Ilnrshinn-28 r

Beagle
G\

LIGHTATTACI( BOMBER

--r;mfu_,F

Yeftm Gordon and Dmitriv Komissarov

Airlife

Copyright@2002YefimGordonandDmitriy Komissarov First published in theUK in 2002 by Airlife Publishing Ltd British Library Cataloguing-in-Publication Dota A catalogue recordfor this book is available from theBritishLibrarv ISBN I 84037 3512 All rightsreserved. No part of this bookmaybereproducd or transmittedin any form or by anymeans, electronicor mechanical photocopying, including recording or by any information storage andretrieval system, without permission from thePublisher in writing. Thisbook contains rare,earlycolourphotographs andthe Publisherhasmadeeveryendeavour to reproduce themto the highestquality. Some, however, havebeentechnically impossible to reproduce to the standard that wenormally demand, but have been included because of their rarity and interest value. Typeset by Rowland Phototypesetting Limited, Bury St EdmundgSuffolk Printedin Hong Kong

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AcTNowLEDGEMENTS

The authors wish to express their gratitude to Nigel Eastwayof the RussianAviation Research Trust (RART), who, asusual,providedassistance with photosfrom his extensive archive;to Sergey Komissarovwho also suppliedseveralpreviouslyunpublishedphotos; to Andrey Yurgensonfor the line drawingsand sergeyYershovfor the excellent colour sideviews.

CoNTENTS

Introduction 1 Breedingthe Beagle 2 The Il-28 Family 3 The Beaglein Service 4 Beagles World-wide 5 The Il-28 in Detail Appendix I Acronymsand Glossary AppendixII Detail Plans Index

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IxrnoDUCTroN

ike the other Allied nations, the Soviet Union T was very active designing new types of I I-Jweapons and militarv technoloeiesin the early yearj after the SecondWorld War.-The advent of the turbojet engine affected first and foremost fighter design. Jet fighters enjoyed top priority, while jet bombers were in effect relegatedto second place,although the turbojet inevitably found its way to bombersas well. Having examinedGerman war booty aircraft and the state of Nazi Germany's aeronauticalresearch,US, British and Soviet aircraft designersreachedthe sameconclusion: indigenousjet designswere needed. Research in this field eventually led to masterpieces of aviation engineering, such as the North American F-86 Sabre and Mikoyan/Gurevich MiG-l5 (NATO code name Fagot) fighters, the English Electric Canberra bomber and, some time later, the Boeing B-52 Stratofortress, Tupolev Tu-16 Badger and Tu-95 Bear heavy bombers.(The latter is admittedly a turboprop aircraft; however, turboprops are gas turbine enginesas well, so the Tu-95 deserves mention, to o .) The well-known Soviet Ilyushin Il-28 tactical bomber can also be regardedas an extraordinary aircraft. Few jet fighters of the time could keep up with the Il-28 in terms of production. According to contemporarySovietmilitary strategy,conventionaland nuclearstrikesagainsttargets

in the enemy'stactical area were to be made by tactical (i.e. light) bombers. Development work on jet tactical bombers in the USSR was probably kicked off in 1945 by the design bureau led by Arkhip Mikhailovich Lyulka which was then working on the 1,300kgp (2,865lb st) TR-1 axial-flow turbojet - the first indigenous jet engine to reach the hardware stage.(Pre-war projects developed by Lyulka remained paper engines.The only other jets available to Soviet aircraft designers at the time were reverse-engineered versionsof the German turbojets the BMW 003 and JunkersJumo 004.) Jet bombers were under developmentat OKB156led by Andrey NikolayevichTupolev,OKB-240 led by SergeyVladimirovich Ilyushin and OKB-51 led by PavelOsipovichSukhoi. Even OKB-1 led by the German war booty designerBrunolf W. Baade joined the race.l Early studiesby Ilyushin in this direction resulted in the ll-22 (the first aircraft to carry this designation),r the first Soviet four-jet bomber. It had a circular-sectionfuselage,shoulder-mountedstraight wings, a conventional tail unit, a tricycle landing
I OKB = opl,tno-konstrooktorskovc by,uro experimental design bureau. The number is a code allocated lor security reasons. 2 The desi gnati on w as reusedmuch l ater fbr a purpose-bui l t ai rborne command post versi onof the Il - I 8D turboprop ai rl i ner (N A TO code name C oot; the Il -22 w as code-namedC oot-C ).

Thell-22 was the Ilyushin OKB's first jet bomber. Though not a successful design,lessonslearnedwith it accounted in a large degreefor the success of the I l-28. ( Sargc: tmtl Dnil.it Kontissarot urthiya )

l0 . lrvusHrNL-28 Bt,tr;tt

The experimental 'aircraft 71' (Tu-12) bomber which was a straightforward development of the Second World Warvintage Tu-2. ( Ycli,t, Gortkn urthitt,)

gear with a twin-wheel nose unit and large single mainwheels. The TsAGIT l-A-10 aerofoil was utilized on the inner wings and the TsAGI l-V- l0 aerofoil on the outer wings, with a 12 per cent thickness-to-chordratio in both cases.The four TR-l turbojets were carried almost entirely ahead of the wing leadingedgeon short horizontal pylons; this was a first in world jet aircraft design. All the bombs were to be carried internally,and the largest weapon carried by the ll-22 was a 3,000 kg (6,613 lb) bomb, which was also the aircraft's maximum ordnance load. The defensive armament comprised a pair of Berezin B-20E 20 mm (.78 calibre) cannon in an electricallypowered remote-controlled dorsal barbetteand a single 23 mm (.90 calibre) Nudelman/Sooranov NS-23 cannon in an ll-KU-3 tail turret designed in-house.' Another NS-23 cannon was mounted on the starboard side of the forward fuselage,firing forward. The five-man crew consisted of two nilots seated side by side in an extensively glazednose lreminiscent of the Boeing B-29 Superfortress),a navigator/bomb aimer, a gunner/radio operator who worked the dorsal barbette,and a tail gunner. According to the project the ll-22 was to have a range of 1,250 km (776 miles) with a 2,000 kg (4,409lb) nominal bomb load. The maximum takeoff weight was 24,000kg (52,910lb) and the neverexceedspeedwas set at 800 kmlh (432 kt), or Mach 0 .1 5 . Development and prototype construction proceeded extremely fast; piloted by two brothers, Vladimir and Konstantin Kokkinaki. the 11-22 made its maiden flight on 24 July 1947. However, tests quickly showed that its performance was clearly inadequate mainly because the engines. which suffered from teething troubles, had to be deratedto 940 kgp (2,072Ib st). Hence the MTOW had to be limited to 20,000 ke (44,091lb) for the manufacturer's flight tests.The range turned out to

be merely 865 km (537 miles) and the top speedat 7,000m (22,965ft) was 718 km/h (388kt) insteadof the required 800 km/h. Hence the Ilyushin OKB chosenot to submit the aircraft for State acceptance trials; all further developmentwork was discontinued and the sole prototype was relegated to the Bureau of New Hardware (a division of the Ministry of Aircraft Industry), where it could be studied by leading industry experts.The Il-22 was no more than a stepping stone to more efficient designs. Meanwhile, Tupolev came up with the Tu-77 experimentalbomber (aka Tu-12), a heavilymodified Second World War-vintage Tu-2 with two turbojets and a tricycle landing gear, and later the Tu-73iTu-78iTu-81/Tu-89family. The last aircraft in the serieswas eventually to see limited production and serviceas the Tu-14 (NATO code name Bosun). The German team led by Baade refined the Junkers EF l3l project which culminated in the Type 140, an experimental bomber with forward-swept wings. Sukhoi built a prototype of the Su-10 four-jet light bomber, but it was scrappedwithout ever being flown when OKB-51 was dissolvedin 1949.There was yet another contendeq Vladimir Mikhailovich Myasischchevwith his VM-24 (aka RB-17) fourturbojet bomber project. However, it never materialized becauseMyasischchevwas out of favour with Soviet leaderJosef Stalin and consequentlyhis projects receiveda thumbs-down at the time. This was basically the situation in which the Il-28 was born the Soviet Union's first operational jet bomber, which entered service with the YYS (Voyennovozdooshnyye seely [Soviet] Air Force) in 1949.
3 TsAGI = Tsentrahl'n!y aero- i ghidrodinamicheskiy institoot Central Aerodynamics & Hydrodynamics Institute, named after Nikolay Yegorovich Zhukovskiy. 4 KU stands l'<trkournvayu fstrelkovayal oostunovku tail barbette.

BngprING THE Ba,qcm

Il-28 projectwas conceived f[lh. in late 1947. year On 3l October that Sergey V. Ilyushin I wrote to the then Minister of Aircraft I Industry,Nikolay A. Bulganin,proposingatactical bomber poweredby two Rolls-Royce Nene I centrifugal-flowturbojets, with a first flight datetentativelysetfor July 1948. This tight schedule wasdue in no smallpart to the experience accumulated with the Il-22 which would allow the new bomberto be quickly.The objective developed was to achieve a performance far superior to that of thell-22and the projectedtl-24 bomber (againthe first aircraft to use this designation).r This was made possibleby reducing the crew and rethinking the defensive armament concept. The Il-28'sgeneral arrangement wassimilarto its predecessor's. However, the aircraft was rather smaller and differed in a number of important respects. This was because of the new bomber's higherspeed anddifferentservice conditions: unlike the ll-22, the Il-28 was designed to operate mainly from tacticalairfields with unpaved strips. The crew was reducedto three - pilot, navigator/bombaimerand tail gunner/radio operator. The decision to eliminate the co-pilot and forwardgunner was dictatedfirst of all by the limited mission time of a tactical bomber. At a cruising speedof 650-750 km/h (361*416 kt) a sortiewould typically last 2 or 2.5 hours - four hours at the most. An autopilotwouldbeinstalled to ease thepilot'sworkload duringcruise. The armament would probablybestbe described now, because the Il-28 was,as one Russian writer put it, 'designed aroundthe tail'- or, to be precise, the tail turret.Trialsof thell-22 had shownthat the remote-controlled dorsal barbette was inefficient because the tail unit createdlarge blind sectors. Also, the gunner'sstation was locatedwell away from the barbette; hence someareas wherethe cannon could be brought to bear on the target were concealed from the gunner's view by the wingsand fuselage.Various armament arrangements were studied. Eventually theengineers decided that a single tail turret offeredadequate protectionagainst enemyfighter attacks from the rear hemisphere, providingthe traversing/elevating angleand speed of the cannonwereincreased and the bombermade appropriate defensive manoeuvres. Besides, the use of only a single tail turretreduced emptyweightand improvedaerodynamic efficiency. Yet designing a new tail turret turned out to be quite a challenge; the engineers had to meet stringentspecifications whilekeeping the unit'sweightto a minimum.The Il-22'stail turret turned out to be too sluggish; a newpowerdriveand remotecontrol systemhad to be developed. The result was the - originallymounthighlyeflicientIl-K6 ball turret2 ing the same NS-23 cannon which were later replacedby Nudelman/Richter NR-23s with 225 rpg. The new weapons had the samecalibrebut a muchhigherrateof fire (850roundsperminuteversus550rpm for the earliermodel). The Il-K6 wasthefirst Soviet electrohydraulically powered remote-controlled turret; it had a traversing angleof +70oand an elevating angleof +60oto -40o.In normalmodethecannonmovedat a rateof 15-17"per second, the motion increasing to up to 36o per secondin boost (emergency) mode. The powerdriveenabled theturretto operate adequately at airspeeds in excess of 1,000km/h (555 kt). At 340kg (7501b), the turretwasrelatively lightweight. By comparison, the DK-3 turret usedon the Tu-4 Bull bomber (a reverse-engineered Boeing B-29) had traversing and elevating anglesof only +lQ', whileweighing nearly390kg (8601b). The power drive of the Il-K6 turret was built around an unorthodoxswivellinghydraulicpump unit driven by two 5 kW electricmotors.The output of thepumpsand hence themotion speed of the cannondepended on the angleat which the pump unit wastilted;with thepump unit in a neutralposition the turret remained motionless. This made it possible to dispense with slidevalves, reservoirs and other unreliable components, resultingin a simple and safehydraulicsystem. The ammunitionboxes werebuilt into the bodv of the turret. allowinsthe
I A derivative of the Il-22 powered by four 3,300 kgp (7 ,275lb st) Mikulin AM-TKRD-01 turbojets and equipped with an Il-KU-4 twin-cannon tail turret. The desisnation was laler reusedfor the Il-24N long-range ice reconna-issance aircraft - another spin-off of the Il-18D. 2 Once again, K stands for kormovaya strelkovaya oostanovka - tail barbette.

l2 . Ir-vusnrN Ir-28 Bntcrc. customary belt feed and tightening mechanismsto be dispensedwith, which again made for higher reliability. The turret was electricallycontrolled by means of potentiometrictracking a highly reliableand precise system. Targeting was done by a computing gunsight which automatically made adjustmentsfor the target's motion, shell velocity and trajectory, cannon traversing angle, flight altitude and airspeed. The sight receivedfeedback from the turret to minimize miscoordination between the two. Thus, miscoordinationin the horizontal planewas threetimes lessthan the limit setby generaloperationalrequirementsof the time. The Il-28 also featured two fixed forward-firing NR-23 cannon with 100rpg installedon both sides mounts. These were of the nose on quick-release fired by the pilot and could be removed by simply disconnecting an electrical connectorand turning a locking lever. The decisionto useonly a singlepower turret and to reduce the crew to three enabled the designers nearly3.5 m ( I l ft 5.79in.) make the Il-28'sfuselage shorter than that of the ll-22 and reducewing area by 13.7m1 (147.3sq. ft), which led to a significant reductionin empty weight. Hencethe secondmajor difference was the powerplant. The basic projected size and weight allowed the new bomber to be powered by two Rolls-Royce Nenes rated at 2,270 kgp (5 ,0 0 0l b s t ) . The Nene, which entered licence production in the USSR rn 1947 as the Klimov RD-45,r had by then reached a high degree of reliability and boasted a 25-30 per cent lower specific fuel consumption as compared to the TR-1. On the other hand, a major drawback of this engine was its large diameter, caused by the centrifugal compressor. This, and the necessityto keep the air intakes as far away from the ground as possible in order to avoid foreign-objectdamage(FOD) - a must sincethe aircraft was to operate from dirt airstrips led the in nacelles to mount the engines adhering designers directly to the lower surface of the wings (i.e. without pylons). For centre-of-gravity reasons the engines were located well forward in the nacelles.Thus, the large diameter of the engine'scompressor and the small jetpipe allowed the main gear units to be relocated from the fuselage to the engine nacelles,giving a wide track which was a bonus on semi-prepared strips. The shock struts were attached to the nacelles'main frames,and as they retracted forward the single mainwheelsturned through 90' by means of a simple mechanical link to lie flat in the bottom of the nacellesbeneaththe jetpipe (behind the combustion chambers). Incidentally, here the Ilyushin the landing OKB made a virtue out of necessity: gear struts were noticeably longer than on thell-22, giving a large ground clearanceunder the fuselage and easing the bomb-loading procedure. ln contrast, the 11-22had a very small ground clearance, needing to be jacked up when 2,500 kg (5,51I lb) and 3,000kg (6,613lb) bombs werehooked up. To meet the high speed requirementthe Il-28's wings employed a new TsAGI SR-5S high-speed aerofoil developedunder the guidance of Yakov M. Serebriyskiy and Maria V. Ryzhova - again with a 12 per cent thickness-to-chord ratio. This enabled the bomber to reach a maximum speed of Mach 0.82 at 7,000-8,000m (22,965 26,246 ft) without any adverseeffects on stability and control characteristics caused by shock wave formation. The provision of simpleslottedflaps assured the Il-28 good field performance. The high designspeeds calledfor a swepttail unit which ensuredgood stabilityand handling throughout the speedrange.The tail unit employed symmetrical aerofoil sections with a slightly higher thickness-to-chord ratio than that of the Il-22. The fin was swept back 4lo at quarter-chord,while the stabilizerswere sweptback 30"; this delayeddangerous Mach buffeting to a speed well above the aircraft's never-exceed speed. In addition, the sweepbackincreasedthe rudder and elevator arm, which allowed the area and weight of the tail surfacesto be reduced. One of the complaintsvoicedby the ll-22's pilots during flight testsconcernedthe flight deck glazing (which was blendedentirely into the nose contour ii laB-29). The curved glazing panels distorted the view and generated annoying reflections, and the heavy framework created numerous blind spots. Since the Il-28 would be flown by a single pilot, the engineersprovided him with a fighter-type cockpit bubble canopy with enclosedby a sideways-opening a bullet-proof windscreen.The extensivenose glazing was still there of necessity, but now the navigator/bomb aimer had the glazed nose all to himself. The crew was seatedin two pressurizedcompartments - one for the pilot and navigator/bomb aimer. the other for the gunner/radio operator. At low altitudes thesewere pressurizedby the slipstream;from 1,700m (5,580ft) upwards the compartments\r'ere sealedoff and pressurizedby engine bleed air via lllters.The pressurization systemwas combined u'ith the heating and ventilation systems.The cockpit

3 RD= reuktivnyy dvigutal' jetengine

BngpotNc tne Bo,lcm.13

and navigator's compartment were equipped with upward-firing ejection seats;ejection was triggered byjettisoning the canopy or entrance hatch respectively. The gunner baled out via the ventral entrance hatch; the hatch cover doubled as a shield protecting him from the slipstream. As had been the case with the Il-22, the ll-28's wing panels and tail surfaceshad a manufacturing joint running along the chord line. Each half of the unit consistedof a number of panels incorporating stringers and ribs. This allowed different panels to be manufactured simultaneously at different workstations while improving working conditions; noisy and labour-intensive manual riveting was replaced with high-quality machine riveting. The fuselagewas also designedin two halveswith a manufacturingjoint running the full length of it: it went together just like a plastic model kit! For the hrst time in Soviet aircraft production, al1structural members of the fuselage were readily accessible, allowing riveting and assembly operations to be mechanized and various internal equipment to be fitted quickly and efficiently. The fuselagewas also divided lengthwiseinto four sections, facilitating the installationof equipment in bays which would not be accessible once the structure was fully assembled. Finally, the fuselage had longitudinal recesses on both sidescovered by removableskin panels.These facilitated installation of all wiring and pipelines during manufacturing, as well as checking them and replacing faulty components in service.This feature reducedpre-flight check time and enhancedcombat efficiency. The slight weight penalty (about 4 per cent) incurred by the new technology more than paid off. The surface finish was significantly improved; labour intensity was cut by 25 30 per cent for production airframes and by 30-40 per cent for internal equipment installation. As a result, the twinjet bomber was hardly more complicated to build than a tactical fighter. Also, this allowed Ilyushin to avoid a problem which affected some early Soviet jets - the propensity to uncommanded bank at high airspeeds,called val'ozhka in Russian. (This problem, which had manifested itself on the Mikoyan/Gurevich MiG-9 Fargo and the MiG-15 Fagot-A, was caused by aerodynamic asymmetry causedby the wings having slightly different aerofoil sectionsbecauseof insufficiently high manufacturing accuracy.This structural asymmetry meant that the wings produced different amounts of lift; this was not critical at low speeds, but as airspeed increasedthe differencebecameappreciable.) The Ilyushin OKB had accumulated a lot of design and operational experience with hot air

de-icing systemsand put it to good use when working on the Il-28. The turbojet enginespowering the aircraft supplied lots of bleed air, enabling the engineers to quickly create the most efficient deicing systemof the time. This was the Soviet Union's first automatic hot air de-icing system;it was lightweight, reliable and simple to operate and had no parts disrupting the airflow This feature greatly improved the bomber's combat efficiency and flight safety in adverseweather - particularly becausethe relatively thin aerofoils used in the wings and tail unit made icing much more dangerous than in the caseof slower piston-enginedaircraft utilizing thick aerofoils. All-weather and night-flying capability was ensuredby the provision of a comprehensiveavionics and communications suite which enabled the crew to navigatethe aircraft and detect, identify and destroy ground targets without maintaining visual contact with the ground. The avionicssuite included an OSP-48instrument landing system(lLS) for use in instrument meteorological conditions (IMC). The ground part of the system included two range beacons, three marker beacons. communications radios and an HF or VHF radio direction finder to facilitate approach and landing in bad weather.The system'scomponents installed on the aircraft comprised an ARK-5 Amur (a river in the Soviet Far East; pronounced like the French word amour) automatic direction finder, an RV-2 Kristall (Crystal) low-altitude radio altimeter and an MRP-48 Dyatel (Woodpecker) marker beacon receiver.'The OSP-48 was fairly simple and had few components,which renderedthe ground part suitable for use on ud hoc tactical airfields (in truckmounted form). The aircraft was also equippedwith an AP-5 autopilot and an identification friend-orfoe (IFF) transponder. Unlike the Il-22, the Il-28's normal bomb load was 1,000kg(2,204lb); the maximum bomb load in overload condition remained the same at 3,000 kg (6,613lb). The bomb bay locatedin the centrefuselage featured four bomb cassettesand one beamtype bomb cradle.The former could carry bombs of 50-500 kg (110 1,102 lb) calibre, while the latter was designed for bombs weighing from 1,000 to 3,000 kg (2,204-6,612 lb). In visual meteorological conditions (VMC) the navigator/bomb aimer used an OPB-5S optical
4 OSP = oboroodovaniye slepoyposahdki-blind landingequipment; ARK = avtomaticheskiy rahdiokompas - ADF; RV = rahdiovysotomer radio altimeter; MRP = rzarkemy-y rahdiopreeyomnik. The MRP-48 has also been designated Khrizantema (Chrysanthemum) in some sources.

