I will never tire of expressing gratitude to those readers who not only read line by line, but also think over what they have read. And they supplement what is written without expressing Their Personal Opinion. And therefore, this reflection is the fruit precisely on the grounds of those who supplemented the article about the IL-10 with their conclusions.
I completely agree with those who (like me, by the way) believe that the situation with new aircraft models in the Red Army Air Force was more than ambiguous. Yes, in fact, one completely new aircraft for the entire war (Tu-2) and two aircraft, which were the deepest alteration of the existing ones. La-5 and Il-10.
More than once, in my reviews of German aircraft, I expressed a rather sensible, in my opinion, idea that if Herr engineers hadn't been sprayed on so many different models, it might even feel better in the German sky. But since the idea of a "miracle weapon" hovered constantly, then here's the result. The jet aircraft did not have time to "get on the wing", and the Germans really lacked the engine power for 2500-2800.
But I will not be distracted, but today we will talk about this. About stormtroopers. About those planes that could be instead of the IL-2.
So much has been written about the Il-2 attack aircraft that there is no point in repeating it. The plane is contradictory, not without flaws, but it played its role in the war, and played more than.
Today, many authors come out precisely with "revelatory" articles on the topic of an aircraft of one design or another, which was "no worse" than the Il-2, but did not go into the series, because … and further conspiracy theories in full in the style of "Ren-TV" …
Naturally, with the mention of all those involved. Especially often Yakovlev, Shakhurin and, of course, Stalin himself flicker. The three of us just walked around and cut projects with axes.
However, it makes sense to briefly (for a long time it will definitely not work) to go through the competitors of the IL-2. Indeed, since 1935, the aircraft industry of the USSR has experienced an unprecedented rise, there were many designers, many have designed and built.
And what was created with us in the pre-war and initial war periods?
Polikarpov VIT-1
A very interesting plane. The first flight was made under the control of V. Chkalov on 1937-14-10.
VIT-1 showed a high maximum flight speed for its time at an altitude of 3000 m - 494 km / h. The flight range was also quite impressive: about 1,000 km at 410 km / h.
According to P. M. Stefanovsky, a test pilot of the Air Force Research Institute of the Spacecraft, who also flew VIT-1 as a test pilot, the aircraft was easy to fly, had good maneuverability and was quite acceptable to fly on one engine.
The aircraft crew consisted of two people - a pilot and a gunner.
Defensive armament included a turret with a ShKAS machine gun. And the offensive was (I will not sin against the truth) simply unique at that time (1937). Two 37-mm cannon of the Shpitalny OKB-15, installed in the root of the center section at the sides of the fuselage, and another 20-mm ShVAK cannon in the nose of the aircraft. We add to this up to 600 kg of bombs in the bomb bay or two FAB-500 on an external sling.
It could be just a masterpiece plane if it was brought to mind. Factory tests of VIT-1 were not completed, and even today the reason is not entirely clear. There are several versions, varying degrees of doubtfulness, but in general this project is worth a separate investigation.
Personally, it seems to me that, like all Polikarpov's projects after the death of Valery Chkalov, VIT-1 suffered just such a fate - to be put aside. But this is really a topic for another conversation.
Polikarpov VIT-2
This is not a bug fix, as many would think. It was born in the genius head of Polikarpov, a universal strike aircraft, which, by means of minor field modifications, could be turned into anything.
Polikarpov studied the possibility of creating a dive bomber, a multi-seat cannon fighter, a multi-gun attack aircraft and a naval heavy attack aircraft on the basis of VIT-2.
Alas, the Main Directorate of the Aviation Industry showed no interest in aircraft. Moreover, there is evidence that Tupolev himself impeded Polikarpov's projects. Do you believe? So I believe. The patriarch knew how to play these games.
On May 11, 1938, Chkalov made its first test flight on it. Further tests were carried out by test pilot of plant # 84 BN Kudrin.
With a flight weight of 6166 kg at an altitude of 4500 m, a maximum flight speed of 498 km / h was obtained, and with a flight weight of 5350 kg - 508 km / h.
By the way, this was the first aircraft with M-105 engines. That is, the entire burden of fine-tuning the raw (and there were no others) Klimovsk engines fell on the Polikarpov design bureau.
In general, the plane, which possessed simply incomparable flight characteristics, got on display to the head of the Red Army Air Force Smushkevich only after the chief engineer of plant No. 84 Nersisyan personally “snitched” Voroshilov that the GUAP was really “jamming” Polikarpov's good car.
