One of the main tasks of the Il-2 armored attack aircraft, which was put into service at the beginning of 1941, was the fight against armored vehicles. For this, cannons of 20-23 mm caliber, rockets of 82-132 mm caliber and aerial bombs with a total weight of up to 600 kg could be used.
The experience of hostilities in the initial period of the Great Patriotic War showed a fairly high combat effectiveness of the Il-2 when operating against undisguised manpower, artillery and mortar positions, railway echelons and transport convoys.
The mechanized columns of Il-2 attack aircraft usually attacked from low-level flight (the height of approach to the target is 25-30 meters) along the column or at an angle of 15-20 degrees to its long side. The first blow was struck on the head of the column in order to stop its movement. The range of opening fire is 500-600 meters. Aiming was carried out "along the column in general" with tracer bullets firing from ShKAS machine guns. Then, taking into account the position of the track of the bullets relative to the target, fire was opened from the cannons and RS. The effectiveness of the IL-2 onboard fire against the targets that made up the columns (infantry in vehicles, armored vehicles, artillery, etc.) was quite high.
However, the 20-mm ShVAK and 23-mm VYa cannons available in the onboard armament could only effectively deal with light tanks, armored personnel carriers and armored vehicles.
In the course of hostilities, it turned out that the attacks of German light and medium tanks by Il-2 attack aircraft armed with ShVAK cannons along the column were completely ineffective due to the fact that the frontal armor of German tanks was 25-50 mm thick and the shell of the ShVAK gun did not penetrate.
Single-seat attack aircraft Il-2 of the early series, armed with 20-mm ShVAK cannons and 7, 62 mm ShKAS machine guns
Field tests of the ShVAK cannon when firing at captured German tanks, conducted on June 8-July 1942, showed that the armor-piercing shell of the ShVAK cannon can penetrate armor made of chromium-molybdenum steel with an increased (up to 0.41%) carbon content up to 15 mm thick (Pz tanks. II Ausf F, Pz.38 (t) Ausf C, armored personnel carrier Sd Kfz 250) at meeting angles close to normal from a distance of no more than 250-300 m. When deviating from these conditions, firing from the ShVAK cannon became ineffective.
So, with an increase in the angle of encounter of the projectile with the armor above 40 degrees, continuous ricochets were obtained even in areas of armor with a thickness of 6-8 mm. For example, out of 19 hits received when firing this gun at the Sd Kfz 250 armored personnel carrier (approach altitude 400 m, gliding angle 30 degrees, opening distance 400 m), there were 6 through holes in the side (armor thickness 8 mm), 4 - in the roof of the engine hood (armor thickness 6 mm), 3 ricochets and 6 hits to the chassis. Hits into the chassis of significant damage to armored vehicles, as a rule, were not inflicted.
Destroyed German armored personnel carrier Sd Kfz 250
The appearance on the front since August of the 41st Il-2 attack aircraft with 23 mm VYa-23 cannons, although it increased the overall combat effectiveness of the assault air units, but not as much as we would like - the effectiveness of the modified Ilovs against the Wehrmacht armored vehicles remained low …
An armor-piercing incendiary 23-mm projectile of the VYa air cannon at a distance of 200 meters pierced 25-mm armor along the normal. Il-2, armed with VYa-23 cannons, could only defeat light German tanks, and even then when attacking the latter from behind or from the side at gliding angles up to 30 °. An IL-2 attack on any German tank from the front, both from gliding and from low-level flight, was completely ineffective, and German medium tanks - also when attacking from behind.
According to experienced pilots, the most convenient and effective shooting from an Il-2 aircraft from VYa-23 cannons at German tanks, in terms of orientation, maneuvering, time spent on a combat course, shooting accuracy, etc., was shooting from an angle 25-30 ° at a height of entry into planning of 500-700 m and an entry speed of 240-220 km / h (exit height - 200-150 m). The gliding speed of the single IL-2 at these angles increased slightly - by only 9-11 m / s, which allowed maneuvering for aiming along the sight and the track. The total target attack time (elimination of side slip when turning to the target, aiming and firing from the cannons) in this case was quite sufficient and ranged from 6 to 9 seconds, which allowed the pilot to make two or three sighting bursts based on the fact that Sliding an attack aircraft when turning on a target should take about 1.5-2 seconds, aiming and correcting the aiming between bursts also takes 1.5-2 seconds, and the burst length does not exceed 1 second (firing from VYa cannons is more than 1-2 seconds led to a significant violation of the aiming and to a sharp increase in the dispersion of shells, that is, to a decrease in firing accuracy). The range of the beginning of aiming at the tank was 600-800 m, and the minimum distance of opening fire was about 300-400 m.