lt-28 Br,tcr.r-. 14 . Ir-vusurN pritsel bontburdirovochnyy) bomb sight (opticheski): which enabled him to take aim automatically at stationary and moving targets in level flight. Interestingly, the navigatorhad to leavehis ejection on a specialjump seat in the seat and sit sideways extremenoseon the starboardside to usethe sight. The OPB-5S computed the sighting angles and dropped the bombs automatically at the correct mechanism. moment by meansof an electricrelease to preventthe aircraft's The sightwas gyrostabilized manoeuvresfrom affecting bombing accuracyand linked to the autopilot, enabling the navigator to set the aircraft's course on its bombing run. In b y th e PS BN -M IMC . bom b- aim ingw a s a s s i s te d (pribor slapovrt search/bomb-aiming radar bontbomctahniyai nuvigahtsii- blind-bombing and navigationaldevice)with a 360' field of view. The just ahead of radar was located in the aft fuselage the gunner's station and enclosed by a flush dielectricfairing. craft was so strong that he decidedto carry on with the 11-28 and build a prototype at his own risk all the more so because the Soviet Air Force was in desperateneed of a tactical bomber meeting the stringent new requirements.(lt is worth noting here that Ghenrikh Vasilyevich Novozhilov, who succeeded Ilyushin as the OKB's head in 1970, started his career at the Ilyushin OKB by taking part in the preparationof the I1-28prototype'smanufacturing drawings.)The Il-28 was not officially included in the Ministry of Aircraft Industry's experimental aircraft constructionplan until l2 June 1948,when the Soviet Union's Council of Ministers issued directive No. 2052-804to this effect one month beforethe prototype was rolled out. Bearing no serial or even national insignia, the Nene prototype (poweredby authenticRolls-Royce turbojets imported from the UK) commenced ground tests at Moscow-Khodynka on 29 May 1948. On I July the aircraft was dismantled and Institutenamedafter truckedto the Flight Research Mikhail M. Gromov (LII Lyotno-issledovatel'skiy in.\titoot)in Zhukovskiy, south of Moscow, where most Soviet aviation OKBs had their flight test engineerin facilities. V. N. Boogaiskiywas assigned chargeof the flight tests. The company chief was as good as his word: the bomber took to the air for the first time on 8 July 1948 w i th Il yushi nOK B chi ef testpi l ot V l adi mi r K . Kokkinaki at the controls: N. D. Sorokin was the /light engincer(.sit' obviously the navigator) and was the radio operator.Kokkinaki B. A. Yerofevev

Taking a risk
SergeyV. Ilyushin approvedthe General Designers Il-28 advanceddevelopmentproject on l2 January 1948,giving the go-aheadto completea setof manufacturing drawings and start prototype constructhe tion. By then, however,Tupolev'sOKB-I56 SovietUnion's leadingauthority in bomber design had receivedan assignmentto design and build a similar jet-poweredtactical bomber. OK8-240 had Still, Ilyushin'sbelief in his airno suchassignment.

The Rolls-RoyceNene-poweredfirst prototype of the Il-28 was totally devoid of markings. Note the complex framework Gttrdon urchit,1 of the cockpit canopy and the flush installation of the navigation/bomb-aiming radar. r Yelim

BnssorNcrup Bt'tctp. 15

Tupolev's'aircraft 73',the three-enginedforerunner of the Tu-14 bomber; note the air intake andnozzleof the centre engine.This configuration was to change soon... ( yeJimGordonart.hive )

waspleased with the aircraft's handling,saying that the Il-28waseasyto fly, both duringtake-offand in cruise, and climbedwell. Speaking of serials, until the mid-1950s Soviet military aircraft had three- or four-dieit serial numbers. These positiie identiallowedmoreor less fication,sincethey tied in with the aircraft's constructionnumber- usuallythe lastoneor two digits of the batchnumberplusthe numberof the aircraft in thebatch. In 1955, however, (probablv the VVS switched for security reasons) to the currentsystem of two-digit tqctical codeswhich, as a rule, are simply the aircraft'snumberin the unit operating it, makingpositive.identification impossible. Three- or foui-digit tactical codes are rare and are usually *o.n by development aircraftonly,in whichcase theystill tiL in with the c/n or fuselage number(manufacturer's linenumber).. At the same time thestarinsisnia on the aft fuselagewere deleted,remaininsin the wings and vertical tail only. So far, hoieveq no Soviet Air Force Il-28swith pre-1955 serials related to the cin havebeenidentified.

5 The official title of Soviet OKB hearls. 6 On military transport aircraft, however, three-digit tactical codes do not relate to the c/n or l/n; they are the lisr three of the fiormer civil registration (many Soviet/RussianAir Force transports were,and still are, quasi-civilian). 7 PSR = porokhovaya startovaya raketa - solid-fuel rocket booster. 8 The Tu-73 was powered by two RR Nenes in wing-mounted nacellesand one RR Derwent V in the rear lusetie. On the otherwise identical Tu-78 these were replaced bv two RD_ 45Fs and one RD-500 respectively (rhe RD-500 was the licence-builtversion of the Derwent).

_ The Il-28 had good directional and lateral stability throughout its operational envelope. When properly trimmed the aircraft flew stably in level fligtLt even when the controls were released.Low-speed handling was quite good, with no tendencyto stall or spin. Straight and level flight with one dead engine was no problem either, the yaw being easily countered without excessive loads on the rudder pedals. The aircraft had good field performance and could operate from existing airbases and tactical airfields. At a normal gross weight of 17,220kg (37,9631b), the take-off run wasjust 560m ( l ,837ftj if the aircraft was fitted with two pSR-1500-15 ietassisted take-off (JATO) rocketsT with a l3-second burn time developing 1,600kgp (3,52j lb sr) each. The Il-28 could easily operate from dirt strips; in fact, the test pilots expressly recommended operating the bomber from dirt strips in order to prolong the tyres' servicelife. During manufacturer's flight tests the Nenepgwgled first prototype attained a top speed of 833 kmlh (462 kt) ar 5,000 m 06.404 fr). and reached Mach 0.79 ar 7.000 8.000 m (22,966 26,246ft). The test pilors reported that the aircraft behavednormally at thesespeedsand could go even faster if appropriate changes were made. Hence the OKB set about streamlinins the airframe and installing more powerful engines. The Tu-73 and Tu-78 trijet bomber prototypess were undergoing manufacturer's flight tests at the same.time.One day General Designer Andrey N. Tupolev saw the Il-28 prototype at the airfiel,Cof LII. Being, by many accounts, an ill-tempered person and a man w ho di d not careabout competi i i on

L-28 Be,tctz 16. f r-vusnrN (to say the least), Tupolev was openly scornful at first. 'Humph! Whose bastard child is this?' he asked the technicians working on the aircraft. However, after examining the competitor's product closelyand studying the specificationshe had a long talk with his aides,and it was easyto seethat he was very displeased.The reason for Tupolev's displeasure was obvious: on their jet bombers the Tupolev engineers had copied the defensive weapons arrangement of the piston-enginedTu-2, which led to excessivelylarge overall dimensions, an excesweight, not to sively large crew and henceexcessive mention the decidedly complex powerplant. The ultimate Tu-81 (Tu-14) and Tu-89 (Tu-14T) dispensedwith the centre engine and two remote-controlled gun barbettes in favour of a single tail gunner'sstation- inspiredby the Il-28, no doubt. On 30 December1948the secondprototype Il-28 powered by production RD-45F engines" entered flight test,againflown by Vladimir Kokkinaki. New models of tyres were tested concurrently with the aircraft itself, as the original ones were totally worn out after just ten landings on concretestrips.The best results were attained with tyres made of perlone, a synthetic rubber, which lasted for more than l00landings. Apart from the powerplant, the secondprototype differed from future production ll-28s in avionics and equipment fit. The aircraft was equipped with RSB-5 and RSU-10 radios, an SPUF-3 intercom, an MRP-46 marker beacon receiver,AFA-BA and AFA-33/50 or AFA-33/75 aerial cameras, two GSN-3000 generators,three sets of KP-14 breathing apparatus with 8-litre(l.76 imp. gal.) liquid oxygen bottles, an RUSP-4SILS, etc."' After the successful completion of the initial flight test programme, the second prototype was turned over to the Soviet Air Force Research Institute (NII VVS - Naoochno-issledovutel'skiy institoot voyenno-vozdooshnykh see[) for State acceptance trials, which lasted from February to was signed April 1949.The formal act of acceptance on 18 May. The specifications of the RD-45F-powered secattained at the State acceptance ond prototype 11-28 trials are detailedin Table 1.

trials attained in State acceptance secondprototype;specifications Table l. RD-45F-powered Length overall Height on ground Wing span Wing area Wing loading Power loading at sealevel Normal all-up weight Maximum all-up weight Fuel load at sealevel Top speed: ft) a t 5 ,750 6, 000m ( 18, 864 19, 685 m (32,808ft) at 10,000 Landing speed at sealevel Rate of climb: at 5,000m (16,404ft) ft) m (32,808 at 10,000 Time to height: 5,000m 10,000 m kt) 5,,0 0 0 m a n d 5 4 2 k m /h(293 at 20 ,0 0 0 k g T OW Range:

17.45 m (57ft 3 in.) i n.) 6.0m ( l 9 ft 8.22 m (70lt 4.48in.) 21.45 mr (653.76 sq.ft) 60.8 lb/ftr) 288kg/m' ( 1,400 3.38 kg/kgp(lb/lbst) 17,500 kg (38,s80 lb) lb) 20.000 kg (44,091 kg (13,888 l b) 6,300 kt)* 750km/h(405.4 kt) 843km/h(455.67 820km/h (443.24kt) 178 km/h(96.2 kt) (2,145 10.9 m/sec ftlmin) (1,633 ftlmin) 8.3m/sec (708ft/min) 3.6m/sec 8.6mi n 22.6min 1,8l 5km(l ,127mi l es) miles) 2,370 km (1,472 kg TOW, 10,000 m and 546km/h (295kt) at 20,000 4 hr 13min speed m cruising altitudeand 546km/h cruising Endurance at 10,000 ft)** m (2,132 1,150 m (3,713lt)1650 run Take-off ft)** 2,540 m (8,333 ft)/990m (3,248 Take-offdistance f0*** 1,730 m (5,678 Landing distance Notes: * (13,122lb/ft') strength limit. dynamic ft) owingto 2,'700kglm' m (5,741 limitedat altitudes up to 1,750 Speed {<* Without boosters/with JATO bottles. two PSR-1500-15 *'<*'With a 13,500 weight. kg(29,7621b) landing

BnpporNcrl:p Bo,qcrc. 17

Table2. Performance comparison between the Il-28 andTu-14 Tu-14 Empty weight,kg (lb)
All-up weight, kg (1b): normal in overload configuration maxlmum

It-28
(28,207) 12,795 (40,564) 18,400 (46,448) 21,069 (50,87s) 23,069

(32,936) 14,940

(46,296) 2r,000 (55,886) 25,350 (55,886) 25,350

Top speed at take-off power/normalAUW, km/h (kt): at 5,000 m (16,404 ft) at 10,000 m (32,808 ft) Top speed at take-off power/maximum AUW, km/h (kt): at S/L at 5,000 m (16,404 ft) at 10,000 m (32,808 ft) Service ceilingat normal AUW, m (ft) Maximum rangeat 10,000 m/normal AUW, km (miles) Take-off run, m (ft) Landing run, m (ft) Bombload,kg (lb): normal maximum

(4s6.7s) 84s
8l l (438.37)

8e3(482.7) (459.45) 850 (432.43) 800 8s7(463.24) (444.86) 823 (40,3s4) 12,300
(1,500) 2,415

(4r8.37) 774 (444.86) 823 (4r7.83) 773 n,200(36,745)

(1,782) 2,870

(3,937) 1,200 (3,609) I,100 (2,204) 1,000 (6,613) 3,000

(3,166) e65 (3,14e) 960 (2,204) r,000 (6,613) 3,000

Table2gives a performance comparison of the Il-28 and Tu-14.Note that the figuresstatedfor the Il-28 differ from thosein Table 1; however, in both cases they originate from official documents. A possible explanationis that different examples of the Beagle wereinvolved- or that whoeverpreparedthe comparativetable was not very honest,doctoring the figures to benefitthe Il-28. The T[-14 wasbeingtested concurrently; the Powers That Be wereto choosebetween the two, so that in effectIlyushinand Tupolevhad a flyoff, eventhough the term was unknown in the SovietUnion at the time.Hence the WS top brass wasin a turmoil; some of the generals and marshalslobbiedfor the Tu-14, which had somewhat longerrange,while otherssupportedthe Il-28, which wasmucheasier to build and operate. The discussion ragedon at ministeriallevel; the chief of NII WS denouncedthe Il-28 and strongly urged the Minister of Aircraft Industry Nikolay A. Bulganin, to give the go-aheadfor the Tu-14.Still, evenBulganinfailedto resolve the issue.

Finally, on 14 May 1949a specialcommission chairedby Stalin himself analysed the test results and compared the performanceof the two types. Accordingto llyushin, after examining the reports carefully and listening to his military advisers, Stalin picked the Il-28. Howeveq Ilyushin was requested to increase the speed of productionaircraft immediately to 900km/h (486kt) by re-engining the Il-28 with more powerfuland fuel-efficient Klimov VK-1 turbojets; Councilof Ministersdirective No. 1890-700 to this effect appeared on the sameday.(It makes you wonderif the pro-Ilyushin lobby had preparedthe directivein advance, foreseeing this victory!)The VK-1 wasa versionof the RD-45F upratedto 2,700kgp (5,950lb st). As a prize,Tupolevwasrequested consolation to develop a versionof the Tu-14(likewise powered by VK-ls) for the Naval air arm.

Definingandrefining
Building on the resultsof numerous wind tunnel tests at TsAGI, the Ilyushin OKB developednew enginenacelles for the productionVK-l-powered form of the Il-28. Unlike the prototypes'nacelles, which werebulgedaround the middle,the new ones weredistinctly area-ruled, the waistbeingnarrowest

9 F = forseerovannyy - tprated. l0 AFA = aerofotoapparaht - aircraft camera; KP = kislorodnyy preebor - oxygen equipment.

l8 . f lyusHrN L-28 Brrctr.

In designing the 'aircraft 8l', a derivativeof the '73'and '78'trijets which enteredproduction as the Tu-14, the Tupolev OKB clearly borrowed Ilyushin's defensivearmament concept employed on the Il-28. ( yalitrt Gorthtn urchiv1

where the wing sectionwas at its thickest.This significantly reduced harmful interference between wing and nacelle, especiallyat transonic speeds, resulting in a major improvement in the ll-28's performance.(As a point of interest,in the USA the area rule was formulated in parallel by R. Whitcomb, but did not find practical use until 1954, when Convair brought out the F-102 Delta Daggerinterceptor.) Other changeswere made after the initial flight tests and State acceptancetrials. The PSBN-M radar was relocated from the aft fuselageto a position immediately after the nosewheelwell in order to improveits operatingconditionsand enclosed by a teardrop-shapedradome. The rudder's horn balance was enlarged to reduce rudder forces. Some

minor changeswere made to the hydraulic system and the nosewheel steering actuator/shimmy damper. The fuselagefuel cellswere equipped with a nitrogen pressurizationsystemto reduce the danger of explosionif hit by enemyfire, enhancingsurvlvability. The angular cockpit windscreen of the prototypes gave way to a more streamlined one featuringan ellipticalTriplex windshieldand curved sidelights, and the frame of the hinged canopy portion was simplified by introducing a two-piece blown transparency. The navigator's glazing was also modified. The pre-production Il-28 powered by VK-ls commenced flight tests on 8 August 1949;the crew was the same as on the day of the type's maiden flight a year earlier. At a normal gross weight of

An uncoded pre-production Il-28 powered by Klimov VK- I enginesin area-ruled nacelles. This view illustrates well the sleeklines of Ilyushin'sjet bomber. / yt'Jint Gonton urchilc 1

BnEEotNc; tus Bt.tt;t.r,.19

.,r;r{}

T hree-qu arte rsre arview of t hes am eair c r af t , s howingt he Il - K 6 b a l l t u r r c t . t t t l i u r c i o r t h n u r t h i t t , )

18,400 kg (40,564lb), the aircraft had a top speedof 9 0 6 km / h ( 503k t ) at 4, 0 0 0m ( 1 3 ,1 2 3 ft). T h e p i l o ts noted the aircraft was stableat any speed;control forcescould be trimmed down easily.At the maxirnum allowedspeedof Mach 0.78the back pressure on the control column gradually increased; then, if clevator trim remained unchanged, the load reversed" the control column would move forward and the aircraft would tend to go into a dive. If elevator trim was selected up, the aircraft could reach Ma ch 0. 81or 0. 82.but th i s c a u s e d s e v e re Ma c h b u fl-et,warning the pilot to slow down. The production-standardIl-28'stop speed at variousaltitudesis indicatedin Table 3.

W i th a 1.000 kg (2,204l b)normal bomb l oad and a 21,000kg(46,296Ib)MTOW the Il -28 had a maxrmum range of 2,455 km (1,525 mi l es) and w as generally superior in performance to the pistonenginedTu-2 which was the mainstayof the VVS's tacticalbomber forceat the timc. On 24 A ugust 1949 thc producti on-standard VK-l-powered aircraft was handed over fbr State acceptance trials and passed thcm with l1ying col ours. On l 6 S eptemberthe S tate C ommi ssi on recommended that production be startedforthwith, and so it was.Starting in September1949,it entered production at three major aircrafi l'actories: No. 30 Znamya truda (Banner of Labour. pronounced

Table 3. Production-standard ll-28's top speeds at variousaltitudes Indicatedairspeed at cruisepower at lull military power Mach number at cruise power at tirll military powcr

sea level 4 .5 0 0 m ( 14, 763it ) 5.250 m (17.224 fI) 8.000 m (26.246 fI) I 2,000 m (39.370 ft)

786km/h (424.86 kt) 846km/h (457.29 kt) 848km/h (4 s 8 .3 k 7t) 837km/h (452.43 kt) 7 1 0k m /h (3 8 3 .7k 8t)

800km/h (4 3 2 .4k 3t) 900km/h (4 8 6 .4k 8t) 897km/h (4 8 4 .8k 6t) 876km/h (4 7 3 .5k 1t) 805km/h (4 3 5r.5 k t)

0.642 0.73 0.738 0.7 59 0.67

0.655 0.776 0.782 0.19 0.75'.7

20 . Irvussrx lL-28 BEAGLE

Individualfactory construction number systems 1: 4 Red,c/n 50301 106: System 50 30 II 06 yearof manufacture (1950); = MoscowMachinery Plant(MMZ) No. 30; batchnumber; numberof aircraftin the batch(up to 100?).

