The Great Ilyushin. Aircraft Designer No. 1

To mark the 120th anniversary of the genius of aviation! The most complete creative biography of the great aircraft designer—whose legendary Il-2, as Stalin said, “was needed by our Red Army like air, like bread.”

The true story of all of S. V. Ilyushin’s projects—both military and civilian—from the first experimental models of the 1930s to modern airliners.

Few designers manage to create more than one truly legendary aircraft worthy of entering the “major leagues” of world aviation. In Ilyushin’s design bureau, there are more than a dozen such masterpieces.

The unmatched Il-2 is rightly considered the best ground-attack aircraft of the Second World War; the Il-4 is an outstanding bomber; the Il-28 is the “pride of Soviet aviation industry”; and the military transport Il-76 has been in service for 40 years!

Not less impressive are the triumphs of the honored design bureau in civil aviation—“Ilyushin’s lorries” successfully competed with the best foreign airliners; four aircraft bearing the Ilyushin name were chosen by Soviet leaders; and the Il-96 still remains the “Board No. 1” of Russian presidents to this day.