In this case, it was possible to achieve multiple shells hitting the tank. It should be borne in mind that not all shells in the ammunition load were armor-piercing. And the angle of meeting with tank armor was often not optimal for penetration.
The firing accuracy of the RS-82 and RS-132 rockets included in the Il-2 armament made it possible to effectively hit area targets, but it was clearly insufficient to combat tanks.
Field firing with standard RS-82 and PC-132 rockets, carried out at the NIP AV Air Force KA, as well as the experience of the Il-2 combat use at the front, showed the low effectiveness of this type of weapon when acting on small targets due to the high dispersion of shells and, hence, low probability of hitting the target.
The average percentage of hits of the RS-82 in the tank of the aiming point when firing from a distance of 400-500 m, shown in the materials of the report, was 1.1%, and in a column of tanks - 3.7%, while only 7 out of 186 shells fired were received. direct hits. The height of the approach to the target is 100 m and 400 m, the gliding angles are 5-10 ° and 30”, respectively, the aiming range is 800 m. The shooting was carried out with single shells and a salvo of 2, 4 and 8 shells.
Rocket projectiles RS-82
During the firing, it turned out that the RS-82 can defeat German light tanks of the Pz. II Ausf F, Pz. 38 (t) Ausf C type, as well as the Sd Kfz 250 armored vehicle only with a direct hit.
A break in the RS-82 in the immediate vicinity of the tank (0.5-1 m) does not inflict any damage on it. The smallest probable deviation was obtained in a salvo of 4 RSs at a gliding angle of 30 degrees.
RS-82 under the wing of IL-2
The results of firing the PC-132 were even worse. The attack conditions were the same as when firing the RS-82, but the launch range was 500-600 m. The probable circular deviation in the range of the PC-132 at IL-2 gliding angles of 25-30 degrees was about 1.5 times higher. than for the PC-82, and for gliding angles of 5-10 degrees - almost the same.
To defeat a light and medium German tank with a PC-132 projectile, only a direct hit was required, since when a shell burst near the tank, the tank, as a rule, did not receive significant damage. However, it was very, very difficult to achieve a direct hit - of the 134 RS-132 shots fired in the field conditions by pilots with varying degrees of training, not a single hit was received on the tank.
Aviation rockets with armor-piercing warheads - RBS-82 and RBS-132 - were created specifically to combat tanks. Which, when hit along the normal, pierced 50-mm and 75-mm armor, respectively. These shells were created on the basis of the RS-82 and RS-132. In addition to the new warhead, the shells had a more powerful engine, thanks to this, the flight speed of the RS and the probability of hitting the target increased. As shown by field tests. RBS pierced tank armor and then exploded, causing severe damage to the inside of the tank. Armor-piercing RSs were successfully used in battles in August 1941. However, their mass production began only in the second half of the war. Despite the improved accuracy and armor penetration indicators, rockets never became an effective means of fighting tanks. Armor penetration was highly dependent on the angle of encounter with the armor, and the hit probability remained insufficient.
In the Il-2 arsenal, along with RBS-132 missiles, which had an armor-piercing warhead, the ROFS-132 missile was firmly entrenched by this time as a means of combating German armored vehicles with improved accuracy compared to RBS-132 or PC-132 shooting. The warhead of the ROFS-132 projectile ensured through penetration (with a direct hit) of the armor of medium German tanks.
ROFS-132 under the wing of IL-2
When the ROFS-132 burst near the tank at a distance of 1 m from it at an elevation angle of 30, the kinetic energy of the fragments was enough to penetrate German tank armor up to 15 mm thick. At an elevation angle of 60, the ROFS-132 rupture at a distance of up to 2 meters from the tank ensured the penetration of fragments of tank armor with a thickness of 30 mm.
