Shturmovik Rebuilt Under Radar

[Aviation History Magazine]

Russia's Aviarestoration has restored an Ilyushin Il-2 Shturmovik.


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[Centurion40]

Nice!

[Blackcloud6]

Very cool!

[Johnny_BoomBoom]

Good job, looks great!!!

[MonsterZero]

At some point in 1944 the Soviet production was in full swing and the VVS were receiving 1,000 pristine IL-2s per month.

Even 1,000 per month was barely enough to replace permanent losses.

Gives you an idea of the numbers shot down or damaged so badly they had to be written off.

IL-2 crews were not Top Gun jockeys, they were martyrs.

To make matters harder for the Soviets, the training of Sturmovik pilots was very difficult due to the nature of the job and low altitude flying where pilots risked hitting ground obstructions, not just enemy fire.

[nikolas93TS]

MZ,you should have first checked the sources before writing such inflated numbers.

Even by German most optimistic claims,you are getting well over 5000 planes shoot down in single year.

Generally quoted figures say 1 Il-2 lost for each 26 missions flown in 1943 for example,while overall statistics for entire was 1 plane loss each 53 missions.Ratio of shoot down and constructed planes is roughly 1:3,however most of them were not permanent losses (generally I read 7-8 out of 10 planes could be repaired,given the relatively low speed and altitude on which they were flown crash was not always catastrophic..and yeah I know,wow).

To give you the idea,statistic include first two years of combat.It was not safest plane to fly,but given the condition in which it operated,it performed fairly good.

[G David Bock]

Another reason for me to get by and see Paul Allen's collection. The majority of the aircraft are in flyable condition and flown regularly.
http://flyingheritage.com/TemplateHome.aspx?contentId=1

[101combatvet]

I wonder how many of these birds are flying these days?

[G David Bock]

Originally Posted by 101combatvet

I wonder how many of these birds are flying these days?

From the article linked in the OP, one;

The most recent phoenix to launch skyward from such a workshop is the world's only airworthy Ilyushin Il-2—the legendary Soviet World War II "flying tank," the Shturmovik.