The c/n is stencilled on the fuselage noseand sometimes underthehorizontaltail aswell. System 8: unknown, cln43051230l:. 4 30 5I 23 0l 5 3 Q 051 12 in-houseversiondesignator: izdelie (product)4 = Il-28R; = M M ZN o.30; yearof manufacture ( 195 I ); batchnumber; numberof aircraft in the batch. (product) 5 = Il-28, izdeliye in-houseversiondesignator: izdeliye 6 = ll28U; yearof manufacture (1953); = MMZ No. 30 (thefirst digit is omittedfor security reasons to confuse would-be spies); batchnumber; numberof aircraftin the batch(up to 100?).

System I I 2: 3: I 2 Red,c/n 53005

The c/n is sometimes noseand underthehorizontaltail. stencilled on the fuselage System4: l84Black,c|n5901207: 5 9 012 07 System 5: codeunknown, c/n 6450301: 64 50 3 0l System 6: 0l Red,c1n2402101: 2 y', 021 0l yearofmanufacture(1955); - Irkutsk aircraftfactoryNo. 39 (thefirst digit is omittedfor security reasons): batchnumber; numberof aircraft in the batch. factorynumber(Voronezh aircraftfactory); yearof manufacture (1950); batchnumber; numberof aircraftin the batch. (1952); yearof manufacture = Voronezhaircraft factory No. 64 (the first digit is omitted for security reasons): batchnumber; numberof aircraftin the batch.

The c/n is sometimes stencilled on thefin or underthehorizontaltail. System 7: unknown,c/n 0416601: 04 166 0l 5 66 057 02 batchnumber; factory number(Omsk aircraft factory); numberof aircraftin the batch. yearof manufacture (1955); = Omsk aircraft factory No. 166(the first digit is omitted for security reasons): batchnumber; numberof aircraft in the batch.

System 8: 33 Red,c|n56605702:

The c/n is sometimes stencilled underthe horizontal tail.

BnEEorNc rse.Bntctt .21

gt 1
t

=:i---fr
;#* u
i.l4&**

a;;
- ' - Y3-

.-

-'

-'

'--!

;iif

T h e l l -2 8 r v as built by s ev e ra l S o v i e ta i rc ra ftfa c to ri e s .Thesetw o B eagl es,26B l ueand2TB l ue,w eremanufacturedbyth MoscowMachineryFactoryNo. 30;the formeraircraftcarries thecln 55006424 on the nose. c,rttrnurthi,t,) / yt,lirtt

troodah) znahmya at Khodynka airfield right in the centreof Moscow, No. 64 in Voronezh and No. 166 in Omsk- started gearing up to build the Il-28.A fourth factory, No. 39 in lrkutsk,alsobeganIl-28 production shortlyafterwards (seenext chapter).rl Each factory had its own constructionnumber system(s), explained on page 20: After the type's first publicappearance at the 1950 May Day parade in Moscow, NATO's Air

Standards Co-ordinating (ASCC) iniCommittee tially allocated the codenameButcher to the Il-28. However, this was promptly changed to Beagle to avoidconfusion with the TupolevTu-16medium bomber, whichwascode-named Badser.

ll

S ome sourcesstate the Il -28 w as al so bui l t by pl ants N o. I, N o. l 8 (both i n K ui byshev,now S amara)and N o.23 i n Fi l i , then a suburb of Moscoq but this appearshighly unlikely.

2.
Tup Ir-28 FaurY
ll-28 Beagle bomber basic bomber version was built in Moscow, Voronezhand Omsk; the first proI I duc t ion air c ra ft l e ft th e Mo s c o w p ro d u c ti o n line in March 1950.The aircraft was built in huge numbers(no fewer than 6,316copiesof all versions were built in the USSR alone in 1950 5!), becoming one of the most prolific types in servicewith the VVS. MMZ No. 30 in Moscoq which was the main manufacturerof the type,turned out more than 100 aircraft per month at peak periods. Various improvements were introduced in the courseof production.Among other things,the Il-28 receivedmore effectiveformation lights for stationkeeping during flights of bomber formations at night. The cockpit windshield receivedan electric de-icingsystem, and hot air de-icingwas introduced on the engineair intake leadingedges. Optically flat windshield sidelightswere tested (probably on an uncoded examplewith the cln 52005714) in an effort to reducedistortionsand improvecockpit visibility, but this feature was apparently not fitted to standard production aircraft. l-flh. Four shut-off valves were introduced in the fuel system to seal off a punctured tank in the event of battle damage, preventing loss of fuel (eventually the Beaglegot self-sealing fuel tanks, which theoretically took careof the problem).Fuel cell No. 3 was divided into cells Nos. 3,A and 3B; the capacity of these cells was carefully calculated in order to preserve the CG position as the fuel was burned off, obviating the need for fuel transfer. (Note: Some sourcesclaimed that the CG shift problem associated with fuel burn-off was still there and was,in fact, the Il-28'sonly major shortcoming which was never eliminated,because of the lack of an automatic fuel transfer systemmaintaining CG position. Sincethe forward fuel cellsaccommodated more fuel than the rear fuel cells. the ll-28's CG gradually shifted forward. This was especially unwelcome during landing;the pilot had to keepan eye on the fuel meters and activate the fuel transfer pump at the right moment. The pump worked slowly,and as the pilot had to concentrate on flying the aircraft during the landing approach he often

ltl_

The Il-28 incorporatedvariouschanges made in the courseof production; among other things,the transparency immediately aft of the cockpit where the DF aerial was locatedwas replacedby an opaque dielectric fairing. ( yelim Gonton urchie )

. 23 Trrr, Ir.-28 F.qrrrn'

"t

( i .rl .trrtrrl ti r< A t rio o l ' r c c l - c o t l c c l B c u { lc clr .r iscsin V lir lr tr ir tio n . t YL ,tirrt

\ng:-- -**ua*
1 llluc. -5

J'

T his vieli illustratcs tlie c lc an linc s ol- t hc Bc z r glcas . u' ell u s t h c l u r g c c l i a n r c t c r - o l 't h c n c i n c n u c e l l c s .
Kot t t i.s:urtty rtn It i v t

24 . Ir-yusHrN L-28 Btaau.

ThisIl-28,30Red,is unusual in having three non-stan- l0 Red,anotherIl-28 bristlingwith non-standard aerials. dardrod aerials ( yefim undertheaft fuselage. ( Sergey and Dmitriy Komissarov arthive ) Goruton urchiw ) forgot to turn it off in time. As a result,the CG the OSP-48ILS was replaced by a more advanced would now be too far aft and the aircraft assumed SP-50 Materik (Continent) ILS. an excessively nose-high attitude,with high angles Table 4 details the changesintroducedat the of attack which weredifficult to counterby elevator productionlines. input. To make up for the missingsystem,11-28 For the development of the Il-28 bomber, Sergey pilots would ask the navigators to remind them to V. Ilyushin, M. F. Astakhov, Valeriy A. Borog, switchoff thepump in time.) V. N. Boogaiskiy,N. F. Zotov, A. Ya. Levin, New ejectionseats werefitted, replacing the earG. M. Litvinovich,M. I. Nikitin, B. V. Pavlovskiy, lier model;these featured leg restraints, a faceproK. V. Rogov,Ye.I. Sankovand V. A. Fyodorovwere tectionvisor and a seatbelt tighteningmechanism. awarded the prestigious StalinPize (2nd Class)on Finally,a brakeparachute wasprovidedto shorten 12 March 1951 for outstandinginventionsand the landingrun; this feature wastested on Il-28 c/n improvements in the field of machinery design. 2007'pursuantto a Ministry of Aircraft Industry The basicbomber soon evolvedinto a rangeof (MAP) order of ll January1951.Howeve! every- specializedversions which expandedthe Beagle's thing comes at a price,and these modifications were combatpotentialperceptibly. expected to increase empty weight by 240 kg (529 lb). Hence Ilyushin engineers took measures to achieve an identical weightreduction, lightening the rear fuselage structure,tail unit and Il-K6 turret, I Only the batch number and number of aircraft in the batch removingthe anti-flutter weightsfrom the wings, were stated in MAP documents; however, considering the etc.Additionally, air bleedvalveswereincorporated time when the order was issued, the aircraft was probably Moscow-built and the full c/n may be 50302007. in the enginenacelles to preventenginesurge, and
Table4. Manufacturing changes introduced at production lines
Modification Incorporated (starting with aircraft c/n ...)

PlantNo. 30 Round ventilationwindow movedfrom hingedcanopy section to port windshield sidelight to improve visibility and canopystrength;ventilationwindow reduced in diameterand glazingthickness reducedfor better transparency Anti-flutterweights between wing ribs28 and32 deleted Anti-surse bleed valves installed

Plant No. 64

PlantNo. 166 all aircraft (from c/n 0016601 onwards)

50301408

all aircraft (from c/n 6450001 onwards)

5300s00s
5030 I 801

3402701
6450301

36603509
0416601

THBIl-28 Farlrry . 25

A night-time shot of a typical production Beagle.( yclirn Gortton urcttiv )

*-*,'

ax
Wl"
*.*r,;,t," .l--.f

'{ht

The unserialled prototype of the Il-28U trainer undergoingevaluation with the Soviet Air Force in early 1950. yji,tt Gor&n urchiyt
)

'l

*.*!.-

e;.t

Another unserialledexample,this time a production Masc,ot.( yefint Gortton u.t,hrtt,)

Il-28U Mascot trainer

Specializedversions began appearing before long. Predictably, the first of theie *a, 1 conversion trainer easing the transition from Second World War-vintage piston-engined typesto thejet bomber. Th e OK B was im m ed i a te l yi a s k e d w i th c re a rrn s such an aircraft; development work began in S_eptember1949, and on 14 October Seigey V Ilyushin approved the advanced developmeni proj_ ect of the Il-28U trainer (oochehnyy-triining, used attributively)poweredby VK-l engines.

26. Ilvusttrr'r lt-28 Br..tr;r.t

- g;,.-

(l|I....,:lb

S ov ic tA i r l i r r c c l l - l l l L J E 5Rcd co n tcsin to la n d .

r tttir tt( iortl ott rrrrtti rr

Thc I l- 28U er r o n c o L rs lc ya l l c d U II-2 8 i n s o n rc so L l rc c s dillc r ed l} o m th e b a s i cb o rtrb e r o ri rra f i l v i rr h i r v ingu nc \ \ r ' l ()\c g l a l ' tc d trrr i n p l l rc ' c trl ' tl rr' glaz c dna v i g a to r' s ta ti o n(u p to l ' u s c l a gc cxte ns iv c ly l l 'a n - rNo. c 6) . I t inc o rp o ra tc cth l c i n s tru c to r' s c o c kp i t wit h a s t c ppc dw i n d s c rs e nra . th c r l i k e th c l l i g h t cl e ckol- ar rair linerc tt ttri tri u tu rL : tra i r.rep tl'tc ei l o t s a t

i n thc stancl al d cockpi t.A ccordi ngto sol tl eW estcrn ruuthors. w hat l l yLrshi n di cl w as thc bcst w ay to rl l l l t thc sl cck l i nes of- thc l l -2u; thc resul t certai nl y l ookcribi zarrc.bLrt both tl retrai neeand the i nstructol cnjoyccl an unrcstrictcdf icld ol- view. Thc trai ncc' scockpi t w as vi rtual l y i denti cal tct lhat ol' tlrc standarcl bclntbcrcxccDtfbr u cr"rt-out in

'

{f#

.*.-!.,.,..-WkF

This vicl" ol'87 Red showsclearlvthat thc illustol lackcd armantent ancl radar. i lt,lint (ior&rnurchitL t

Tue Il-28 F,qvnv . 27

the instrument panel permitting visual contact with the instructor, which required some of the flight instruments to be relocated. The front cockpit featured a complete set of flight controls and instruments; the instructor had complete control over the trainee'sactions and could take over if necessary by flipping some switches,barring the trainee from flying the aircraft. All armament and bomb-aiming equipment, including the radar, were deleted. Still, the Il-28U could be used for training gunners/radio operators, for which the former gunner's station was suitably equipped. The capacity of the fuel system was reducedto 6,600 lit. (1,452 imp. gal.) and the fuel load to 5,500kg (l2,l25lb). To maintain CG position the Il-K6 tail turret was substitutedby 250 kg (551 lb) of ballast on the prototype. According to OKB calculations,production aircraft were to have 200 kg (440 lb) of ballast,but it was found possible to reducethis to 130kg (286 lb). Other changes included removal of the RV-10 radio altimeter and the fuel tank inert gas pressurization system.The Il-28U was equipped with an RSIU-3B radio (instead of the bomber's RSU-5), an AP-5 autopilot, a Bariy-M (Barium-M) IFF transponder,an SPU-5 intercom, an RV-2 radio altimeter and a Materik-B ILS with SD-l distancemeasuringequipment. On 21 February 1950 a standard Beugle was delivered to Ilyushin's experimental shop at No.240), straight off the MMZ Khodynka (llllz

No. 30 production line, for conversion into the Il-28U prototype. Piloted by Vladimir K. Kokkinaki, the trainer took to the air on l8 March, with B. A. Goloobev as flight engineer and B. A. Yerofeyevas radio operator; A. P.Vinogradov was the engineerin charge of the flight tests. It was soon discovered that performance and handling were virtually identical to that of the standard bomber, exceptfor the marginally better climb rate. The ll-28u was stable throughout its flight remainingwell balancedat Mach 0.78. It envelope, performed all manoeuvres the bomber version was to make; turns with 70-80' bank could be made without any trouble and the aircraft gained 2,000 m (6,560ft) during a yo-yo manoeuvre. Flying the aircraft from the instructor's seat was just as simple and enjoyable as from the rear cockpit. Like the other versions, the trainer could be fitted with PSR-I 500-15 JATO boosters. The specifications of the Il-28U prototype flisht testsare indiobtained at the manufacturer's cated in Table 5. The manufacturer'sflight test programme was completed on 30 March 1950. By then a bomber regiment commandedby Lt-Col A. A. Anpilov, Hero of the SovietUnion, was taking deliveryof production Il-28 bombers. Therefore it was decided to hand over the Il-28U prototypeto that unit for evaluation in order to speed up conversion training. This initial operational enabledAnpilov's unit to achieve

Table5. Il-28U prototype flight tests specifications obtained at manufacturer's

Length overall Height on ground Span Wing area Wing loading Power loading at sea level Operatingempty weight Normal all-up weight Payload Fuel load Top speed: at 3,000m (9,842ft) at 5,000m (16,404ft) Rate of climb at sealevelwith a 17,020 kg(37,522Ib) TOW Climb time to 5,000m with a 17,020 kg TOW Maximum range with a 17,020kg TOW Take-off run Landing run

17 i n.) .65m (57ft 10.88 6.0m ( l 9 ft 8.22 i n.) 21.45 m (70ft 4.48in.) 60.8 m' (653.76 sq.ft) 288kg/m'(1.400 lb/ft') 3.25kg/kgp(lb/lbst) 11,760 kg (25,92s1b)* I 7,560 kg (38,7 l 2 l b) kg ( 12.786 l b) 5,800 kg (12,125 l b) 5,500 843km/h(455.67 kt) 820km/h (443.24kt) (3,345 17.0 m/sec ft/min) 5.5mi n 2,400 km ( 1,490 miles) 800m (2,624 lt)** I,170 m (3,838 ft)' r' *

Notes: * With 250kg (551lb) of ballast. {<t' Ilyushin OKB data.

28 . Irvusnrlrr Ir-28 BetcLe

An Il-28U makes a flypastduringa military parade, flankedby two MiG-19PFarmer-B all-weather interceptors. lBoni
Vtluvcnko)

! *

An Il-28U about to become airborne. The picture does not show how close the bird on the risht is to the aircraft.
( Ydint Gordon urthiv )

capabilityin time to participatein the 1950May Day parade in Moscow(whichof course waslargely a matter of prestige); the trainer prototype took part in this parade, together with production Beagles. Then the I1-28Uwas turned over to NII WS for Stateacceptance trialswhichtook placeon 13 27 May; the act of acceptance was signedby SovietAir ForceC-in-C Air MarshalP.F. Zhigarev on 8 June. productionatMMZ The typeentered large-scale No. 30 pursuant to an MAP orderof 2l July 1950 (all Il-2SUswerebuilt in Moscow),and remained the principaltrainerfor Sovietand WarPactactical bomber pilots well into the 1970s. Soviettrainers

were assignedNATO code names in the miscellaneous aircraft category at the time - a practice later discontinued; accordingly the Il-28U was codenamed Mascot. On production Il-28Us the empty operatingweight rose to I1,900 kg (26,234Ib) and the all-up weight to 17,700kg (39,021lb), reduction in ballast notwithstanding. The transition from the Il-28U to the bomber version did not require additional training. The report of the State commission said that a pilot with 350-400 hrs' total time on anything from the Polikarpov Po-2 ab initio trainer to the Tu-2 bomber could fly the Il-28 solo after only two to four flights on the trainer version. The Naval Air Arm (AVMF

. 29 Tun Il-28 Faurrr-v

Stills froma motionpicture showing ( Stt'gt.t u n d Dni an Il-28Uin action. - Aviahtsiya voyenno-morskovo flotu) also operated the Mascot: the first naval aviation unit to receive the Il-28U in October 1951was the 943rd MTAP (minno-torpednyy aviupolft - minelaying and torpedo-bomberregiment).

I r'i t' Ko nt i ssu rot, u x l ti t't' )

The Ilyushin OKB delivereda set of manufacturing documentsfor the ejectiontrainer to MMZ No. 30 on 5 March 1954.Unfortunately it is not known how many Mu,yc'ots, if any, were built in this configuration.

Il-28U ejection trainerversion

On 10 December 1953 the Minister of Aircraft Industry issued an order concerning the development of a version of the Il-28U speciallymodified for training Beuglc crews in ejection techniques. This aircraft's raison d'?tre was that the crews were apprehensive about the bomber's first-generation ejectionseat,fearing seriousinjuries in the eventof an ejectionat low altitude or on landing,when most accidents happen.It was necessary to overcomethis p sych o logic al obs t ac l e a n d b u i l d u p th e p i l o ts ' c o n fidence in the aircraft.