If ROFS-132 directly hits the side of, for example, a Pz. IV (or into the side of the Jgd Pz IV / 70 tank destroyer), 30-mm armor penetrated, and the equipment and crew inside the tank, as a rule, were disabled. ROFS-132 hitting the Pz. IV led to the destruction of the tank.
Unfortunately, despite the increase in the accuracy of the ROFS-132 firing, their effectiveness when firing at tanks and other armored vehicles in dispersed battle formations, to which the Germans everywhere had passed by this time, was still unsatisfactory. ROFS-132 gave the best results when firing at large area targets - motorized columns, trains, warehouses, batteries of field and anti-aircraft artillery, etc.
In order to increase anti-tank capabilities, simultaneously with the launch of the Il-2 into mass production, work began on arming the attack aircraft with 37-mm ShFK-37 air cannons.
After passing state tests in October 1941, in the second half of 1942, in a small series of 10 pieces, a variant of the Il-2 armed with 37-mm ShFK-37 cannons was released.
The 37-mm ShFK-37 aircraft cannon was developed under the leadership of B. G. Shpitalny. The weight of the gun mounted on the Il-2 aircraft was 302.5 kg. The rate of fire of the ShFK-37, according to field tests, averaged 169 rounds per minute with an initial projectile speed of about 894 m / s. The gun ammunition included armor-piercing incendiary-tracer (BZT-37) and fragmentation-incendiary-tracer (OZT-37) shells.
The BZT-37 projectile provided penetration of German tank armor 30 mm thick at an angle of 45 degrees. to the normal from a distance of no more than 500 m. Armor thickness 15-16 mm and less, the projectile pierced at meeting angles of no more than 60 degrees. at the same distances. Armor 50 mm thick (frontal part of the hull and turret of medium German tanks) was penetrated by the BZT-37 projectile from distances of no more than 200 m at meeting angles not exceeding 5 degrees.
At the same time, 51.5% of the hits of the SHFK-37 cannon shells on a medium tank and 70% of hits on a light tank put them out of action.
Hitting 37-mm shells on rollers, wheels and other parts of the undercarriage of tanks inflicted significant damage on them, as a rule, incapacitating the tank.
In the report on field tests of the ShFK-37 cannons on the Il-2 aircraft, it was especially noted that the flight crew should be well trained in conducting aimed fire in short bursts (2-3 shells in a queue) against small targets such as a separate tank, car, etc. …That is, for the successful use of the IL-2 with the ShFK-37 cannons, the attack pilot had to have excellent shooting and flight training.
Large overall dimensions of the ShFK-37 cannons and store food (magazine capacity of 40 rounds) determined their placement in fairings under the wing of the Il-2 aircraft. Due to the installation of a large magazine on the cannon, it had to be lowered strongly relative to the wing construction plane (aircraft axis), which not only complicated the design of attaching the cannon to the wing (the gun was mounted on a shock absorber and moved with the magazine when firing), but also required it to be done for her fairings bulky with a large cross-section.
Frontline tests showed that the flight performance of the Il-2 with the large-caliber ShFK-37 air cannons, compared to the serial Il-2 with the ShVAK or VYa cannons, significantly decreased. The aircraft has become more inert and more difficult to fly, especially in turns and turns at low altitude. Maneuverability deteriorated at high speeds. The pilots complained about significant loads on the rudders when performing maneuvers.
Aimed firing from the ShFK-37 cannons on the Il-2 aircraft was largely difficult due to the strong recoil of the guns when firing and the lack of synchronization in their work. Due to the large spacing of the guns relative to the center of mass of the aircraft, as well as due to the insufficient rigidity of the mount of the gun mount, it led to the fact that the attack aircraft experienced strong shocks, "pecks" during firing and strayed from the aiming line, and this, in turn, taking into account the insufficient longitudinal stability "Ila", led to significant dispersion of shells and a sharp decrease (about 4 times) in the accuracy of fire.
Shooting from one cannon was completely impossible. The attack aircraft immediately turned towards the firing cannon so that it was not possible to introduce an amendment to the aiming. In this case, hitting the target could only be the first projectile.