It seems that everyone was in favor, and the plane passed state tests, and took part in the air parade on May 1, and was recommended for the series … But did not go.
And the plane was very good. But not without flaws, among which I consider the main one to be a complete lack of armor (except for the pilot's armored back). A sort of "crystal hammer" turned out.
But at a very impressive speed, the VIT-2 had simply stunning armament:
- two 20-mm cannons ShVAK-20 (in the nose and on the turret);
- two 20-mm ShVAK cannons and two 37-mm ShFK-37 cannons in the wings;
- two 7, 62-mm ShKAS machine guns.
Bomb load up to 1600 kg.
Kocherigin Sh / LBSh
This aircraft, created in 1939, is worth mentioning due to the fact that it is generally the first aircraft in the world to be equipped with wing cannons. Specifically, in the case of the LBSh, the ShVAK cannon.
It was a monoplane with a fixed landing gear, created on the basis of the R-9 reconnaissance aircraft. Two copies were built, with M-88 and M-87A engines.
During the tests, the following results were obtained: the maximum speed at the ground - 360 km / h (afterburner - 382 km / h), the maximum speed at a design altitude of 6650 m - 437 km / h, and at an altitude of 7650 m - 426 km / h. Takeoff weight - 3500 kg.
As an offensive weapon, the attack aircraft had 2 ShVAK wing cannons with 150 rounds per barrel, 2 ShKAS machine guns with 900 rounds of ammunition and 200 kg of normal bomb load (overload up to 600 kg).
The defensive armament consisted of one ShKAS (w / k 500 rounds) mounted on the MV-3 turret.
The aircraft was built, tested, recommended for serial production under the name BB-21, but did not go into series production. The war began, and the factories, which originally planned to produce the BB-21, were given over to the production of the Yak-1.
Tomashevich "Pegasus"
In the summer of 1942, an engineer little-known up to this point proposed to create an air anti-tank army to fight against German tank formations. In 1938, Tomashevich became the leading designer of the I-180 fighter and at the same time deputy to NN Polikarpov.
In December 1938, after the death of Chkalov, Tomashevich was arrested and continued his work in the so-called sharashka. And there Tomashevich proposed an anti-tank aircraft project in 1941. Moreover, in 1941 Tomashevich actually foresaw the tank battles of 1943.
In his plane, Tomashevich suggested using ornamental pine, construction plywood, S-20 steel, roofing iron and low-grade aluminum alloys in a minimum amount. The designer suggested making not only the plane itself from wood, but also, which was quite unusual, the wheels of the landing gear. The M-11 engines were chosen as the power plant, which could be easily started in winter and consumed any aviation gasoline. According to estimates, for the combat flight of five Tomashevich anti-tank aircraft, the fuel was consumed as much as was required to ensure the combat flight of one Il-2.
In addition to the fact that the plane was supposed to be cheap and easy to manufacture, measures were taken on it that allowed it to be entrusted to pilots with low qualifications. The chassis was not retracted, there was no hydraulics and air system, the wiring was the simplest.
The armament of the Pegasus aircraft consisted of one course 12, 7-mm UB machine gun, all the rest of the strike weapons were attached outside under the center section. Several options have been proposed:
- bomb FAB-250 (hereinafter - 2 x FAB-250 or one FAB-500);
- 9 PC-82 or PC-132;
- air gun caliber 37 mm (NS-37);
- two cannons of 23 mm caliber (VYa-23);
- 4 cluster bombs for anti-tank cumulative bombs.
The plane let down, as usual, the engine. The M-11 was installed on the U-2, Sche-2 and Yak-6, and there were simply no engines on thousands of Tomashevich's planes. The plane did not go into production.
Sukhoi Su-6
The first copy of the Su-6 was built by February 28, 1941, and on March 13, V. K. Kokkinaki made the first flight on it. From that moment, factory flight tests began, which took place at the LII NKAP and were completed at the end of April 41st.
It was found that in terms of flight speed, climb rate and takeoff and landing characteristics, the Su-6 with the M-71 engine was significantly superior to the Il-2 with the AM-38 engine. The maximum speed at the ground was 510 km / h, and at the design altitude - 527 km / h. The ascent time to a height of 3000 m was 7, 3 minutes. Flight range - 576 km.
But this was data for a vehicle without weapons. The total weight of the armor was 195 kg, which was not enough to protect the aircraft and crew.