Il-28R tactical reconnaissance aircraft On 5 March1950 powanother Moscow-built Il-28

ered by VK-l engineswas deliveredto MMZ No. 240 for conversioninto the prototype of the Il-28R (fsanolyot-] ra:vedchik) reconnaissance aircraft. The unserialled aircraft entered flight test on l 9 A pri l 1950, one month and one day after the first flight of the Il-28U, flown by pilot Vladimir K. Kokkinaki, flight engineerI. B. Ktiss and radio operator B. A. Yerofeyev.Once again A. P.Vinogradovwas in chargeof the flight tests. The Il-28R was intended for tactical photo

The prototype of the Il-28R photo reconnaissance aircraft. ( yt'firn Gorrton urchite I

3 0 . In us r r r . lr r - 28B t . cGtr

iJ",n.,

view of the Il-28R prototype.Note the twin rod aerialson the upper f uselage. ( y,/int Gonton ur<hit,L,)

(PHOTINT) to meet the obiectives reconnaissance o l fro nt s ( in a war s c e n a ri o ). fl e e tsa n d a i r a rm i e s . For day reconnaissance the aircraft could carry a PHOTINT suite comprising two AFA-33/100 or AFA-33/75 cameras on AKAFU mounts in the forward and centre parts of the (former) bomb bay for high/medium-altitude photography, one AFA-33/20 or AFA-42120 (AFA-RB/20) downward-looking camera in the rear part of the bomb bay and one AFA-33/50 or AFA-33/75 camera mounted obliquely on the port side in a special camera bay in the aft fuselage.Alternatively, some aircraft were fitted with two AFA-421100 or AFA-42175camerason the forward mount. For night reconnaissance the Il-28R carried either two NAFA-3S/50 cameras or one NAFA-MK-75 (or NAFA-MK-50) camera in the forward part of the bomb bay. The rest of the bay was occupiedby twelve 50 kg (110 lb) FotAB-50-35 flare bombs;' this number was reduced to six if a long-range fuel tank was fitted. The bombs were dropped using an NKPB-7 bomb sight which could be usedat up to I 1,500m (37,729ft). (It should be noted that one Russian sourcegives rather different data: three AFA-33 cameras with varying focal lengths (100, 75 and 20 cm) and one AFA-RB camera for day sorties and two NAFA-3S cameras for night sorties, assisted by FotAB-100-60, FotAB-50-35. SAB-100-55 or SAB-100-35 flare bombs.) The cameraswere installed in snecial containers heated by air from the cockpit heating and pressurizationsystem to prevent the lubricant from

freezingat high altitude; the night cameras,however,did not havesuch containers. To extend range the capacity of the fuel system w as i ncreasedto 9,550 l i t./8,000 kg (2,10t i mp. gal.llT,6361b). This was done by installinga 750lit. ( 165imp. gal.) long-rangetank in the aft portion of the bomb bay,which requiredthe standardfuelcell No. 3 to be removed,and two 950 lit. (209 imp. gal.) drop tanks at the wingtips.As comparedto the standard bomber, this amounted to 1,650lit. (363 imp. gal.) of additional fuel.rThe increased missiontime (up to five hours) necessitated the provisionof additional oxygen for the crew. Depending on the equipment fit the reconnaissance version's MTOW was 22,685-22,720 kg (50,01 I 50,088lb). Thereforethe main landing gear units were reinforced and fitted with bigger wheels measuri ng 1,260x390mm (49.6x 15.35 i n.) i nstead of the usual 1,150x 355 mm (45.27x 13.97i n.); besides, the landing gear was actuated hydraulically, not pneumatically, and retracted in just eight
2 NAFA = nothno! aerofotoappuraht - aircraft camera lbr night operations; AKAFU = uytomaticheskuya kacha)'uscht'hayas,vaaerofotoustanovka automatic tilting mount for aircraft cameras; FotAB = .fbtograJicheskav-uaviahomba . photo bomb (i.e. flare bomb lor aerial photography); SAB = svetyascltchuyuaviabomba flarebomb. 3 Some sourcesquoted a figure of 2,660 lit. (585.2imp. gal.) of additional fuel. Also. some documents state that the additional fuselagerank held 760I]|'. (167.2imp. gal.), making for a total i nternal fuel vol ume of 9,560 l i t. (2,103.2i mp. gal .), and the drop tanks eachhel d 900 l i t. (198 i mp. gal .).

32 . IrvussrNIt-28 Bntcrc - much faster than on the standard bomber. seconds The higher gross weight of the Il-28R also led the designersto introduce a unique feature minimizing wear and tear on the tyres: the mainwheels were spun up automatically by hydraulic motors when the gear was extended. According to the crews, this resulted in an exceptionally smooth touchdown. Owing to the installationof cameracontrols the starboard fixed NR-23 cannon had to be deleted as a weight-saving measure.The PSBN-M radar was sometimes removed as well; in that case I l0 kg (242.5 |b) of ballast was carried in the navigator's compartment for CG reasons.Some changes were version made to the avionics fit: the reconnaissance featured a Magniy-M (Magnesium-M) IFF interrogatol an RSB-5 communications radio with a US-P receiver,an RSIU-3 command radio, an SPU-5 intercom, RV-2 and RV-10 radio altimeters, an SP-50 Materik ILS, etc. For overwater flights the I1-28R could carry an LAS-3 inflatable rescue in the dinghy (lodka avareeyno-spasahtel'naya) bomb bay; this could be dropped by either the pilot or the gunner and inflated automaticallyby a rip cord. The performance of the Il-28R was broadly

similar to that of the basic bomber,exceptthat km rangein high-altitude cruise increased to 3,150 (1,702 nm); the combatradius740km (400nm) at 5,000m (16,404ft) and 1,140km (616 nm) at waslimited 10,000 m (32,808 ft). Indicated airspeed ft), to 750 km/h (416kt) at up to 4,000m (13,123 and Mach 0.78 above that altitude. Kokkinaki reported that handling and cockpit visibility High-speed remained unchanged. aerialphotography at variousaltitudes did not affectpiloting techniques.The autopilot, as well as the heatedand pressurized reduced which is cockpits, crewfatigue, importantfor a reconnaissance aircraft. especially Initial flight testingwas completedon 29 June 1950. After passing the State acceptance trialson 23 November, the Il-28R wasorderedinto production l95l andjoinedthe VVS inventory. on 8 December version was built in Initially the reconnaissance Il-28Rproduction Moscow, but from 1953 onwards waspassed on to aircraftfactoryNo. 39 in lrkutsk, whichhadpreviously built theTu-14T. The performance of the production Il-28 and in Table 6. Il-28Ris compared The field performance of the bomber and reconnaissance versions is comoared in Table7.

Table 6. Performancecomparison:productionIl-28 and Il-28R

kg (lb) Emptyweight, kg (lb): All-upweight, normal in overload configuratton

Fuel capacity,lit. (imp. gal.)

(28,042) 12,120 (40,564) 18,400 (48,500) 22,000

(29,2r0\ t3,250 (44,13s) 20,020 (49,581) 22,490

(2,101) 9,550 816(413) (16,404)* 5,000 (40,354) 12,300 42

(1,760) 8,000 e02(487) ( 14,763) 4,s00

(40,682) 12,400

km/h (kt) Top speed, m (ft) at altitude,

Serviceceiling, m (ft) Time to serviceceiling, mrn

Range, km (miles): m (16,404 ft) at 5,000 cruising at, km/h (kt) ft) at 10,000 m (32,808 cruising at, km/h (kt) m (32,808 ft) at 10,000 at, km/h (kt) cruising

1,790(1,111) (300) 556 (1,s21) 2.450 (377) 698 (1,602) 2,s80 (373) 6e0

(r,242) 2,020 s47 (295) (1,126) 2,780 610(362) (1,888) 3,040 670(362)

Note: * 23 ft) was limited to 750 km/h (405 kt); the Mach limit above The Il-28R's indicated airspeedbelow 4,000 m ( 13,1 4.000m was 0.78.

THp Ir--28Fevrry.33 Table 7. Comparison of field performance: bomber and reconnaissanceversions

rofl kg(lb)
a) paved runway

Unstickspeed, km/h (kt) 240(r29) 259t274 (1 4 0 /1 4 8 )

Take-off run, m (ft)

Landing speed, km/h (kt)

Landing run, m (ft)

[-28 r-28R

(44,312) 20,100 r9,800t22,200 (43,650t48,941)

(4,593) l,400 |,610t2,rs0 (5,28217,0s3) (5,s77) 1,700 1,720t2,300 (s,643t7,546)

200-20s
(108-l10) 220-225 (1te-t2t)

(4,921) 1,s00 (5,315) 1,620

(dirt strip) b) unpaved runway (44,312) r-28 20,100 Il-28R r9,800t22,200 (43,650t48,941)

(t2e) 240 259t274 (140/148)

200-205 (r08-r 10) 220-22s

(l 19-l 2l )

(3,937) t,200 (4,265) 1,300

II-28RTR ELINT aircraft

Apart from the Il-28R PHOTINT aircraft, the Beagle also had an electronic intelligence (ELINT) versiondesignated II-28RTR ([samolyot] rahdiotel&nicheskoy razvedki) reconnaissance aircraft powered by VK-l engines. Outwardlyit could be identifiedby a second teardrop-shaped dielectric fairing installed in lieu of the faired-over bomb bay doors.The II-28RTRwassupplied to both the WS and the air forcesof someof the SovietUnion's allies, includingCzechoslovakia and Hungary.

II-28REB (?)ECM aircraft

Another specialized versionwas intendedfor elec(ECM). Some sources tronic countermeasures claim the aircraft was designated II-28REB (rahdioelektronnaya bor'bah - ECM). The main identification feature of this version was the cylindrical wingtip pods reminiscent of the Il-28R's drop tanks, but featuringdielectricfront and rear portions concealingemitter antennas. The ECM version was also supplied to Czechoslovakia.

ment aft of the standard radome. ( yefimGordon archive,

A HungarianAir ForceII-28RTRELINT aircraft,showing clearlythe dielectric teardropfairing over ELINT equip-

L-28 Bt.tot.n 34 . It-vusHIN

;..

hF

'

:l: L,' .:t....,i-:.,:. rlil.l3:,

unltit'c Gottkn ) A CzechAir Forceexampleol'the ECM version sometimesreferred to as I l-28R EB . ( Yt'fin

w ei ghed627 kg(1,382Ib) and had a243kg (5351b) warhead. The Soviet Air Force's 647th Special Composite Beforedropping the torpedo the navigatorset its Support Air Regimentoperatingin support of the travel depth (2 8 m|6.5-26 ft), chargedthe torpedo's 7l st Nuclear WeaponsProvingGround in Totskoye, condensers and began the run-in to the target as OrenburgRegion,operatedtwo ll-28sfitted with air usual. At the appropriate moment the bomb sight sampling pods for radiation reconnaissance. automatically triggered the drop mechanism.One bottles were installedin the bomb Compressed-air second later the small propeller-shapeddrag parabays to pressurize the cockpits, ensuring that chute deployed and the torpedo descendedvertiradioactiveproducts would not enter. As an addically, dropping quickly like a bomb' The main tional protective measure the cockpit walls were parachute deployed at 500 m (1,640 ft), reducing lined with lead, and radiometerswere provided for descentspeed.It separatedafter the torpedo entered the crew. Together with similarly modified aircraft the water, then the foreplanes were brought into and helicopters of various types, these Beaglesflew play to turn the torpedo horizontally and werejettithrough radioactiveclouds in the wake of nuclear ioned immediately afterwards. Then the solid-fuel tests,measuring radiation levels. rocket motor fired and the torpedo acceleratedto 58 68 kt (107 130 km/h); by comparison,conventorpedoes with steam turbines could not tional conversion Il-28 torpedo-bomber travel faster than 40-45 kt. Time from drop to The AVMF also operated the Beagle after August impact was only about 35 seconds,which left the 1951 ; this aircraft suitedthe SovietNavy betterthan target no time for evasiveaction. the Tu-14, being lighter and more agile.lnitially the The chief shortcoming of the RAT-52 was the naval Il-28s were operated in standard bomber conrocket motor's short burn time, resulting in a range figuration; however, as early as I June 1950 the of only 550 600 m ( I ,804-1,968ft), which took the of a Council of Ministers orderedthe development bomber uncomfortably close to the target (within torpedo-bomberversion.The bomb bay was modiOn the other hand, range of the ship's air defences). fied to carry one RAT-52 rocket-propelled torpedo internally. Developed by NII-2,a this weapon was 4 Later became the State Research Institute of Aircrafi conceived as a homing torpedo, but the guidance Gosootlahrslvennlynuoochno-issleSysterns(GosNII AS system was considered too complicated and was t seeonnyk h sist em). k i1,inst ito ot ar i (1 ovut el'.s d The torpedo version' deleted in the production Il-28 radiation reconnaissance aircraft

. 35 THUlr-28 F.c\,rrrr'

'::;*s,*

ll:f

An Il-28 convcrtccl itrlo a torpcdo-bomtrcris about to bc loaclccl with u RAT--52lorpcclo.Notc 1hc lirrcpluncson (;t)tttt)il wcrtporr's rrttsc b|inging thc lorpcclointo lcvcl uttiluclcalicr splashclowl.r. , )i,/r)ii !rtttitt)

}e

'p;
,}."

(i.nt.rt l0 Rcd. another Bca.qlc cotrvcrtedlbr torpedo-bomberduties.is pleparcd lor a mission (notc lircl hoses).r ttlirtt

lt-28 Bt-,.tr;r,t 36 . Ir-vusrrrx

->

,}

Thc non-stanclard noscglaziug is clcarly visible.as Thc sccondprototypc ol' thc pulposc-built Il-28T tolpcclo-bonrbcr. (i,uhtrttrcltirl optical si-uht. r )i,/nri anclunclcrnosc blislcr lirr thc PTN--52 arc thc irngulurcockpitwinclshiclcl

th e t or pedo c oul d b e d ro p p c d a t a n y a l ti tu de m ( 4 ,9 2 0fi ) a n d th e a i rc ra l i ' ss c r\i cc b e t ween1. 500 ce ilingat a s peed o f L rpto 8 0 0 k m /h (4 4 4k t). w h i ch was of par t ic ula r i mp o rta n c e fb r j c t to rp c d obombcrs.Live drops at the Sovict Navy's tcst range sh owc d a k ill pr o b a b i l i ty o l ' l 7 3 8 p c r c c n t i n a si nglc - t or pedo at t a c k . Dur ing t r ials h e l d o u th c Bl a c k S c a i n T u -l 4 T a n d rro d i fied Se pt em berNov c mb c r 1 9 5 2 " dropped 54 Il-28 torpedo-bombers sr-rccessfully RA T - 52 t or pedoe s , b o th i n e rt a n d l i v e ; ta rg c t i ng was done us ingan O P B-6 S Rs i g h to n b o th a i rc ra fi . Thc RAT-52 was officially included in thc AVMF It c o u l d b c c a rri c dby i n v c nt or yon 4 F eb ru a ry1 9 5 3 . TLr-l4T torpedo-bombers and convcrtcd Il-28s (deliveries of the latter began the sameyear). With one torpedo thc rnodified Il-28T had an 18,400kg (40.564 lb) TOW and a top speed ol' 906 km/h (503 kt); serviceceiling and range were 12,500n-r (4 1. 010f t ) and 2. 4 0 0k m ( 1 .4 9 0 m i l e s )re s p e c ti v el y. However. the converted Il-28 had some senous lt carried only about one third of its deficiencies. designpayioad and could not carry other modelsof torpedoesinternally,as they weretoo long to fit into the standard bornb bay. Also, the Soviet NavzilAir Arm had largestocksof pre-war45-36MAN torpe-

does (i .c. 450 mrn/l l .l i t" t.cal i brc. 1954 rnodel , utiuLsiottMAN = ltorpedul urotlcrttizecrt)vtnnu.t'u, rttt.ttr, niikot'.t'sottluyu updatedaircraft torpcdo for l ow -ul ti tudeattacks)w hi ch i t w i shedto useon thc Il -28.H ow ever. i t turned out that the bombcr' shi gh speed rendered these torpedoes unsuitablc. Thc weapon had to undergo a lengthy upgradc programme.emergi ng i n 1956as the 45-56N T torpedo (NT = nizlto)'a torpefuttuetahnivclow-altitudetorpcdo attack)w hi ch coul d be droppedat 120 230 nr (393 t 54 fi) and 550 600 kmlh (291 324 kt).

(first useof Il-28T torpedo-bomber designation)

Apparently the cnginecrswcre aware of the shortcomings of thc quick-fir torpedo-bomberconverdevelopmentof a dedicated sion all along, because designated Il-28T (torpadonoset.s). torpedo-bornber, also began in 1950.The mock-up rcview commlson 7 July that year. sion signedthe act of acceptance The aircraft was intended for high- and low-altitude torpedo attacks and minelaying. It differed fiom standard Il-28s and those convertedinto torpedo-bombersprimarily in having a weaponsbay l engthened from 4.18 m (13 l t 8.56 i n.) to 6.66 m

Tsn Ir--28 Fnurry. 37

il

":'r

The same aircraft. pictured most probably at Moscow-Khodynka, with an Il-12 airliner in the background.The c/n 50301 104is visibleon the nose.( yalim Gonton urdritt,)

(21 ft 10.2in.) and havingthe wings moved back 100 mm (3.93in.), with appropriatechanges to the fuselagestructure. The modificationof the weaponsbav and the provision of an LAS-3 .escu. dinghy requiredchanges to fuel cellsNos. 2,3 4 and 5. This reduced internal fuel capacity from 8,000 lit. (1 ,7 6 0i m p. gal. )t o 4, 77 0 ti t. (1 ,2 6 9 .4 i m p . g a l .)a n d the fuel load from 6,600 kg (14,550lb) to 5,080kg (l l ,l 9 9 lb) . T o c om pen s a te fo r th i s th e Il -2 8 T h a d provisionsfor 950 lit. (209 imp. gal.) tip tanks,each h o l d i n g7 50 k g ( I , 653lb ) o f fu e l , a s o n rh e Il -2 8 R . The starboardfixed NR-23 cannon and its round counter were deleted, as was the AFA-33175 (or NAFA-MK) camera. Instead. rwo AFA-BA/400 vertical camerasand an AKS-l hand-driven crnecamera were installed to record the strike results. Other new equipmentitems includeda Magniy IFF interrogator, a PTN-45 low-altitude sighl (pritset torpednyy nizkovysotnyy sight optimized for lowpp-l high-altileveltorpedo drops) and a separate tude sight also used for dropping anti-shipping mines;a Model 1010electricheaterwas providedto defrost the sighting window of the PTN-45. Some of the existing equipment items were relocated,and additional armour protection was provided for the pilot and navigator.

The normal ordnance load was 1,000 kg (2,204lb), which permitted carriage of one torpedo of various models (45-36AVA.TAS. TAV. RAT-52 or A-2), or two AMD-500 anti-shippingmines,or oneA MD -1000, A MD -M orType A mi ne.If necessarythe Il -28T coul d carry up to 3,000kg (6,613l b) of weaponsat the expenseof a reducedfuel load and hence shorter range. In that case possible weapons configurations weretwo 45-46AMV torpedoes total l i ng 1,940kg (4,2761b), or one 1,500kg (3,306lb) TOZ torpedo, or one I ,100 kg (2,425lb) A MD -1000 mi ne, or four A MD -500 mi nes (2,000 k914,409 lb), or two Serpeymines (2,500 kg/5,511 lb), or two Lira (Lyre) mines (1,940kgl4,276lb), or two Desnamines(1,500kg).s Despite the relocatedwings, the externaldimensions were identical to those of the I1-28R. The Il-28T could be refitted and usedas a conventional bomber with a bomb load equal to that of the standard Beuglt,. Prototypeconversion wascompletedin 1950. The first prototype Il-28T (c/n 50301 106) first flew on

5 The meaning ol the name Scryey is not known but it sounds suspiciouslylike an anagram of Pcrsey(Perseus).

lt -28BBrcLn 38 . IrvusurN Table8. Il-28T specifications Manufacturer's estimates Wing loading,kg/m:(lbhq. ft) Powerloading at S/L, kg/kgp (lb/lb st) Emptyweight,kg (lb) Normal AUW, kg (1b) MaximumAUW, kg (lb) Landingweight,kg (lb) Internalfuel load,kg (1b) Fuelload with tip tanks,kg (lb) kg (lb): normal Payload, maxlmum (with tip tanks), km/h (kt): Top speed ft) at 1,000 m (3,280 m (16,404 ft) at 5,000 m (32,808 ft) at 10,000 Landingspeed, km/h (kt) (ftlmin): Rateof climb,m/sec at S/L at 5,000 m m at 10.000 m Climb time.min: to 5.000 m to 10,000 ceiling, m (ft) Service Maximumrangewith tip tanksand one 45-36AMVtorpedo, km (miles) Endurance with tip tanksand one km (miles) 45-36AMVtorpedo, Take-offrun, unassisted, m (ft) Take-off run with JATO bottles,m (ft) m (ft) Take-offdistance, unassisted, Take-off distance with JATO bottles,m (ft) Landingrun, m (ft)n.a. Landing distance, m (ft) 308(1,4e7) 3.4 (28,847) 13,085 (40,564) 18,400 (47,023) 21,330 (30,51 l) 1 3 ,8 40 (7,936) 3,600 (14,506) 6,580 (t 1,717) 5 ,3 1 5 (t8,t76) 8,245 n.a. n.a. n.a. n.a. n.a. n.a. n.a. n.a. n.a. n.a, (1,366)* * * 2 ,2 0 0 n.a. n.a. n .a. n .a.
n.a. n.a. n.a.