During the entire test period, the ShFK-37 guns worked unreliable - the average percentage of ammunition shot per failure was only 54%. That is, almost every second sortie on an Il-2 combat mission with ShFK-37 cannons was accompanied by the refusal of at least one of the cannons. The maximum bomb load of the attack aircraft decreased and was only 200 kg. All this significantly reduced the combat value of the new attack aircraft. As a result, the installation of ShFK-37 cannons on the Il-2 aircraft did not find support from most of the combat pilots.
Despite the failure with the ShFK-37 air cannon, work on strengthening the Il-2's armament continued. First of all, this was due to the fact that by the spring of 1943, the only Wehrmacht armor targets with which the Ilys could still successfully fight using cannon armament were only light armored vehicles, armored personnel carriers, as well as self-propelled guns (such as “Wespe”, etc.) etc.) and anti-tank self-propelled guns (such as "Marder II" and "Marder III"), created on the basis of light tanks. By this time, there were almost no light tanks in the Panzerwaffe on the Eastern Front. They were supplanted by more powerful medium and heavy tanks.
IL-2 armed NS-37
In this regard, in order to improve the anti-tank properties of the Red Army assault aviation, by GKO Decree No. 3144 of April 8, 1943, the aircraft plant No. 30 was obliged to produce two-seat Il-2 AM-38f attack aircraft with two 37 mm 11 P-37 (NS-37) cannons OKB-16 with an ammunition load of 50 rounds per gun, without rockets, with a bomb load of 100 kg in the normal version and 200 kg in the overload version.
The belt feeding of the NS-37 guns made it possible to place them directly at the lower surface of the wing using a structurally very simple and quick-release mount. The cannons were closed with relatively small fairings, each of which consisted of two easily opening flaps. Ammunition for each cannon was stored directly in the wing compartments. The weight of one NS-37 cannon with ammunition was 256 kg.
Ammunition for the NS-37 cannon consisted of cartridges with armor-piercing incendiary-tracer (BZT-37) and fragmentation-incendiary-tracer (OZT-37) shells. Armor-piercing shells were intended to destroy ground-based armored targets, and fragmentation shells were intended to destroy air targets. In addition, a sub-caliber projectile was developed for the new gun. Compared to the ShFK-37, the NS-37 air cannon turned out to be more reliable and quick-firing.
On July 20, 1943, military tests of the Il-2 with two 37-mm NS-37 air cannons began, which continued until December 16. In total, 96 Il-2 attack aircraft with NS-37 were involved in military trials.
The deterioration of the aerobatic characteristics of the new attack aircraft, like the IL-2 with the ShFK-37 cannons, was associated with a large mass spread over the wingspan and the presence of cannon fairings, which worsen the aircraft aerodynamics. The IL-2 with NS-37 did not have longitudinal stability over the entire centering range, which significantly reduced the accuracy of firing in the air. The latter was aggravated by the strong recoil of the guns when firing from them.
Tests have shown that firing from an Il-2 aircraft from NS-37 cannons should only be fired in short bursts of no more than two or three shots in length, since when firing simultaneously from two cannons due to the asynchronous operation of the aircraft, the aircraft experienced significant pecks and was knocked off the aiming line. Aiming correction in this case was basically impossible. When firing from one cannon, hitting the target was possible only with the first shot, since the attack aircraft turned towards the firing cannon and the aiming correction became impossible. The defeat of point targets - tanks, armored vehicles, cars, etc. with normal operation of the cannons was quite achievable.
At the same time, hits on tanks were received only in 43% of sorties, and the number of hits to the spent ammunition was 2.98%.
Ammunition for small arms and cannon weapons of various modifications of the Il-2
According to the general opinion, the flight personnel flying the IL-2 from the NS-37, the attack aircraft, when attacking small targets, had no advantages over the IL-2 with smaller caliber guns (ShVAK or VYa) with a normal bomb load of 400 kg.
According to the results of military tests, the Il-2 armed with NS-37 cannons was not launched into the series.
Unfortunately, S. V. Ilyushin's proposal to create an aircraft machine gun chambered for a 14.5-mm anti-tank rifle, which had excellent armor-piercing properties, was not implemented on the basis of the VYa air cannon. This could significantly increase the ability to combat enemy armored vehicles. Created in the USSR at the end of the 30s, the 14, 5x114-mm cartridge was successfully used throughout the war in the anti-tank guns of the PTRD and PTRS. The BS-41 bullet with a metal-ceramic core fired from these guns had armor penetration along the normal: at 300 m - 35 mm, at 100 m - 40 mm.