With a normal flight weight of 4,217 kg (120 kg of bombs and ammunition for machine guns), the maximum speed of the attack aircraft at the ground was 474 km / h, and at an altitude of 5,700 m - up to 566 km / h. The plane climbed to an altitude of 1,000 m in 1, 16 minutes, and an altitude of 5,000 m in 6, 25 minutes. The maximum flight range at an altitude of 500-600 m at a speed of 462 km / h is 700 km.
Despite the excellent flight data of the Su-6 M-71, the specialists of the LII NKAP pointed to the weak armament of the attack aircraft, which does not at all correspond to modern requirements.
Later, in the process of fine-tuning the aircraft, the PO Sukhoi Design Bureau managed to create an outstanding Su-6 attack aircraft with an M-71F engine with excellent flight, aerobatic and combat properties.
Created in 1943-44. armored attack aircraft Su-6 with M-71F and Il-10 with AM-42 fully embodied the concept of a "flying infantry fighting vehicle", which were better than the main attack aircraft of the Air Force of the Il-2 spacecraft.
The small arms and cannon armament consisted of two VYa-23 wing-mounted cannons and two ShKAS wing-mounted machine guns. Ammunition for VYa-23 guns included 230 rounds, for ShKAS machine guns - 3000 rounds.
Bomb armament allowed suspension:
- inside on holders of KD-2 four bombs of the FAB-50 or FAB-100 type (in overload);
- outside on two holders of the DZ-40 type of the FAB-50 or FAB-100 bombs.
Rocket armament consisted of 10 RS-132 or RS-82.
With a normal flight weight of 5,250 kg (10 x RS-132, 200 kg of bombs, two VYa-23 cannons and four ShKAS machine guns with full ammunition), the attack aircraft had a maximum speed at the ground of 445 km / h, and at an altitude of 2500 m - 491 km / h
Su-6 M-71F brilliantly passed state tests. It was a really wonderful car. In terms of maximum speeds, rate of climb, maneuverability, ceiling, range, armament and armor, the two-seater "Sukhoi" significantly surpassed the two-seater Il-2 AM-38F, which is in service with the Air Force.
In addition, the Su-6 possessed excellent stability and control characteristics, was simple and pleasant to fly.
Due to the fact that the entire bomb load was located inside the fuselage, the maximum speeds of the attack aircraft remained practically the same.
Alas, the fine-tuning of the attack aircraft at Sukhoi was clearly delayed, and in May 1944 the Il-10 attack aircraft with the AM-42 engine successfully completed state tests, which showed higher flight data.
Comparison of the flight and combat properties of the Sukhov attack aircraft with the Il-10 was not in favor of the former. The Su-6 with the AM-42 was inferior to the Ilyushin machine in most of its characteristics. As a result, it was concluded that it was inexpedient to launch the Su-6 with the AM-42 into serial production.
Sukhoi Su-8
By the middle of 1941, the P. O. Sukhoi, a project was developed for a single-seat armored attack aircraft ODBSH with two promising M-71 air-cooled engines. The ODBSH project was officially presented to the Air Force Research Institute of the Spacecraft on June 30, 1941.
The small arms and cannon armament consisted of two 37 mm Spital cannons (ammunition for 100 rounds) and two 12.7 mm machine guns (400-800 rounds), placed in the lower part of the fuselage on a swivel bridge, and 4-8 wing-mounted ShKAS machine guns of 7 caliber, 62 mm. ShKAS fired synchronously with the ventral bridge.
Normal bomb load of 400 kg (overload 600 kg) was placed on the internal sling in the center section of the wing.
In addition, the external sling had the ability to carry another 400 kg of bombs. Thus, the maximum bomb load was 1000 kg. Including the possibility of suspension of one high-explosive 1000-kg aerial bomb of the FAB-1000 type.
Reservation of the attack aircraft included: armor plate in front of the pilot with a thickness of 15 mm, 64-mm front bulletproof glass, armored back plate of the pilot with a thickness of 15 mm, as well as 10-mm armor plates below and to the side of the pilot.
Protected petrol and oil tanks. In addition, a system for filling gas tanks with neutral gases was envisaged.
The flight weight of the attack aircraft was 10 258 kg. The maximum flight speed at the ground was 500 km / h, and at a design altitude of 6000 m - 600 km / h. Time to climb 5000 m - 7.5 minutes. The flight range was estimated at 1,000 km, and the maximum - 1,500 km at a cruising speed of 430 km / h.
