 192 to shower on enemy columns. Early in the war, insufficient training on the airplane, which had been introduced to operational squadrons only a month before the German invasion, meant that few pilots knew how to fully utilize its potential. Between that and inadequate fighter protection, Sturmoviks suffered appalling losses to German fighters. For example, during the first month of fighting, the Fourth Air Regiment lost 55 of its 65 Sturmoviks. Once reasonable fighter protection became available as the Soviets clawed their way back to aerial parity and then supremacy, and as Il-2 pilots gained experience, tactics improved and Sturmoviks began wreaking havoc.