Massive destruction of tanks from aircraft cannons, widely advertised in films and memoirs, in most cases refers to hunting stories. It is simply impossible to penetrate the vertical armor of a medium or heavy tank with a 20mm - 37mm aircraft cannon. We can only talk about the armor of the tank's roof, which is several times thinner than the vertical one and was 15-20 mm for medium tanks and 30-40 mm for heavy tanks. Aircraft guns used both caliber and sub-caliber armor-piercing shells. In both cases, they did not contain explosives, but only occasionally a few grams of incendiary substances. In this case, the projectile had to hit perpendicular to the armor. It is clear that in combat conditions, the shells hit the roof of the tanks at much smaller angles, which sharply reduced their armor penetration or even ricocheted. To this it must be added that not every shell that pierced the armor of a tank put it out of action.
From bomb armament, when operating against tanks, the best results were shown by 100 kg high-explosive bombs, fragments of which pierced armor up to 30 mm thick, when detonated 1-3 m from the tank. In addition, the blast wave destroyed welded seams and riveted joints.
High-explosive 50 kg and 25 kg fragmentation bombs ensured penetration of armor 15-20 mm thick when bursting in the immediate vicinity of the tank.
It should be noted that the accuracy of bombing from the Il-2 was not high. The attack aircraft was not adapted to a steep dive and did not have a special bomber sight. The PBP-16 sight, installed on attack aircraft in 1941, turned out to be practically useless with the then generally accepted practice of low-level strikes - the target ran in and out of sight too quickly for the pilot to have time to use this rather complex device. Therefore, in the front-line units, PBP-16, as a rule, was removed and until mid-1942 they aimed "by eye" - firing a machine-gun burst at the target and turning the plane depending on where the route lay (and dropping bombs according to the time delay). horizontal flight from heights of more than 50 m in the fall of 1941 they began to use sighting marks applied to the windshield of the cockpit canopy and the hood of the aircraft, but they were inconvenient to use, and most importantly, did not provide the required bombing accuracy.
Azh-2 ampoules with self-igniting liquid KS turned out to be quite effective.
In the cassette of small bombs Il-2 contained 216 ampoules, while the probability of defeat was quite acceptable.
When hit on the tank, the ampoule was destroyed, the liquid of the KS ignited, if it flowed into the tank, then it was impossible to extinguish it. However, the pilots of the KS ampoule did not like it, since their use was associated with a high risk. A stray bullet or shrapnel threatened to turn the plane into a flying torch.
The most effective anti-tank weapon of Soviet attack aircraft was a special anti-tank bomb PTAB-2, 5-1, 5 of cumulative action developed at TsKB-22 under the leadership of I. A. Larionov.
The action of the new bomb was as follows. When it hit the tank's armor, a fuse was triggered, which, through a tetril detonator bombs, caused a detonation of the explosive charge. During detonation of the charge, due to the presence of a cumulative funnel and a metal cone in it, a cumulative jet was created, which, as shown by field tests, pierced armor up to 60 mm thick at an angle of meeting 30 ° with subsequent destructive action behind the armor: defeat of the tank crew, initiation of ammunition detonation, as well as ignition of fuel or its vapors.
The minimum height, ensuring the alignment of the bomb before it meets the surface of the tank's armor and the reliability of its action, was 70 m.
The bomb loading of the Il-2 aircraft included up to 192 PTAB-2, 5-1, 5 aerial bombs in 4 clusters of small bombs (48 pieces in each) or up to 220 pieces with their rational bulk placement in 4 bomb compartments.
When the PTAB was dropped from a height of 200 m from level flight at a flight speed of 340-360 km / h, one bomb fell into an area equal to an average of 15 sq. sq. m, which ensured almost guaranteed defeat of any Wehrmacht tank located in this zone.
The adoption of PTAB for some time was kept secret, their use without the permission of the high command was prohibited. This made it possible to use the effect of surprise and effectively use new weapons in the battle of Kursk.