Manufacturer's flight tests 308(1,497) 3.48 13 0 (29 s) ,37 ,41 (41,358)* 18,760 (47,663)* 21,620 n.a. (8,377) 3,800 (14,274) 6,475 (l l,882) 5,390 (18,187) 8,250 802(433.5) 874(472.4) 836(451.8) n.a. (2,637) 13.4 7.8(1,53s) 2.3(4s2) 8.0 26.4 1,s00 (37,729) 1,64412,221#

State acceptance trials

308(1,4e7) 3.48 (29,475) 13,370 t8,763(4r,364)* (47,685)* 21,630 n.a. (8,377) 3,800 6,48s(14,296) (l 1,882) 5,390 (18,209) 8,260 785/800** (424.3t432.4) 8271877** (447.01474.0) 802/840**

(433.s14s4.0) (e6.2) 178 (2,8e3) 14.7 (1.781) e.05 3.3(64e) 7.1 2t.4 (39,206) l l,950 (t,334) ## 2,t49 3hr 29minl 3hr41.5minff{ 950/1,395 tt (3,n614,s76) (3,346) l,020 I 2,00012,630lI (6,s6u8,628) (7,906) 2,410 I (6,97r) 2,t2s II

(r,02vr,379)

3 hr 03mini 3hr33min# 875/1,4s0 t (2,87014,7s7) (2,s26) 770 I 1,570t2,460 | (5, l sl/8,070) (4,265) l,3oo I (3,084) e40 II
n.a.

Notes: * With one45-36AMVtorpedo. *'k At N (engine = 11,200 rpm respectively. rpm/11,560 speed) **{' With a 1,000 m (32,808-41,666 f0. load at 10,000-12,700 kg(2,2041b) weapons m (32,808 ft)l645kmlh(348kt) respectively. fty543kn/h (293k0 and 10,000 At 5,000 m(16,404 ft) and 652km/h (352kt) with a 21,632kg At | 0,000 m (32,808 97,689Ib) AUW. AUW. maximum normalAUW anda2l,620kg(47,663Ib) With an 18,768 kg (41,3751b) kg (47,663lb) maximumAUW. kg ( 4l ,357lb) normalAUW and a 21,620 With an 18,760 ll + ks(48,721Ib)TOVI with a 22,100 kg (33,068 lb) landingweight. ** With a 15,000 (47,689lb) AUVI kt) respectively with a 21,632kg ft) and 6521569 km/h (3521307 m (32,808 i++ At 10,000
I

Tur Il-28 Favty .39 Table 9. Torpedo attack configuration

Ordnance type Quantity Ordnance weight, kg (lb) Fuelload,kg (1b) Take-offweight,kg (1b)

45-364M I (2,29e) 1,043 (r4,296) 6,48s (47,6t9) 21,600

TAS I (3,379) 1 ,5 3 3 (14,296) 6,485 (48,699) 22,090

A-2 I 61s(1,3s5) (t4,296) 6,485 (46,435) 2r,063

45-364MV 2 (4,691) 2,128 ( I 2,235) s,550 2t,63s(47 ,696)

Table 10. Minelaying configuration

Ordnance type

AMD-500

AMDI 000

Lira

Seroev

Desna (on BD-4 rack)

IGDM

Qu a n ti ty 24l12t 2 I Ord n a nc e 1, 018 2 ,0 1 8 1 ,0 1 8 988 1,958 1,268 2,518 768 1.518 1,268 weight, kg (lb) (2,244) (4,448) (2.244) (2,t78) (4,316) (2,795) (5,s5t) ( 1,6e3) (3,346) (2,794) Fuelload, 6,485 5,550 6,485 6,485 5,700 6,485 4.800 6,485 6,I 50 6,485 (14,296) (t2,23s) (14,296)(14,296) (12,566) (14,296) (10,582)(14,296) (13,558) (14,296) !s(lbl TOW'kg ( lb) 2t , 57 s 2 t ,6 4 0 2 1,s 7 5 2 l ,s 4 5 Zl ,616 21,825 21,0s4 2t,325 21,626 2t.825 (47,s64) (47,707)(47,s64)(47.497) (47,6s4) (48,us) (46,503)(47,0t2) (47,676)(4 8 r, r5 ) 8 January l95l with Vladimir K. Kokkinaki at the controls; N. D. Sorokin was the flight engineerand A. P. Vinogradov was the engineerin charge of the flight tests.The second prototype (c/n 50301104) joined the programme on l2 March 1951,making its maiden flight from Khodynka again at the hands of Vladimir K. Kokkinaki. Outwardly the Il-28T prototypes differed from standard Beaglesin having a small Perspex blister under the nose accommodating the lower part of the PTN-45 sight, a non-standard navigator's glazing framework and a non-standardangular cockpit windshield with a rectangular windscreenand optically flat sidelights. The manufacturer's tests were completed on l7 April 1951 (the test report was endorsedsix days later). Then the Il-28T was submitted to the Soviet Navy's ResearchInstitute No. 15 for State acceDtance trials, which proceededfrom 7 June to 25 July l95l and also went successfully. In August 1951the complete set of manufacturing documents was transferred to one of the production factories; the type enteredlimited production and servicewith the AVMF.. For this achievementa group of OKB-240 employeeswas again nominated for the Stalin Prize. The specifications of the Il-28T are given in Table 8. Tables9 and l0 detail the Il-2ST's weaponsoptions. the AVMF arsenal,followed by the 45-56NT torpedo two years later. Both types were powered by steam enginesand were carried by the Tu- | 4T along with the RAT-52. In order to standardize the armament carried by Soviet torpedo-bombers and increase their punch, it was decidedto upgradethe Il-28sthen in service. To this end a standardIl-28 toroedo bomber was retrofitted with two external BD-4T torpedo racks (hahlochnyy derzhahtel' beam-type [weapons] rack). The increasedpayload meant that the centre fuselage frames had to be reinforced. The aircraft was also fitted with the new PTN-55 low-altitude sight, albeit incomplete, which was concurrently being testedon a modified Tu-14T.This allowedthe navigator to programme the torpedo to move in a zigzag (this feature was believed to increasekill probability but demandeda substantialincrease in the torpedo's range) and feed target data into the torpedo's control module up to the moment of release. The modified aircraft - which, rather confusingly, was again designatedIl-28T could carry three RAT-52 torpedoes (two externally and one internally) or two 45-54VT or 45-36NT torpedoesexternally; alternatively,two AMD-500 anti-shipping mines could be carried externally. The weapons were dropped at altitudes of 40,400 m (l3l f ,312 ft) and speeds of 360-800km/h (200 444krJ. However, the Navy was displeased,claiming the

calibre, 1954 model, YT - vysotnoyetorpedometahniye -high-altitude torpedo attack) was included in

Il-28T torpedo-bomber (second conversion useof designation) In 1954 theimproved 45-54VT (i.e. torpedo 450 mm

6 Some sources, though. claim the Il-28T did not enter produotion becauseof the protracted development ol the 45-56NT torpedo and the inability to carry two RAT-52 torpedoes internally.

40 . Irvusurn It-28 Br,totr required modifications were too extensive.Besides, the high-drag external stores impaired the aircraft's performance and causedsome restrictions on piloting techniques. Rotation at take-off became very difficult; the aircraft experiencedsevere vibration at high speed, almost certainly caused by the turbulence generated by the external torpedo racks. Tailplane buffet was commonly encountered in a shallow dive when two torpedoeswere carried externally; if one torpedo was carried it generated so much drag as to render turns in the opposite direction impossible. The aircraft completed its trials programme in 1955. All its shortcomings notwithstanding, the Navy expected to modify some of its I1-28sto this standard. However, this conversion programme never materialized because the 11-28was getting long in the tooth and the Soviet bomber and torpedo-bomber force was re-equipping with the more modern Tu-I6. Still, the PTN-55 sieht did find its way into service.

This Beagle, with a non-standard deepradomeand drop tanks, is probably an Il-28N (ll-28A) nuclear-capable
bomber. ( YclimGonlon urchivc 1

Il-28N (Il-28A)nuclear-capable bomber

The Soviet military doctrine of the early 1950s demanded that tactical aviation was to possess nuclear capability. Several types of small tactical nuclear weapons, including the RDS-4 Tat'yana bomb, were under development at the time, and the Soviet government issueda directive demanding the development of new tactical bombers capable of delivering them. However, this would clearly be a process, time-consuming so it was decidedto modify existing aircraft in servicewith the WS, including the Il-28, for the nuclearrole. First, two Il-28s were specially modified by OKB-30 (the design bureau of MMZ No. 30) for testing the RDS-4 according to the specifications passed by OKB-l l, which had developed the bomb. Among other things, the modification involved heat insulation and heating of the bomb bay, installation of special equipment to monitor the weapon's systems status,as well as test equipment to measurethe parameters of the explosion, including cine-cameras capturing the development of the famous mushroomcloud. The first drop of an RDS-4 from the Il-28 took place on 23 August 1953. On that occasion the bomb was in the so-calledcheck configuration with data link sensors and a conventional warhead. The aircraft was flown by pilot V. I. Shapovalov, navigator/bomb aimer A. V. Koz'minykh and gunner/radio operator B. S. Soodakov.The weapon was droppedat I 1,000m (36,089ft), detonatingsuccessfullv at the oresetaltitude. Four RDS-4 bombs were

dropped, with a day's interval in each case,between 29 September and 5 October 1954.Allin allthe test programme involved more than fifty flights, fifteen of which were weapon drops; the safety of landing with an unused bomb was checked, among other things. After the successful completion of the trials the RDS-4 enteredproduction;so did the nuclear-capable version of the Beagle, which was designated - carrier of If-28N (nositel' lspetsboyepripahsul special, i.e. nuclear, munitions). Apart from the changesto the bomb bay, the aircraft differed from the standard bomber in having an updated avionics suite. The PSBN-M ground-mapping radar was replaced by an RBP-3 unit (rahdiolokutseeonnyy pritsel - radar bomb sight) in a bombardiyovochnyy much deeper radome.' It indicated headings,distance to ground waypoints, altitude abovesuch waypoints, ground speed and aircraft position. The bomb bay was provided with a heating system to keep the nuclear bomb's systemsfrom freezing up, and the cockpits featured shutters protecting the crew from the flash of the nuclear explosion. An RSIU-5V UHF communications radio, a US-8 receiver,and RV-18 and RV-2 radio altimeters were fitted. The electricalsystemwas modified to include PO-3000 (main) and PO-3000A (reserve) singlephaseAC transformers. The I1-28N's empty weight was 13,040 kg (28,141lb) 150kg (330 lb) more than the standard bomber's;TOW was 18,550kg (40,895lb). The CG had shifted slightly aft, but this had virtually no effect on the aircraft's handling and performance. Forty-two Il-2SNs were briefly deployed to Cuba in1962 during the Cuban missilecrisis.This version is sometimes referred to as Il-28A (ahtomnyy atomic, i.e. nuclear-capable).

Tse ll-28 Favty.4l

It-28S tactical bomberproject

In 1949 50 OKB-240 sought ways of further improving the design of the basic il-Zg. The marn objective was to increase the bomber's speed and ra n g e .T his was t o be a c h i e v e d b y ma ti n g th e e x i s t_ ing fuselage and tail surfaces with all-iew winss swept back 35oat quarter-chord and installine powerful and fuel-efllcientKlimov VK_5 c.-ntrifu_ -oi. gal-flow turbojets. The VK-5 was a derivativeof the production YK-1A uprated to 3,100 kgp (6,g34 lb st) for take-off and2,760kgp (6,0g4Ib sljfor cruise, differing mainly in having a more efficient comores_ sor; the engine'sdry weight and external dimeniions remained unchanged.This undoubted achievement was made possible by the use of new heat_resistant ullglt, a higher turbine temperature and more efficient cooling. Specific fuel consumption (SFC) was 6 per cent lower than that of the production

'aircraft 82' (Tu-82) swept-wingtactical bomber (which,incidentally, closely resembled thewould_be il-28S). II-28RM experimental tactical reconnaissance aircraft Meanwhile, the Ilyushin OKB attemptedto intro_ d.uce the new VK-5 powerplant on productionver_ sionsof the straight-wing Il-2g. Several government directives and MAP orderswereissuedlenvisagrng the installation of VK-5s on all three princioa-i 'bombeq versionsof the Bcagla conventional torpedo-bomber and reconnaissance aircraft. The last version receivedthe highest priority, sincethe WS wasdesperate to extendthe ieachof its tacticalreconnaissance aircraft.The pHOTINT aircraft then under development at the Mikoyan (OKB-I55) and yakovlev (OKB-115) dejign bureauxwerea priori handicapped by inadequate range, being derived from tactical fishters; con_ versely, the Il-28R and .aircrafrZa'ltu_Zb, tne PHOTINT versionof the Tu-14)were basedon bo^mbers designed to havemuch longerrange.The 3,000.km (1,863 mile)range rarget wasto behet by installing morefuel-efficient eneines. On 3 August1951 theCouncil of Ministers issued directiveNo. 2817-1388ss, orderingthe develop_ ment of the Il-28RM {,samolyoT-l ra:vedchik, modifitse,erovannyy - reconnaissanceaircraft, modified) powered by VK-5 engines. The deadline for submission for State acceptance trialswassetat

VK-IA.

_ However, preliminary design studies showed that the swept-wing Il-28S (strelovidnoye krylo _ swepr wings) offered no significant advantagesover the production Beagle. Moreover, the incoiporation of new wings would incur major technologicalprob_ lems. Hence developmentof the Il-2gS-wasaban_ doned - a decision later proved correct by the chief competitor's negativeexperience. The Tupolev OKB had achieved scant successwith the experimental
7 Some sourcesclaim the Il-28N was outwardly identical to the standard bomber.

-:s

-l The Il-28RM prototype; note the angular cockpit windshield. ( yefittt Gorcrtnt urchive )

rr 4 2 . 1r srrrr I r - 28B i ro l

15
fllgF

- r-n.lS8l"i

,. " ,.\rgH

;'i'

t'l'i

-la!;-

" illi:i' *.' .i+^a

',1 ' '

''
'.'l:

l);,a*:r

; ir-"';

*F"ti, .*..4{ffi#1lT*l*,{;
*..*t';t$r,Jt:,s-.*.i.{"-*!

:;?;$ffi

T hc sa nrc cl, v c alin g w i t h d r o l 'r li a ircn rli with t hc dr op t ank s lc r . r . r ov crc thc vcrtically c u 1 - o l l 'w i n e l i p s t a n k l i t t i n g s i n s l c a co ( ir t r &t t t t t r c lt iv ) rvin gtipla ilings .r lilit t r thc usr,ral

Head - o r r v i e w o f t h e ll- 2 8 RM .

t n h ir t, i Itlittt ( jo n lo ru )

TsE L--28 Favry .43

Table11. I|-28RM specifications

Manufactureros flight tests State acceptance trials

Length overall Heighton ground Span Wing area Wing loading,kg/m,(lb/ft,) Powerloadingat sealevel,kgikgp (lb/lb sQ Operating emptyweight, kg (lb) Normal all-upweight,kg (lb) MaximumAUW (with drop tanks),kg (lb) Fuelload,kg (lb): internal with drop tanks Payload, kg (lb): normal configuration (with drop tanks) _ in overload Top speed, km/h (kt): at4,250 m (13,943 ft) at 5,000 m (16,404 ft) at 6,600 m (21,653 ft) at 7,000 m (22,965 ft') at 10,000 m (32,808 ft) Rateof climb,m/sec (ftlmin): at sealevel at 5,000 m (16,404 ft) at 10,000 m (32,808 ft) Climb time,min: to 5,000 m(16,404ft) to 10,000 m (32,808 ft) Service ceiling, m (ft) Range without drop tank separation, km (miles) Range with drop tank separation, km (miles) Endurance without drop tank separation Endurance with drop tank separation Take-off run, m (ft) Take-offdistance, m (ft)

17.65 m (57ft 10.88 i n.) 6.0m (19ft 8.22 in.) 21.45 m (70ft 4.48in.) 60.8 m':(653.76 sq.ft) 321(1,560) n.a. 3.12 n.a. (29,728) 13,485 13,467(29,689) (42,989) 19,500 (44,532) 20,200 (s0,s9s) 22,950 22,930 (50,551) (l 1,089) 5,030 (18,187) 8,250 (13,260) 6,015 (20,870) 9,467 926/n.a. (500.54ln.a.)* 877 t851 (47 4.01460.0)*'k n.a, n.a. 862t827 (465.94t447 .0)** * 24. 5| 17 .0 (4,821 I 3,34s)* * | 5.4t 10.3(3,030t 2,027)* (1,299t669)** 6.613.4 4.216.15** 12.419.3** 13,050n2,175 (42,814t39,944)** (1,867)# 3,007 3,042t3,254 4hr40mi n# 4hr 39.5minl 4 hr 49.5min t 963t1,233 (l t,089) 5,030 (t 8,077) 8,200 6,0r5(13,260) n.a. n.a. n.a. 89I /863 (481.62t466.48)** n.a.1863 (n.a.1466.48)** n.a./841 (n.a.1454.59)** n.a. n.a. n.a. 6.21n.a.* * 18.0/n.a.* * 12,500/1 1,500 (41,010t37 ,729)** (1.298) 2,090 ## (2,018) 3,250 I n.a. n.a. 995il,295 (3,264t4,248) It 2,030t2,400 (6,660t7,874) tt

(r,88e/2,021) t

(3,1s9t4,04s) lt |,807 t2,477 (5,e28l8,126) tt

Notes: At take-offpower(N = 11,560 rpm); otherdatafor N = I1,200rpm. I t('* With normal/maximum AUw - 19,700122,570kg(43,430149,2sy'tU) respectively duringmanufacturer,s flight tests and20,200122,930 kg(4a,532150,551lb) respectively duringState acceptance trials. (50,705 kg lb), cruise altitudeio,ooom (32,s0;8 ft) and cr'uising speed L Igy ?1'900 670km/h (362.l6kt). altitudes,0oom1io,4o4 ft) and cruising*speed t# Igy 22,930k9(50,1f 560km/h tjoi] r.tl. 1 lb), cruise lb), cruise i altitude10,000/10,500 12,:50om1ri,aoal:+,44841,0r0ft) lgy rg000 kg (50'70s andcruisingspeed 695 kmlh (368.64137 5.67kt) respectively. 9'!21 With normalimaximum TOW respectivelv. ff At optimumcruise alritudeand cruising I speed 665km/h (359.45 kt).