By February 1944, the NS-37 cannons were replaced by the NS-45 OKB-16 45-mm cannons (200 rounds). This decision was due to the fact that the destructive effect of the standard high-explosive fragmentation projectile (weight 1065 g) used in the NS-45 from the 45-mm anti-tank gun was twice as high as that of the projectile for the NS-37 gun. A 45-mm projectile was enough to destroy almost all existing German tanks at that time.
Small arms remained the same: eight ShKAS machine guns (four on each wing console) with 4,800 rounds of ammunition, two mobile defensive machine guns in the gunner's cockpit: UBT (200 rounds) on the upper turret UTK-1 and a ShKAS machine gun (700 rounds) on lower hatch turret LU-100.
Missile armament included 6 PC 82 or ROFS-132 rockets (overload 10). The bombs were placed in six bomb bays located in the center section. Each compartment contained one bomb weighing 100 kg (600 kg in total), or several smaller bombs from 1 to 25 kg (900 kg in total).
Under the fuselage, it was possible to suspend three bombs of a caliber of 100 kg (300 kg) or 250 kg (750 kg), or two bombs of a caliber of 500 kg, or two VAP-500.
With an overload flight weight of the aircraft of 13 381 kg, the maximum bomb load was 1400 kg.
With a normal flight weight of 12,213 kg, the maximum speed at the ground of the Su-8 with two M-71F engines was 485 km / h (with afterburner 515 km / h), at an altitude of 4,600 m - 550 km / h. Ascent time to a height of 4000 m - 7.26 min.
Unfortunately, the passive position of the People's Commissariat of the Aviation Industry on the issue of establishing large-scale production of M-71F engines decided the fate of the Sukhoi Design Bureau's heavy attack aircraft - just like the Su-6 M-71F, the Su-8 series was not built.
In addition, it was 1944, and by this time the leadership of the country, the Air Force and the NKAP had a firm opinion that the war could be won without such an expensive and complex machine as the Su-8, even if much more effective than cheap single-engine attack aircraft. …
There were also controversial and interesting developments. Yakovlev, Mikoyan, Kocherigin, Sukhoi, Polikarpov.
We can say for sure that there were enough designers in the Land of the Soviets. Both talented and not so talented. But in the end, the front line of the enemy's defense was ironed on the Il-2 and subsequently the Il-10.
Was it justified?
From my point of view, absolutely. War. And, consequently, the reconfiguration of factories was fraught with a loss of the rate of aircraft production. And the pace is exactly what we defeated the Germans with. While they were rebuilding their factories after the British and American raids, we were quietly releasing hundreds and thousands of stormtroopers.
Were the Il-2 rival aircraft better? Considering that the Il-2 was not a perfect attack aircraft? If you read the description in detail, one thing becomes clear: the Il-2 was better armored than all the proposed aircraft, with the exception of the Su-8. But the Su-8 was a representative of a slightly different line of aircraft, heavier, twin-engine.
And one can argue for a very long time on the topic of how appropriate it would be to release more powerful aircraft than the Il-2. Of course it is. Another question is whether such aircraft were actually created? Faster, heavier weapons, better booked?
If you look closely, then no. The release of tens of thousands of Il-2 attack aircraft was fully justified, no matter what shortcomings this aircraft possessed. Literally a year ago, one of the authors on VO told how wonderful the Henschel Ne-129 was, and what would have happened if this aircraft had produced at least 900 copies, and at least comparable to the Il-2.
But the fact is that exactly that number of Non-129s was produced, 878. And the Il-2 is a little larger. Little bit. 36,000. Or they could have launched Sukhoi's attack aircraft, which were even better. But really, the best is the enemy of the good. As shown by the results of the war.
The fact that the attack aircraft created by Yakovlev, Polikarpov, and Sukhoi did not fight, but were in the "reserve", does not diminish their capabilities in the least. The best confirmation is the 1st degree State Prize for the creation of the Su-6, which was awarded to P. O. Sukhoi.
Some planes were underestimated, like Polikarpov's attack aircraft, and Sukhoi, in principle, too. But there were Ilyushin's planes that coped with the tasks assigned to them. Here lies the answer to the question posed. The Eli did the job that other planes could do. But it was absolutely not worth the risk in the course of the war. How they do not change horses at the crossing.
So the leadership of the USSR did not risk it either.