On the very first day of the battle on the Kursk Bulge, July 5, 1943, the Red Army Air Force first used cumulative anti-tank aerial bombs PTAB-2, 5-1, 5. Pilots of the 2nd Guards and 299th Assault Air Divisions were the first to test new aerial bombs. -th VA, acting against German tanks in the area of Art. Maloarkhangelsk-Yasnaya Polyana. Here enemy tanks and motorized infantry carried out up to 10 attacks during the day.
The massive use of PTAB had a stunning effect of tactical surprise and had a strong moral impact on the enemy. German tankers, however, like Soviet ones, by the third year of the war were already accustomed to the relatively low effectiveness of air assault strikes. At the initial stage of the battle, the Germans did not use dispersed marching and pre-battle formations at all, that is, on the routes of movement in columns, in places of concentration and at their starting positions, for which they were severely punished - the flight path of the PTAB blocked 2-3 tanks, one distance from the other at 60-75 m, as a result of which the latter suffered significant losses, even in the absence of the massive use of IL-2. One IL-2 from a height of 75-100 meters could cover an area of 15x75 meters, destroying all enemy equipment on it.
On average, during the war, the irrecoverable losses of tanks from aviation actions did not exceed 5%, after the use of PTAB, in certain sectors of the front, this figure exceeded 20%.
Having recovered from the shock, the German tankers soon switched exclusively to dispersed marching and pre-battle formations. Naturally, this greatly complicated the control of tank units and subunits, increased the time for their deployment, concentration and redeployment, and complicated interaction between them. In the parking lots, German tankers began to place their vehicles under trees, light mesh sheds and install light metal nets over the roof of the tower and hull.
The effectiveness of Il-2 strikes with the use of PTAB decreased by about 4-4.5 times, while remaining, nevertheless, on average 2-3 times higher than with the use of high-explosive and high-explosive bombs.
In this regard, the following two variants of bomb loading of Il-2 attack aircraft during the action of the latter against enemy tanks took root in the combat units of the Spacecraft Air Force. When the blow was applied to large tank groups, the Ilys were fully equipped with PTABs, and during attacks of tanks directly supporting the infantry on the battlefield (that is, in dispersed battle formations), a combined ammunition load was used, by weight consisting of 50% PTAB and 50% FAB -50 or FAB-100.
In those cases when German tanks were concentrated in a relatively dense mass over a small area, each pilot took aim at a medium tank. Aiming was carried out along the side point at the time of entering the dive, with a turn of 25-30 °. PTABs were dropped at the exit from a dive from a height of 200-400 m in two cassettes, with the calculation of overlapping the entire group of tanks. In low cloud cover, bombing was carried out from a height of 100-150 m from level flight at an increased speed.
When the tanks were dispersed over a large area, the attack pilots took aim at individual tanks. At the same time, the height of the PTAB-2, 5-1, 5 drop at the exit from the dive was slightly less - 150-200 m, and only one cartridge was consumed in one pass.
Combat experience showed that the loss of tanks, on average 15% of their total number subjected to attack by attack aircraft, was achieved in those cases when for every 10-20 tanks a detachment of forces was allocated about 3-5 groups of IL-2 (6 vehicles in each group), which acted sequentially one after the other or two at a time.
At the end of 1944, the Il-10 attack aircraft with the AM-42 engine, which had higher flight data than the Il-2, was launched into mass production.
But in terms of the armament complex, the Il-10 had no advantages over the Il-2. It was less durable, suffered from a mass of "childhood illnesses", and did not have much influence on the course of hostilities.
Among the military professions of the Great Patriotic War, the profession of an attack pilot was one of the most difficult and dangerous.
The attack aircraft had to work in the most difficult conditions - over the battlefield, at low altitude, where the plane was extremely vulnerable. It was at the fight against Soviet attack aircraft that numerous small-caliber anti-aircraft artillery guns were primarily directed, for the German Ily fighters they were also priority targets. How dangerous this profession was can be judged by at least the following fact - at the beginning of the war, the title of Hero of the Soviet Union was awarded in just 25-30 combat sorties for ground attack. Then, after 1943, the number of sorties was increased to 80 flights. As a rule, in the assault aviation regiments, which began to fight in 1941, by the end of the war not a single veteran remained - their composition was completely changed. Without a doubt, it was on the shoulders of the pilots of the famous Soviet Il-2 aircraft that the heaviest burden among other aviators fell.