44 . IrvussrNlr-28 BntcLt prototypespecifications Table12. Il-28 VK-S-powered Manufacturer's fl ight tests c/n 52003701 c/n 52ffi3719 Lengthoverall Span Wing area Wing loading,kg/m' (lb/ft') Power loadingat sealevel, kdkgp (lb/lb st) Operating emptyweight, kg (lb) Normal all-upweight, kg (lb) MaximumAUW (with drop tanks),kg (lb) Fuelload,kg (lb): internal with drop tanks Payload, kg (lb): normal maximum Top speed at 19,300 kg(42,548Ib) AUW andN = I1,560 rpm,km/h(kt): at S/L at 2,850 m (21,653 ft) at 3,000 m (22,965 ft) at 4,000 m (13,943 ft) at 5,000 m (16,404 ft) at 10,000 m (32,808 ft) Landingspeed, km/h (kt) Rateof climb at 19,300 kg (42,548Ib) AUW (ftlmin): and N = I1,250rpm, m/sec at sealevel at 5,000 m at 10,000 m Climb time at 19,300 kg AUW and N = 11,250 rpm,min: to 5,000 m to 10,000 m Effective range with drop tanksand 2,000 kg (4,409Ib) of bombs, km (miles) Technical range with drop tanksand 2,000 kg of bombs, km (miles) Technical rangewithout drop tanksandwith I ,000kg (2,204lb)of bombs, km (miles) Endurance with drop tanksand 2,000 kg of bombs Endurance without drop tanksand with 1,000 kg of bombs Take-off run, m (ft): with normalTOW withmaximumTOW Take-offdistance, m (ft): with normalTOW with maximumTOW Landingrun, m (ft): no airbrakes airbrakesdeployed Landing distance, m (ft): no airbrakes airbrakesand brakeparachutedeployed
State acceptancetrials c/n 52003701 c/n 52003719

(1,4e6) 308 326(r,s84) 3.2 (29,43r) 13,560 (29,894) t3,3s0 (28,908) 13,113 (29,464) 13,365 (41,247) 18,920 (41,710)19,600 18,7t0 (43,209)19,850 (43,761) (53,108)24,300 24,090 (s3,s7r) 24,0s0 (53,020) (s3,39s) 24,220 (8,377) 3,800 (8,377) 3,800 3,800 (8,377) 3,800 (8,377) (17,636) 8,000 (17,636) 8,150 8,000 (t7,967) 8,050 (17,746) (l 1,816) 4,360 (9,6t2) 6,487 5,360 (14,301) 6,485(14,296) (23,677) r0,740 r0,740 (23,677) (23,891) (23,930) 10,837 10,855 (432.43)* 800 (432.43)* 800 (432.43)* 800(432.43)* 800 9r7(495.61) n.a. n.a. n.a. n.a. 9r8 (496.21) 9tr (492.43) 900(486.48)
n .a. 900(486.48) 828(447.s6) r8 9(102) 921(497.83) 918(496.21\ n.a. (100.5) 186 n.a. n.a. 844(456.2r) n.a. n.a. n.a. n.a. n.a. n.a. 844(4s6.2r) n.a. n.a. n.a. n,a.

17.65 m (57ft 10.88 in.) 21.45 m (70ft 4.48in.) 60.8m'?(653.76 sq.ft) 3l l (l ,5l l ) 322(r,s6s) 3.l 6

2t.s(4,23r) (2,73s) t3.9 (r,279) 6.s

4 .85 13.3 (1,863) 3 ,0 0 0

(3,837) le.5 t3.r(2,s78) (r,328) 6.7s

5.25 n.a. n,a. 13.8 14.0 14.0 (1,863) 2,710 (1,683) 2,670 3,000 (t,6s8)

(1,925)* 3,012 (1,870)** 2,820t3,020 3 ,1 0 0 # 2,79012,980 ## (r,7sur,870) (l ,733l r,850) (806)*** 1,309 (1,870) 1,298 n.a. n.a. I 4 hr 51min* 2 hr 07 min 'r"'* e20(3,018) 1,4r0(4,626) I

4 hr 33min** 2 hr 02minf 94s(3,100) (4,69r) t,430 fi

n.a. n.a.

n.a. n.a.

(3,280) r,0s0 (3,444) 1,000 (4,494) r,360 r,370 (4,462)

(6,151) 2,000 (6,561) r,760 1 ,8 7 5 (s,774) (8,884) 2,s2s(8,284) | 2,708 tt 2,4ts(7,e23)

(6,4r0) r,9s4 (7,6e3) 2,34s (2,624) 800 (2,r6s) 660

n.a. n.a.

9r3(2,99s) (r,991) 607 (s,551) 1,692 (4,117) r,2ss

n.a. (r,7r9) s24

n.a. (3,618)

(2,165) 660 (1,804) 550

n.a. n.a.

THe Ir--28Fevny.45

March 1952 a tight schedule whichprovedimpos- engined bombervariantwasinitiatedby Councilof sibleto maintain.The unserialled II-28RM protoMinisters(CofM) directiveNo. 5329-2088ss of 29 type (c/n 52003714) first flew on 17 February1952, December 1952 and MAP order No.lss of I but the manufacturer's flight testswere not com1953. January pleteduntil 12 April (the test report was signedon The two prototypeswere convertedfrom stan29 Aprll); thus the Stateacceptance trials did not dard Moscow-built Il-28s (c/ns 52003701and commence until l0 July.The trials wereduly comPursuant 52003719). to the above-mentioned CofM pleted on l5 January 1953. directive the first prototypewasto be transferred to The I1-28RM featuredthe latest version of the LII for testing,while the other aircraft was to be , intendedpowerplant- the VK-5E (ekonomichnyy delivered to NII VVS in April 1953 for Stateacceptfuel-effrcient),incorporating additional measures ancetrials. aimed at reducingthe SFC. This enginepassedits Apart from the engines, the bombershad a few Stateacceptance trials concurrently with the aircraft other changes. Both aircraft had wingstakenfrom itself.The new engines necessitated a redesign of the the Il-28R, with wingtip drop tanksto extendtheir engine bearers andengine nacelle structure, theengine range. The second prototype featured enlarged controlsystem had to bemodifiedand thelowerskins x 390mm (49.6x 15.35 1,260 in.) mainwheels borof theouterwingsstiffened. No changes weremadeto rowed from the Il-28R and an automaticwheelthearmament andequipment. brake system,while the first prototype retained Nevertheless, the good performance of the air1,150 x 355mm (45.27 standard x 13.97 in.)maincraft and its powerplant did not help.Because wheels. The 12-4-30DC batteries of the werereplaced by scrapping of the Il-28SandTu-93projects for which new I2SAM-25batteries and movedforwardto the the new enginewas primarily intended(the Tu-93 radarbayto shift the CG forward. was a VK-5 poweredversion of the Tu-14), the The defensive armamentwasidenticalto that of VK-5 did not enterproduction- and hence neither the standard Il-28,comprising two nose-mounted did the II-28RM.Besides, it wasclearby thenthat NR-23swith 100rpg and two NR-23swith225 rpg axial-flow turbojets were superior to centrifugal- in the tail turret.The normal bomb load and the flow engines. maximumbomb load were1,000 kg(2,204Ib)and The specifications of the Il-28RM aredetailed in 2,000kg (4,409 lb) respectively. TableI 1. Both aircraft were completedwithin a short timescale and duly tested; the manufacturer's flight tests reportwasendorsed on 28 April 1953, and the Stateacceptance trials report exactlythreemonths Il-28 experimental tactical bomber with later. The specifications of the VK-5-powered VK-5 engines bomberprototypes aregivenin Table12.
The next version of the Beagle to be powered by VK-5s was the regular bomber. Logically this aircraft should have been designated Il-28M, but no separatedesignationwas allocated for some reason, and the designation Il-28M was eventually used for another version (seebelow). Development of the re-

On 10 September 1953 NII VVS concluded that it would be advisable productionof to launch series the VK-S-powered Il-28. However,the upgraded bomberdid not enteroroductionfor the reasons stated above.

Notesto Table12: * TOW 24,170 kg(53,284lb), cruising speed 650km/h(351.3 kt) andcruise 10,500-l3,200 altitude m (34,44843307 rt). ** TOW 24,330 kg(53,637 lb),cruising speed 680km/h(367.5 kt) andcruise altitude 10,50013,100 m (34,44842,979ft). x't.FTOW 18,710 kg (41,247lb), cruising speed 650km/h(351.3 kt) andcruise altitude 10,000 m (32,808 ft). TOW 18,920 kg (41,710lb), cruising speed 700km/h(378.3 kt) andcruise 10,000 altitude m (32,808 ft). I (53,020 # TOW 24,050k9 lb),cruising speed 668km/h(361.0 kt) andcruise altitude 10,000 m/l0,000 12,000 m (32,808/32,808-39,370 ft). # # T O W 24, 220k g (5 3 ,3 9 5 1 b ),c ru i s i n g s p e e d 668km/h (361.0kt)andcrui seal ti tudel 0,000m/10,000 12,000m (32,808/32,808 39,37 0 ft). Tow 23,800 kg (52,469lb). t T oW 24, 000 k g (s 2 ,e l 0 1 b ). tt

46. Ir-vusurN L-28 Brtcu.

4 Red, the Il-28TM torpedo-bomber prototype, photographed during trials in 1953.( Yalint Gonton urthitc I

:) t

Another view of the II-28TM; the c/n 50301106 reveals the aircraft was converted from the first prototype ll-28T.
I Yelim Gonlon urthiye )

II-28TM experimental torpedo-bomber

The Il-28TM torpedo-bomber (torpedonosets modiJitseerovannyy)was the last of the three Beagle variants modified to take the VK-5 engine. It was developed in accordance with CofM directive No. 72l8rs of 22 May 1953 and Ministry of Defence Industry (MOP - Ministerstvo oboronnoypromyshlennosti) order No. 295ssof 27 May. The schedule stipulated by the government was extremely tight: the prototype was to be handed over to the Navy's Research Institute No. 15 in just one month. In those days it was customary in the Soviet Union to strictly comply with government orders and directives concernine the defence industrv.

whatever the cost. OKB-240 managed to complete the prototype within the stated timescale by converting one of the Il-28T prototypes (c/n 50301106).8 The installation of VK-5 engineswith new extension jetpipes led to several associated changes.The front parts (detachableengine cowlings) and rear parts of the nacelleswere modified, the electric wiring inside the nacelleswas rerouted and the engine cooling ducts were modified. Changes were also made to the engine controls, a

8 The c/n shows that the aircraft was built in 1950. so this was probably a development aircraft retained by the Ilyushin OKB.

TUEIr--28Favnv.47 Table 12a. I|-28TM weaponconfiguration Normal weapons load Total weight, kg (lb) Maximum weaponsload Total weight, kg (lb)

2 x FAB-500M-46 bombs x 45-36AMVtorpedo x 45-36AMNtorpedo x RDT torpedo 2 x AMD-500mines x AMD-1000 mine x Lira mine x Desnamine

(2,204) r,000 (2,365) 1,013 (2,210) 1,030 (l,3ss) 61s (2,244) r,018 (2,244) 1"018 (2,1 988 78) (1,693) 768

l2 x OFAB-100 bombs bombs 8 x FAB-250M-46 bombs 4 x FAB-500M-46 I x FAB-1500M-46 bomb bomb I x FAB-3000M-46 1 x TAS torpedo I x TAV torpedo 4 x AMD-500mines I x AMD-M mine 1 x Serpey mine torpedoes 2 x 45-36AMV 2 x Lira mines 2 x Serpey mines 2 x Desnamines

(2,645) 1,200 (4,409) 2,000 (4,409) 2,000 l ,s00(3,306) (6,613) 3,000 (3,3s0) 1,s20 (2,828) 1.283 2,0t8 (4,448) (2,619) 1,188 (2,795) 1,268 (4.69t) 2,128 (4,316) 1,958
? 5tR /5 55t\

(3,346) 1,518

new fire-extinguishing system was installed and the engines' foreign object damage (FOD) protection screens,made of wire mesh, were provided with a de-icingsystem. In addition, a seventh fuel cell (No. 38) was fitted, drop tanks were installed at the wingtips and the liquid oxygen bottles were relocated.The higher gross weight required the standard mainwheels to be replacedwith 1,260x 390 mm (49.6 x 15.35in.) mainwheels, as on the Il-28R. Finally,a secondnose cannon with 100 rounds was installed on the starboard side (as already mentioned, the production Il-28T had only the portside forward-firing ca n n on) . Table l2a showsthe Il-28TM's weaponsconfigurations. Serialled 4 Red. the aircraft completed its manu-

facturer's flight tests by late June 1953 (the test report was signed on 30 June) and passed State acceptance trials in July (the Soviet Navy's Research on I Institute No. 15 issuedits act of acceptance August). Still, the I1-28TM fared no better that its i.e. the other versionssharing comrades-in-engines, the VK-5 powerplant. The specificationsof the II-2STM prototype are given in Table 13.

guided bombcarrier Il-28-131

Back in the early 1950s the SovietUnion started with precisionguided munitions experimenting (PGMs). An experimental batch of UB-2000F = radio-controlled guided bombs (UB homba guidedbomb) was built oopravlyayemaya

Gordon archiva An Il-28- 131 with a UB-2F Chaika guided bomb suspendedunder the fuselage.( Ye.lirn )

48 . Ir-vusnrN lr-28 Bn.scLp Table13. I|-28TM prototypespecifications Manufacturer's flight tests Length overall Span Wing area Wing loading,kg/m' (lb/ft') Powerloading at sealevel,kdkgp (lb/lb st) Operatingempty weight,kg (lb) Normal all-upweight, kg (lb) Maximum AUW (with drop tanks),kg (lb) Maximum AUW (with drop tanks and PSR-1500-15 JATO bottles), kg (lb) Fuelload,kg (lb): internal with drop tanks Payload, kg (lb): normal maximum Top speed at22,070 kg (48,655Ib) TOW and take-off powerrating, km/h (kt): at sealevel at 5,000 m (16,404 ft) at 10,000 m (32,808 ft) Landing speed, km/h (kt) power Rateof climb at22,070 kg TOW and cruise rating,m/sec(ftlmin): at sealevel at 5,000 m (16,404 ft) 10,000 m (32,808 f0 power Climb time at22,070 kg TOW andcruise rating,min: to 5,000 m (16,404 ft) to 10,000 m (32,808 ft) Effectiverangeat 10,000 m with drop tanks and 45-36AMVtorpedo, km (miles) Technical rangeat 10,000 m/600kmlh(324 kt) with drop tanksand 45-36AMVtorpedo, km (miles) Technical rangeat 10,400-12,550 m(34,12041,174 ft)l 585-900 km/h (31G486kt) with drop tanksand 45-36AMVtorpedo, km (miles) Endurance m with drop tanksand at 10,000 45-36AMVtorpedo Enduranceat 10,400-12,550 m/585-900km/h with drop tanksand 45-36AMVtorpedo Take-off run at maximumTOW, m (ft) Take-off distance at maximumTOW m (ft) Landing run, m (ft) Landing distance, m (ft)
State acceptance trials

17.65 m (57ft 10.88 in.) 21.45 m (70ft 4.48in.) 60.8m'(653.76 sq.ft) (r,778) 380(1,846) 366
J.J

(29,530) 13,395 (41,424) 18,790 (48,6ss) 22,070 (49,7t3) 22,550 (8,377) 3,800 (15,167) 6,880 5,397(11,898) (t9,124) 8,675 (432.43)', 800 e0l (487.0) (451.89) 836 (10r.9) r88.5 (3,030) 15.4 n.22 (2,208) (1,348) 6.8s 6.36 6.85 (r,349) 2,172 (r,444) 2,326 (r,ssz) 2,499 3 hr 48min 4 hr 20min (3,576) 1,090 (6,742) 2,055 (2,920) 890 (4,9s4) 1,510

3.s6 (29,530) 13,395 (4l,4le) 18,788 (48,6s0) 22,068 n.a. (8,377) 3,800 (15,167) 6,880 (11,867) s,383 (19,098) 8,663 (432.43)* 800 (483.78) 895 (4s2.43) 837 (96.2)** 178 (3,207) 16.3 (1,830) 9.3 4.0(787) 6.6 19.5 (r,345) 2,166 (1,437) 2,3rs
n.a. 3 hr 4l min n.a.

(4,133) r,260 (6,643) 2,025 (3,084)*** 940 (6,971)*** 2,125

Notes: * limited because Speed of dynamicstrengthlimit. ** Data for VK-l-poweredIl-28T. Data for VK-l-poweredIl-28T with a 15,000 'r'<*'* kg (33,068 lb) landingweight.

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prcscrved ..,1br.,r'r,. This Beugle. at the Civil Aviation Museum in Ulyanovsk (ch 56605702), is supposedlyan ll-20. with an appropriate(now fadcd) Sovict flag and winged Aeroflot logo. Howcver. there ure reasonsto believethat it was paintecl like this rrlicl comin-uto thc muscLrrrand is rcally Sovict Ail Forcc 38 Rcd! Note tl.rc Il-28 nosc tillcs.
i IL'lint (ionLtn,

Above: This stripped-out hulk of a Beagle sat for many years on the far side of the airfield at Kubinka AB. ( yefim Gordon)

Left: The rear fuselage and tail unit of East German AF Il-28 208 Red, showing the tail turret; the cannon have been removed, probably to be displayed separately. ( Yefim Gordon)

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Ahovc: Looking somewhatweather-beaten, B-5s703 Red and 706 Red sit on the grassat Baciu in non-flying condition.
( R AR T )

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Air Force MuscLtt.t"t Bulgarian Il-28 43 Rcd sits at thc 13ulgarian

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Above: The FNAF Beagleswore crudely applied green and black camouflage. (RARr)

Above: A NigerianIl-28 sharingthe ramp at Enuguwith MiG-17F NAF-615.fn,cnr;

Tup Ir-28 Fevlrv . 49

OMTAP, (otclel'nyy minno_tor_ pednyyaviapolk - independent minelilng and tor_ pedo.-bomber regiment) converted tin Il_2g Dombers andtorpedo_bombers (Il_2gT), whichwere redesignated Il-28pL Qtrot _ anti_sub_ ivolodochnyy marrne). These aircraftwerefitted with the SpARU_ 55 sonobuoy receiver(,samolyotnoye preeyomnoye avt omaticheskoye rahdioustroy,, t vo _ aiiboine auto_ matic radio receiver device,i955 model; constitut_ ing part of the Baku sonarsystem recently adopted
9 Some sourcesstate the unit as the 769th OMTAP

by the AVMF (the same system was fitted to the Kamov Ka-25PL Hormone-A shipboard ASW heli_ copter). The bomb bay was big enough ro carry sonobuoys (rahdiogiidroak\osticheskiy IGB.-N, booy) and depth chargeswithout requiring modifi_ cations. The SPARU-55 was a superheterodynereceiver working in the 49.2 to 53.4 MHz waveband. This range was split into eighteen preset frequencies through which the receiver cycled automatically. If a signal from a sonobuoy was detectedon one ofthe frequencies, the receiverlocked onto it, enabline the operator to determine_1f lhe sonobuoy had rEally detected a submarine. If that was the case,he acti_ vated the SPARU-55's direction_finder mode, and the aircraft homed in on the operating buoy to attack the submarine. A major drawbaik ol the SPARU-55 was its long cycling time (in automatic mode it neededI l0 secondsto switch from one buoy to the next!). An outward identification feature of the.tl-28PL may have been severaladditional blade aerials on the aft fuselage underside; these were probably associated with the SpARU-55 receiver. ln 1962rhe AT-l ASW torpedo was included in the AVMF inventory;it could also be carried inter_ nal l y by the l l -28pl , !9i 1g :.e m (12 ft9.54 i n.) tong and w ei ghi ng530kg (l ,168 l b). I|-28PL anti-submarine warfareaircraft Officially the reason for the ll_2gpl's existence The late 1950s and early1960s sawanother escala_ was the. necessityto quickly receiveASW support tion of the Cold War which nearlyturnedinto a once. it had been requested by whoeverspotted the full-blown hot war duringthe Cubanmissile cnsis. unrnendl ysubmari ne. si nce the l l _29w asmore than Thedeployment of Soviei ballistic missiles to Cuba twice as fast as the obsoletepiston_engined Beriyev worried the USA and its NATO alliesimmensely, Be-6 Madge_flying boat operited by thE Soviet Navy causing themto stepup their submarine activities. at the time. Besides, the flying boati were difficult to I nrs.ln turn, led the SovietUnion to bolsterits operatein winter when their basesfroze up. But per_ Navy,.including the Naval Air Arm. Not having haps the real reason was the naval command s wish enoughASW aircraft to monitor the activitieso] to stop the Beaglekennelsfrom being disbanded, as Westernnavies along the SovietUnion.smanne they inevitably would be, and keep th-e pilots flying. borders-and destroy, the AVMF decided to convert l n 1966 rhe H e of the B al ti c Fl eet.sai i ai m some of thebombers it hadon its strensth. approached the Soviet Navy's GHe, requestingthe The aircraft convertedfor the ASfr role were formation of two regiments .quipp.A *itt tt. mostly{u-16 Badgers and ll-2gs.For instance, the Il-28PL, but the requestwas turned down. Baltic Fleet's759th

as early as 1953and testedon specially modified Il-28 and Tu-4 bombers. Designed'by a ieam under A. D. Nadiradze, the UB-2-000F 6o.. u certain resemblance to the GermanFritz X glidingbomb of World War II vintage,with a sqiashei_X wine arrangement to provideadequate groundclearancel However._ the wings were oi delta planform with rnset rudders, and the casing had a constant diame_ ter (in contrast,the Germanbomb had trapezoidal wingsand a bulged warhead). Tests showed that two or threesmartbombswere en^ollgh.todestroy a targetmeasuring 30 x 70 m (9g x229 ft) whichwould haverequired iire expenditure of 168FAB-1500 dumb bombs. Hencein 1955 the productionand was includedin YB:2.99^0.entered rne.vv-5rnvnrory as the UB_2FChaika(Seagull) or 4A-22.About thirty Il_2gs specially equippelto carrythese PGMs werebuilt in 1956.-This weaDon was carried externally under the fuselage. Outwardlythe ll-28-l3l could be identified by-a small angular fairing under the nose, probably the guidanceantennafor the UomU. fn-e 1o_us11g UB-2Fwasalsocarried by specially modified Tu_16 Badger-A bomberswhich carriediwo suchbombs on underwing pylons.

Il-28Shattackaircraft
In the late 1950s the Ilyushin OKB considered adapting the Beaglefor the strike role. This involved installation of a battery of twenty unguided rockets in the bomb bay. This would giu. ia.quute fire_ pgyef without spoiling the aircraft's aerodynamics with high-drag external stores. The launch tubes were to be mounted almost vertically, firing down and aft; a salvo of rockets equipped with s"haped_ chargewarheadswas expected-to-bi an effectiveway of destroying armoured vehicles. The crew was

lr-28 Brtcrc 50 . lr-vusnrN reduced to two, the navigator/bomb aimer being superfluous. But it was quickly establishedthat the efflux of twenty rockets impinging on the airframe would make the aircraft uncontrollable and the idea was dropped. However, the limited warload of the fighterbombers of the period forced the military and the to dust off the idea of an 11-28 engineers attack aircraft. The specification for such an aircraft was drawn up in the spring of 1967 before the famous Six-Day War, in fact. The aircraft was to have a combat radius identical to that of the Sukhoi Su-7BM Fitter-A fighter-bomber but an ordnance load two or three times greater.The result was the Il-28Sh (shtoormovik - attack aircraft). It featured twelve underwing pylons for unguided rockets five outboard and one inboard of eachengine. This was considereda more acceptableapproach, even at the expense of the extra drag created by the external stores. Possible weaponsconfigurationsincluded twelve U B- 16-57 rocket pods with sixteen57 mm (2.24 in.) S-5 folding-fin aircraft rockets (FFARs) each,"'or six 250 mm (9.84 in.) S-24 rockets,or various gun pods, submunitions containers and free-fall bombs. Depending on the mission, the pilot could selecta salvo launch or just two pylons, four pylons, etc. Flight tests which began 1n 1967 showed that even when all 192S-5 rocketsor all six S-24rocketswere fired at once, the engines showed no inclination to surge or flame out. The Il-28Sh commencedStateacceptance trials in October 1967.The test pilots reported that the aircraft was suitable for low-level and ultra-low-level strike missions.It was established that flying at and delivering accurate rocket/bomb strikes from altitudesright down to 60 m (196 ft) could be mastered by service pilots without any trouble; flying still loweq though, demandeda lot of concentration and extra training. The aircraft could be prepared for a sortie within four hours. Below 200 m (656ft) the Il-28Shhad a speedlimit of 660 km/h (356 kt). Fuel consumptionat low altitude increased by 30-50 per cent as comparedto the basic bomber becauseof the external storesand the aircraft's combat radius with a full load of FFAR pods was 295 km (183 miles).

--*:;*

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'

This poor but interestingshot shows the prototype Il-28Sh attackaircraftduringtrials.The manyunderwing
pylons are clearly visible. ( Ycfint Gortlon arthivc )

Yet, despite all its merits as a strike aircraft, the Il-28Sh had inadequatearmour protection and the ejection seats were not yet of the zero-zero type, which meant the crew had no chancesof survival if shot down at low altitude.Hencethe Ilyushin OKB discontinued development of the Il-28Sh, and though originally 300 Il-28 bombers were slated for conversion for the ground-attack role, only a few were eventually converted at the Soviet Air Force's aircraft overhaul plants and delivered to first-line units.

Il-282 A weather reconnaissance aircraft 1959 On 23February theState Committee onAircraft

(GKAT - Gosoodahrstvennyy komitet po avialseeonnoy tekhnike) issuedan order concerning the development of the 11-28Z4(zondirovschchik atmosfery lit. atmospheresampler)weatherreconnaissance aircraft for civil aviation needs.A few Beagleswere converted to this configuration.Unfortunatelyalmostnothing is known about this version.

Target-towingversions (Il-288M) a) Sovietversions

Two versions (the basic bomber and the Il-28R) were widely used as target tugs - both for testing new AA guns and for training fighter pilots. The special equipment for this mission included a BLM-1000 (BLM-1000M) or BLT-5 winch installed in the bomb bay and a77BM-2 (77BM-2M) or PM3Zh winged target towed on a cable anywhere between 5 and 2,500 m (16-8,202 ft) long." For take-off and landing the target was connectedto the aircraft by a rigid link permitting operation from both paved and unpaved strips.The bomber version used short linkage rods, whereasthe Il-28R was fitted with long ones.The installation of target-towing equipment did not seriouslyaffect the aircraft's CG position, which stayed well within the prescribed

l0 UB = ooniJitseerovannyy blok standardized [FFAR] pod; the UV- I 6-57 designationsometimesfound in Westernliterature is incorrect. S = snar!,ad in this case,unguided rocket. I I BM = booksirooyemaya mishen' - towed target; py11= plahner-mishen' gliding target. Some sources stated a towing cable length of 20 2,500 m (65-8,202 ft).

T H r -l L - 2 1F { rnrrl .51

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rl 't .$r

----

r\'t

-4.*Arf

-*'-ao

Qlxx"'

' 1 2B luc' a. Il-28 R con ve rted t o ll- 288M c onf igur at io' ( not e t i p t a n k s ) . t u k e so f I 'r . r , i t r ar t a r g e tc o n n e c t e d bar' Thc aft position of thc tacticar .oa. ir bi,. rigid tou,noti*o,'thy. , li,l;;,, oon,tturr.rrirt )

52 . IryusurN Ir.-28 Brlctt Tabfe14. Comparison of performance characteristics of ll-28 + 77Bl/.2ln combination andIl-28R + PM-3Zh combination II-28+ 77BM-2M Climbtime,min: to 1,000 m (3,280 ft) 3 to 4 ,0 0 0 m (1 3 ,1 2ft) to 8,000 m(26,246 ft) to l 0,l 00 m (33,1 36 it) to 10,900 m (35,761 ft) Range at 10,000 m (32,808 ft)/620 km/h (335kt), km (miles) Range at 8,000 m/540kmlh (292kt), km (miles) Maximumrange, km (miles) Endurance at 8,000 m/540km/h Maximumendurance Power loadingat sealevel, kg/kgp(lb/lb st) 3.54.0 9.75 t0.2s 23.7524.0 n.a. 57.0 845(524) n.a. (916) 1,475 n.a. 2hr 44 min
J.J

lf-28R+ Pl4.-3Zh

4.0 10.7 5 27.2s 55.0

n.a. n.a. (708) 1,140

(96s) r,555 2 hr 07min

3hrllmin 3.56

limits. The target-towing versions are sometimes referred to as Il-28BM (booksirovschchik misheney target tug). The field performance of Il-28 bombers with a 20,100kg(44,312Ib) grossweight and Il-28Rs with a 19,822 kg (43,699 lb) grossweight enabledthem to operate with targets from concrete airstrips at least I,800 m (5,905ft) long. At a grossweight of 22,207 kg (48,957lb), the 11-28R could operatewith targets from concrete airstrips at least 2,300 m (1,545 ft) long. Endurancewith a towed targetwas 2.5 hours. Table 14 above gives some performance characteristics of an ll-281778}l-2tr.t4 combination (TOW 20,050 kg144,202 lb, fuel capacity 7,990 lit.ll,757.8 imp. gal.) and an Il-28R/PM-3Zh combination (TOW 22,20'7 kg148,957 lb, fuel capacity 9 ,550lit . / 2, 101 imp . g a l .). When towed targets were supplemented by rocketpoweredtarget drones the Il-28 target tugs were converted into combined tugs/drone launchers. The drones were carried on underwing pylons between the nacelles and fuselage in much the sameway as the upgraded Il-28T carried torpedoes. They were launched and flew on towards the shooting range when the aircraft reached an appropriate altitude. Apart from towed targets,the II-28BM basedon the standard bomber version could carry PM-6R and PM-6G target drones (PM = pikeeruyuschchaya mishen' diving target). These looked rather like bombs with overgrown fins and were equipped with smoke tracers and recovery parachutes. The I1-28R and I1-28Tcould not be modified to carry thesedrones becauseof the reconnaissanceand torpedo-bomber versions'increasedTOW (which would be excessive if the drones were carried) and some structural details which renderedthe conversion impossible. The PM-6 drones were carried on special underwing pylons attached on two pairs of sweptV-struts.

The deliverysystemspun up the drones'stabilizing gyros, using power from the carrier aircraft, and dropped the drones singly or simultaneously at a preset altitude between 2,300 and 8,000 m (7,545-26,246ft). The drones were aimed using the optical sight or radar; in an emergency they could be dropped by either the pilot or the navigator.With two drones the aircraft's serviceceiling was limited to 9,600 m (31.496 ft). and the take-off run increasedby 300 m (984 ft). b) East German version The East German I1-28sconverted into target tugs differed slightly from their Soviet counterparts, as no rigid targets were used. A drum with a 2,000 m (6,560 ft) steelcable was carried in the bomb bay on the standard bomb cradles. To this a fabric 'sock' 8 m (26 ft) long and I m (3 ft) in diameter was attached; it was neatly rolled up and suspended from the bomb cradles before flight. A small roller was attached to the lower fuselageto stop the cable from scuffing the fuselageskin as it paid out. Some types of anti-aircraft guns (including the 5-60) were radar-directed, so aluminium cones had to be inserted into the sock to provide aradar signature. Prior to entering the shooting range the pilot lowered the flaps 20" and slowed the aircraft to 280 kmih (155.5k0 to prevent the target from being ripped apart or torn off by the slipstream as it unfolded. The navigator then dropped the target, which unwound the cable as it deployed; the drum was fitted with a centrifugal brake to make sure the cableunwound smoothly. Two or three minutes later the target was fully deployed, the observer in the gunner's cabin monitoring it. (All armament was usually removed.) When the sortie was completed the cable and target were jettisoned, usually by means of a pneu-

THEIr--28Fevu-y . 53

matic release mechanism,but the cablecould also be cut by a pyrotechnical guillotine in caseof malfunction. After landing the cablewas rewound and ready for another mission; the target could also be reused, unlessit had been shot to shreds. c) Romanian version At least one Romanian Air Force Harbin H-5 (Chinese-builtll-28, see below), serialled307 Red was convertedfor target-towing duties, using equipment developedby the Air Target SwedenAB company. An MBVTS Mk 3 target-towing winch was installed in the bomb bay, with a faired cable outlet amidships;the cable was 4,500 m (14,765ft) long. The winch worked with a KR-45-430 sleeve-type target equipped with an AS-l3lSC acoustic miss distancesensor; the targetwas hooked up under the fuselagebefore flight.

Il-28M target drone

Besidestowing targets, many Beaglesended up as targetsthemselves! In the late 1950smany obsolete Il-28 bombers were converted into remote-controlled high-speed target drones designated I1-28M (for mishen'(target)) and usedfor testingnew antiaircraft missile systems. To be precise,development of this version was brought about by Semyon A. Lavochkin'sOKB-301. which started desisn work on the Model 400 surface-to-airmissile in 1955. This missile was intended for point defence of important targets,such as major industrial cities,

and designedto destroy aircraft with a radar crosssection (RCS) similar to that of the 11-28. The radio control system enabled the Il-28M to take off, climb to cruise altitude, make manoeuvres and land if the drone was lucky enough to stay in one piece.At first this was often the case- the first prototypesof the Model400 SAM did not scorea single hit on the drones! Another anti-aircraft missile developed by the Lavochkin OKB, the 2074, was testedbetweenJune 1953and November 1954; for instance, three test launches against Il-28Ms were made in October 1953, two of the missiles having shaped-chargewarheads and the third a directional fragmentation warhead. State acceptance trials of the 207Abegan in September1953, using Il-28Ms and Tu-4s as targets. The target drones flew at 9,500-20,000m (31,168 65,616 ft) and up to 35 km (21.7 miles) from the launch site. All the targetswereeitherdestroyed or substantially damaged, the missiles'accuracy beingwithin 7 58 m (23 190ft). Not all Il-2SMs were radio-controlled.however. Some Beaglesphased out by the VVS were given a brush-up by the manufacturer to make sure mechanical failure would not prevent the aircraft from fulfilling its final mission. Then a pilot would take the doomed bomber into the air, climb to a predeterminedaltitude,engagethe autopilot and eject when told to do so by ground control. Test pilot Fyodor D. Bogdanov made 3l such flights in 1952-7, ej ecti ng at 12,500 m (41,010 ft).

Il-28BMs were also supplied to foreign customers; this is Finnish Air Force NH-3. another converted Il-28R
( Yclitrr Gordon arthitc )

54 . It-yusrrrN It-28 Btm.r.

..:ii.i

"'riiltli1i',f r,
. ,.;,t:,i:l*1,i:!

',,' ,f,,,;,li

An ll-28M target drone seenthrough the gunsight of an attacking fighter. ( yt'firtt Gorttrtn urcttirL )

',;,l.;*mlM

Test and development aircraft I. Avionicstestbeds a) Il-28LL radar testbed

One Il-28 (identity unknown) was converted in 1952 for testingthe RP-6 Sokol (Falcon) radar'r and designated Il-28LL (lctay'uscht:lutyu luborutoriyu - lit. fl y ing labor at or y ).' T r h i s ra d a r w i th a 3 0 k m (1 6.2 nm) detection range had been developed by OKB-339 under G. M. Koonyavskiyfor two interceptors the YakovlevYak-120,which enteredproduction and serviceas the Yak-2 5 Flashlight-A, and the Lavochkin La-200B.Initial testswereperformed on a converted Boeing B-l7G Flying Fortress. (While this type was not officially supplied under

l2 RP = rahiiopraetsel radio sight; this was the Soviet term fbr l i r e c o n t r o l l a d a r : a t th e tim c. l3 T h i s R u s s i a nt e r m is u se d in d iscr im in a te lya n d ca n d enote a n y k i n d o f t e s t b cd ( a vio n lcs. e n g in e ,e q u ip m e n t, u ca pons. etc.), an aerodynamicsresearchaircrali or control configured vehicle (CCV), a weather researchaircrali, a geophysicalsurvey aircraft. etc.

the Lend-Lease programme, a number of B-l7s which had crash-landed on Soviet-heldbasesafter raids on Germany were repaired and used by the SovietAir Force.)When it transpiredthat development of the Yakovlevfighter was taking longerthan predictedand that the La-200 would be the firsr to receive the new radar, Semyon A. Lavochkin suggestedthat a heavy aircraft but a faster one than the B-17 be usedto bring the radar up to scratch.The Il-28 was the obviouschoice. To accommodate the radar the bomber's nose glazing was cut away at fuselage frame 2 and replacedby a cylindrical metal structure (part of the Yak-120's noseincorporatingthe avionicsbay). The huge dish of the RP-6 was enclosed by a largeglassfibre radome which had an almost hemispherical front end instead of the usual pointed or ogival shape.The conversionwork was done by Lavochkin OKB specialists under the supervision of the Ilyushin OKB (which was not directly interested in the project but held responsibility for the Il-28 anyway). The famous test pilot Mark L. Gallai flew the Il-28LL, with R. A. Razumov as test engineer;the latter was the worse off. sittins in a dark and

Tue Ir-28 Fenrly . 55

developed by NII-2 was housed in the Beugle's bomb bay. It included a high-speedcine-camera capturing the radar pulsesreflectedfiom the ship and appearingas lineson the radar display. The two testbeds made more than filiv flishts from Kirovskoye airbase on the Crimean Peninsula, r.rsing Black SeaFleet cruisers, destroyers and mrnesweepers as targets.The shipswere either anchored on the roadsteadat Feodosiyaor moved on predetermined headings. Measurements were rnadein 38 fl i ghts at 2.000 5.000 m (6.651 16.404 ft) and 110 167m/sec(360 547l t/sec)atl 0 50 km(5.4 21 nm) range. h) missile tugeting systems research aircraft Forty-three measurements were made with tlre In 1960the Ministry of Defence's Central Research crui sers,64 w i th destroyersand 40 w i th mi neInstitute No. 30 (TsNII-30 Tsentrahl'ny.r' runochnosw eepers at vari ous si ghti ngangl esi n vari ous sea issleiltvatcl',;kir institoot) ioined lorces with NII-2 state conditions. The results were analysed by a and the Research Instituteof the StateCon-rmittee for computer.w hi ch made i t possi bl e to devel opal go(NIl GKRE rurctochno-isslefutwtal',tkit Electronics ri thms l br determi ni ng the cl ass of' a shi pi n a group, () li ttm i t ct u po rahtIi ttt,Ici in.s I i t oot Go,; otttlahrst t) ct1 not) thi s hel pedto devel opgui dancesystems fbr standtronikc)to developactiveradar homing systems lor ol 1'anti -shi ppi ng mi ssi l es. anti-shipping missiles. To this end it was nccessary to analyse the characteristics of the radar pulsereflected c) liorn surlhceships. ThLrs an Il-28 and a Lisunov Li-2 A n II-28U codecll 8 B l uc w as apparcutl y convcrted Cab transport(tr licence-built Douglas DC-3 derivainto an avionicstestbecl of some sot'1, sporting sevtive) were cclnverted into avionicstestbeds equipped cral non-standardaeri al s undcr the l brw ard and with two expcrimental radars and specialrecording rearl usel age. U ntbrtunatcl y no detai l s arc know rrofe q L l l p m ent . thi s ai rcrafl ;i t may havebcen a navai ds cal i brati on Th e nt eas ur em ena t n d re c o rd i n gs y s te m(M R S ) { fl i ght ehcckcr) l i l crl l i .

extremelycrampedbay aft of the radar set all that remained of the navigator'sstation. A total of 33 flights was madewithout any problems;the testprogramme,which ended in December 1952.included simulatedinterceptionof real aircraft. Later,testsof the Sokol radar continuedon the La-200B interceotor prototype which, alter being rejected by the VVS. found Lrse as a testbed.By the end of 1953the radar had been perfected and was fitted to the lateproduction Yak-25M from l954 onwards.replacing the RP-ID Izumrood (Emerald) retdar fitted to early Yak-25sas a stopgapmeasure.

This Il-28U. cocledl8 Blue.appearstclhavebeenconve rted to an avionicstestbccl of sonrckipdl lotc the lany non-srandard aerials unclcr the ftrselage. i St,r.qt,.r ttnl Dntitt it Kt)tni.\\trn)t.rtt(.lti\(, t

56 . IryusHrN lt-28 Bs,tc;rc

II. II-28LL ejectionseat testbed

The Il-28 was extensively usedfor research and devel_ opment work. In the early 1960sseveralaircraft were converted into testbeds for various systemsof the (East)manned spacecraft under development ,Vostok by SergeyP. Korolyov's team. One of these was l0

Blue(c/n 53005710), an ejection seattestbed usedto test, among other things,the ejectionseatof the Vostok's re-entryvehicle. lntereitingly, this aircraft haslikewise been referred to asIl-2giL. The bulky Vostok ejectionseatwas installedin

l0 Blue'the Il-28LLejectionseat testbed' firingtheseat.for thevostokspacecralt's re-entry vehicle. Notethephotocalibrationmarkings on the fuselage and tail an<J ihe dualcine-camera iairiits on eachwingtip.( ycfirn Gorrrotr urtttitL,)

close-up of the vostok ejection seatas it clears the superstructure above the modified bomb bay. ( yeJint Gorrron urt:hive )

. 57 Trrr, Ir.-2E F.,rr.rrn

f
tt

scul ir s it s c 1- r lllt c s Notc tlrc SM-50 chrsu Arrothcl vicu' ol' thc Vostok e'jcction lhr n r t h c I l - 2 E "s p o u t i n ut c r r i l i c l l i r n r c s . plrtncin tfrc b rtckgr-o uttr l. . \ Lt . qr 'r l\ t hr trtti :ur rrtr trrt lt irr' t Lr rt l t t ir it

t
t*

p
'd{*#"

T hc s alrlc a i l . c r a 1 i a s i t l l | c s a | lo th cf

58 . IlyusurNh .-28Bt.. u; r . t

I
t |L'liut (itrhtrt tn hirL t

;.i,id!!a&!i

A t lcx1-lct.iIllcn ta|sc lr t is c 1jc c t c c ll. r r lnr t hc c lll canopy,shittle rins th c glir z int r ' ihic lris paint c din s t r ipc sl 'o f b c t t c r v i s u l l i z a t i o n .N o t c t h c s t a b i l i z i n g b o o n r st i p p e c l with clrtlgucp ala ch ttlcscrtc t t t lit t - u ull lir nr t hc lt c lc llc s t :t h i s n r a l , b e a n c l r 'l l , r c l s i o n o l 't h c l i r n t o u sZ v c z c l aK - 3 6 s e a t .

the f airccl-ovel' bontb bay intmcdintelyahcaclol' thc wir.rgtorsior.rbox atrcl protfuclcclabovc the r.rpper lirselage;hcncc a lalgc tcardrop lairing lvith l'lattcn ecs l ides had t o be i n s ta l l e d a fi o l ' th e p i l o t' sc o c kp i t to pr ot c c t t he t e s t p i l o t s i tti n g i n th e s c a t l i o n .r th e slips t r ear n. A ddi ti o n a l l y .th e l a i l g u n n e r' s c o mp a rtn r c ntwas r c pla c e d b y a l a rg es l a b -s i c l eld i ri ri n g extending n-rucl.r lirrther ali. fl'ont whicl'r ar.rotl.rcr' e'jection scatcollld bc flreclboth upwardsancldownwards.Cir.rc-camerits wcrelnoulttcclin teardroothiri n g s a bov c and belo w th e w i n g ti p s to c a p tu i e th e ejectionseqLlcnce. The Vostok ejection seat wils tcsted succcsslirlly by future cosmonautGhcrrnan Titov. The Mikol,an SM-50 light er ( ak a M i G-l 9 SU . a n c x p e ri me n ral ve rsi onol' t he M iG -l 9 SF l -u rn tc r-C w i th a r,' e n tr al U - l 9 liquid- pr opc l l a n t ro c k c t b o o s te r) a c te d a s chaseplane and car.nera ship.

III. In-flight ref'uelling system testbeds a ) .fightcr I F R s1,s1s111 integrution A V ol onczl " r-bl riIl l t-28 (01 R ect. c/n 2402101)w as convertcdi nto u n.rakeshi fl tanker trai ner used l or testi ngthc l rose-and-dl oguc l l i ght refucl l i ng system dcvcl oped by OK B -918 l ed by Gi ry Il yi ch S cveri n.' Thc ailcrafi workeclwith the tl.rctenth nroduction Gor' ki y-bui l t Mi G- l 9 Fi l nrt,r-,4eocl cd l 0 R ecl (c/n -592101 l 0), converted at LII i n l atc 1957.Thi s lighter l.radno fewcr thar.rtbur ciur.nrny refuelling probes (onc ahead ol- the windshield and three or.r
1.1N ou thc Zvczda (S taf) .l oi nt-S tock('ontpanv.The company l atcr ci evel opcd the LtIA Z-l A S akhal i n podi l ecl H D LJ ( LJPAZ = ott t tif i t sccn l't rttrt t .t p otl t t.trtoy'tr.g rt'guht : ttpruht l; i stundal di zecl suspcrrded. i .c. crtel nal l cl i rcl l i ng uni t) usccl on the Il -7U /tl -7i l M ,I./i r1a,r tarrker. but i s besl knou'n fi rr i ts K -36 L'l ectl on seal .

. 59 Tup h--28Farrarry

Though of poor quality, theseshots are extremely interesting.showing an Il-28 refuelling tanker trailing a hose from the bomb bay, and another Beagle equipped with a nose-mounted refuelling probe taking on fuel from this aircraft. (t:,'li,'t
Gordon qrdtiY,)

the port wing) because the best location had to be determined experimentally. An experimentalwinch emulating a hose drum unit (HDU) was installed in the Il-28's bomb bay, paying out a 5 mm (0.19 in.) steel cable with a d ro g ueof 640 m m ( 2 ft l .l 9 i n .) d i a m e te rto a p o i n t 42 m (137 ft) beyond the bomber's tail. Initially a 36keQ9lb) unstabilized droguewas used.After the first four flights, however, it was replaced with a drogue incorporating a stabilizingdevice 100 mm (3 .9 3i n. ) wide m oun te d 6 0 mm (2 .3 6i n .) fro m th e base. Both models had a lock for engaging the probe. The MiG- 19 would make contact with the tanker at 7,000 m (22,965 ft) and 450470 km/h (250 261 kt) IAS, approaching from a stand-by position 10 20 m (32 65 ft) behind the drogue. Contact was usuallymade in a climb, with or without side slip. Approach speed varied from 0.3 to 12 m/sec(1-39 ftlsec) or l-30 km/h (0.54-16.2kt) IAS. After making contact the MiG-19 stayed locked into the drogue for 3 5 seconds,then slowed down and broke away.For safety'ssake the drogue

lock was set at an unlocking force of 60 80 kg (132-1761b).Usually the fighter carried drop tanks missiontime. to increase Testpilot NikolaiO. Goryaynov (who hasthe distinction of beingthe first Sovietpilot to successfully refuel a heavybomber in flight) was assignedproject test pilot for the tanker trainer. On 28 August 1957 he made a flight to check the operation of the winch. The drogue was deployed at 7,000 m (22,965ft) and 400, 450, 500 and 550 km/h (216, 243, 270 and 297 kt) IAS. After that, test pilots S. F. Mashkovskiy,Pyotr I. Kaz'min and SergeyN. Anokhin made ten refuellingflights, as detailed in the table below. The tenth flight had to be cut short when the drogue entered the fighter's air intake and collapsed,the debris damaging one of the engines.The trials showedthat the chances of making contactwith the tanker dependedmainly on the drogue'sstability, which left much to be desired,as the droguetwisted violently in the slipstream.

Table15. In-flightrefuelling testresults Date

N o. I N o.2 N o.3 N o.4 N o.5 N o.6 N o.7 N o.8 N o.9 N o. 10

MiG-19pilot Mashkovskiy Mashkovskiy Mashkovskiy Mashkovskiy Mashkovskiy Anokhin Mashkovskiy Mashkovskiy Kaz'min Kaz'min

Successful attempts probe) 2 of 4 (nose probe) 2 of 7 (nose probe) 2 of 5 (nose No contact I of33 2ol 41 I of 12 2of34 9of30 No contact

18September 20 September 24 September 27 September 3 October l6 October 30 October I November 7 December 27 December

60 . Iryusunr h.-28 Br:.t<;t,t.

Thc Il-28LSh tcstbcdwas clcvelopccl to invcstigatc thc p o s s i b i l i t yo l 'u s i n g s k i s o n t a c t i c a la i r c r a l t . T h i s v i c w s h o w st h e cxperirrcn talskicl. a nc lt hc bullas tc or . r t uinctr o whic h it is attachcd.in thc lirlly raisccl (iouto11 positiorl.i ti,lint 11sa.t11y,,1

&*

;!

T he ll-2 8L Sh (12
I li'lint Grrdon ttrcltitt t

c/r-r 5300-5 ll2) with thc skid firlly lowcred. Note thc non-retractabletwin mainwheels

TsEl--28 Faurv . 6l b) bomber IFR system tests In due course the Soviet military put forward more stringent requirements, which the Il-28 could no longer meet. One of the greatestdeficiencies was the Beagle's inadequate range. However, at that stageit was deemedinadvisableto retire the many l1-28sin VVS service,so someone suggestedretrofitting the bombers with the probe-and-drogue refuelling system. To this end two more ll-28s were converted for real-life IFR systemtests.One of them was a tanker with a real HDU in the bomb bay, while the other Beagle featured a fixed refuelling probe offset to port above the navigator's station. The two aircraft made successful contacts but the systemwas not fitted to Soviet Air Force Il-28s becauseAleksandr S. Yakovlev's OKB-115 brought out the more promisingYak-129 supersonictactical bomber which eventually enteredproduction and serviceas the Yak-28 Brewer. with ballast to test it for various loads; the whole assemblycould be raised and lowered by hydraulic rams. The nose gear unit was fitted with larger wheels and the the main units had widely spaced twin wheels rather than the usual single ones. This modified undercarriagecould not be retracted, so the mainwheel well doors were deleted to avoid making contact with the wheels.The skid was tested on airstrips with various soil densities; the aircraft made high-speedruns but did not become airborne. h) tracked landing gear testbed To enhance the Beagle'sability to operate from tactical airfields a special tracked landing gear was designed,built and tested on anIl-28 pursuant to a Council of Ministers directiveof 11 January 1951. It allowed the bomber to operate from soft, wet, soggy or snow-covered airfields which rendered take-off with a conventional wheeled landing gear very diflicult or utterly impossible. The tests were consideredsuccessful, but owing to the extra weight and complexity of the experimental landing gear,it was not retrofitted to production aircraft.

IV. Landing gear testbeds a) Il-28LSh In 1958 a Moscow-built Il-28coded12 Red(c/n l2) was intotheI1-28LSh 530051 converted testbed
- ski landinggear)for test(LSh = lyzhnoye shassee ing the efficiencyand durability of aircraft skis designed for dirt strips. Theaircraftwasfittedwith a semi-retractable sprungskid under the centrefuselage.The skid was equipped with pressure sensors and mounted on a hollowbox whichcouldbe filled

V. Engine testbeds
a) Soviet testbed OneIl-28R(identity unknown) wasmodified to test rocket motor developed a liquid-propellant by powerplant L. S. Dooshkin. The experimental was

#si

The Il-28 LSh runs along a dirt strip. ( Yclim Gordon un:hiye )

62 . Ir-yusHrr.r lt-28 Brx;tt

T hisll-28 Rscrvcda s alc s t bc dlbr aliquid- pr opellan t r o c k c t m o t o l d e v c l o p e d b y L . s . D o o s h k i n . l t t , l i t r t G o r t t . r t u r c t t i r t')

i n s t alledin a s ho rt fa i ri n g s h a p c d l i k e a c ro pped co ne s upplant in gth e g u n n c r' s s ta l i o n . T h c tests to ok plac ein 195 3 7 . h) Eust German e,tgine testheds Few remember nowadaysthat E,astGermany had an aircraft industry of its own. Besidesbuilding th e I l- l4P air line r u n d e r l i c e n c ei n D re s d e n .the Germans designedtheir own aircraft as well. In the early 1950sBrunolf Baadestarted work on the 152 a J2-seatmedium-har.rl airliner powered by four indigenous Pirna 014 turbojets rated at 3 . I 50 k gp t 6. 944l b s tt. Designwork on the enginebeganin 1955,and the prototype was bench-runa year later.As the flight teststageapproached, VEB EntwicklungsbauPirna (Pirna Development & Manufacturing) at PirnaSonnenstein (c/n 1418)and conbought an 11-28R verted it into an enginetestbed. The reconnaissance versionwas chosenbecause of the strongerlanding gear a useful feature, since the engine alone, not including the test instrumentation,weighed 1,060 kg (2,336 lb). The aircraft was delivered stm:;radar and armament and registered DM-ZZI. Curiously,

it carried the West German flag on the fin for some obscure reason the elaboratecoat of arms placed in the centreof the otherwiseidentical East German flag had beenomitted. The experimentalengine was housed in a large nacelle under the centre fuselage (called Trop/bn, drop [of water],in local slang);the bomb bay doors were laired over. To prevent FOD on take-off/ landing and windmilling during cruise, the air intake was closed by a hydraulically actuated shutter which the test engineercould open or close by meansof a hand-drivenpump at up to 350 km/h (194 kt). The lower lip of the intake was flattened, resulting in a shapenot unlike that of the Boeing 731-30014001500; this was probably owing to the shape of the shutter rather than to inlet aerodynamics.The lower aft fuselage was covered

I 5 In Westernpublicationsthe aircrafi is often calledBB 152or VEB(former) East German sources 152;however. invariablyrelbr to the aircraft simply as the 152.In lact. the prototypesshould havebeen designatedEF 152 (for Ennrfu'klungsflug:eug der,elopmentaircraft), in keepingwith the traditions of JunkersAG where Baade had onceworked, but this designation was not taken uo

THe Ir--28Fevrrv . 63

Avia 8-228 6915(c/n 56915)was usedto test two jet engines. Here it is shown with a Walter M-701 turbojet installedin placeof thetail turret; notetheventral airintake. (Yt'/imGontonurtttir.a)

The same aircraft in its latter days. The recontoured tail lairing once housed an Ivchenko AI-25TL turbofan but the engineis removed here and the ventral intake andjetpipe laired over. In this guise 569,l5 was used for testing rescueparachutes by dropping dummies. I Yelitn Gordon unhive )

64 . IlvusHrt.r 1,-28 Br.x;t,r-,

by some kind of heat-resistant gunk to protect it from thejet blast. The bomb bay housed test instrumentation- a priming tank, a data recorder,an instrument Danel and an AK 8 or AK 16 remote-controlledcinecamera(or a still camera)with appropriatelighting to fihn the instrument readings. The navigatorwas cxiled to the gunner'scabin from which he kept an eye on the test enginevia forward-view mirrors under the tailplanes, watchingout for a possible fire,fuel leaks, etc.The regularnavigator's compartmenthousedthe test engineer,the Pirna 014's controls and more instruments. One of the fuel cellshad to be removed, but the wingtip luel tanks made up for this. The first flight-cleared engine (the pirna 014 v-9)rnwas fltted to DM-ZZI in lg5g. For ground runs. the aircraft was wheeledonto specialeLvated suppor t s t o m in i m i z e F O D ri s k . F i n a l l v . o n l l September the aircraft made its first test flicht from Dresden-Klotzsche airport (which was also-theseat of VEB Flugzeugbau Dresdenand a major air force b a s e) . The test programme included performancetesti n g at alt it udesup ro 1 2 ,5 0 0 m (4 1 ,0 1 0 ft) i n 5 00 m

(1,640ft) incrementsand speedsup to Mach 0.7g. Flight idling rpm and windmilling rpm at various speeds and altitudesweredetermined,relight posstbi l i ti esat up ro 12,000 m (39,370 fr)and the i ncl i nation to surge in different flight conditions were checked, icing testsand ground noiselevelmeasurements were made. For safety reasonsthe development enginewas alwaysstartedat altitudesin excess of 600m ( 1,968 ft). Flights weretypically made in a racetrackpattern betw eenthe tow ns of P ul sni tzand S tol pen i n the north-east (near the outer marker beacon of Dresden-Klotzsche) and the towns of Floha and Zschopauto the south-west (near Karl-Marx-Stadt now Chemnitz). Performanceand handling differedlittle lrom that of a standardIl-28, exceptthat w i th the tesl engi nerunni ng at l ul l pow er ti re ai rcraft's rate of climb increased to 35 m/sec (6,888ftlmin). In levelflighr at 10,000 m (32,808fr) the testbedreachedspeeds of nearly 900 km/h (486 kt), so the mai n engi nes had to be throttl edback so as not to exceed the l l -28' sdesi gnl i mi t of Mach 0.7. D M-ZZI madea total of 109test fl i ehts:the l ast flight took place on 22 February igOt *itt.r o

't; t!-

rr

%.

Acrof1ot personnelcarry sacksof mail lrom an Il-20 mailplane (c/n 5400577 7). I rtlinrGortton urt.hire )

Tur L-28 Feurry. 65

production-standard Pirna 014,{-l built at Ludwigsfelde. However,the test programmewas taking rather longer than anticipated, so another Il-28R (cln 5901207) wasconverted into an identical testbed, registered DM-ZZK, to speed up the tests. This aircraftmade 102flightsbetween 26 February 1960 and l2 June1961 (thelastflightwaswith pirna 014V-28). Otherexamples of theengine installed on the two aircraft includedPirna 014 V-20 (the first Pirna0l4,{-1)andPirna0l4V-22. Technically thetests wentwell- in fact,theengine performedrather better than expected. However, therewereincidentsof a differentnature.On one occasion(28 March 1960)DM-ZZK, crewedby pilot GerhardPuhlmann,navigator/radio operator Helmut Krattz and test engineer Klaus-Hermann Mewes,was intercepted by three SovietAir Force (296thAPIB)r7 MiG-l7Fs. An aircrafthad left the internationalair route near Magdeburg; hencethe airspace had beenclosed,and DresdenATC had neglected to call the 11-28 backpromptly.The MiGs had scrambled from the nearby airbase at Grossenhain, expecting to find a Western spyplane and the WestGermanflag on the tail certainly did not help!One of the fighterslined up in front, with the otherson the flanks, and unambiguously signalled the crew to follow them to Grossenhain. Luckily the situationwasquicklyclarifiedwhenthe justifiablyalarmed pilot calledDresden ATC, which promptlycontacted the Sovietairbase and straightenedthingsout. Evenso,it wasa nastyexperience for the crew! That was not the end of it. After landing at Dresden the cine-camera wasreloaded, freshchart paperwasloadedinto the testequipment recorders and theaircrafttook off againto complete the day's test programmewhich had been so rudely interrupted.As it did so, a lreak gust of wind caughtit from behind,causingthe aircraft to bouncetwice before leaving theground-just missing thelocalizer at the far endof the runway!Fearingthat the mainwheel tyres were damagedand might explodeat high altitude, the crew chose to terminate the assignment and land. It wasjust as well that they did: the tyres were indeed ruined and needed replacement. The day'sprogramme had gonedown thedrain. Meanwhile, the 152V-l (DM-ZYA) was rolled out in Dresden on 30 April 1958. On 4 December theaircraftmadeits first flight, powered by Mikulin pirna 014 RD-9B turbojetssinceno flight-cleared engines wereavailable yet. Threemonthslater,on 4 March 1959, the prototypecrashed owingto a fuel system defect,killing the crew.The much-modified second prototype(152V-4,DM-ZYB), powered by

Pirna 0144-l engines, flew on 26 August 1960;the defectwas soon discovered during defuellingtests and could be easilyrectified.The third prototype (DM-ZYC) was completedin due courseand the first 28 productionaircraftwerein variousstages of completion. Then the East Germangovernment loweredthe boom. It had long considered the local aircraft industryunprofitable, and in lateNovember1960 it wasdecided to eliminate theindustryaltogether. Big Brother would supply East Germanywith all the aircraft sheneeded anyway. And by mid-1961the BB 152(andhence the Pirna014)wasabandoned. DM-ZZI andDM-ZZK werereconverted to Il-28R standardand deliveredto the East German Air Forceas 180Blackand 184Black respectivelv on I November l96l for useas targettugt.th. nauigator's stationwasreinstated, but the armamentand radarwerestill missing. (As a point of interest, the Germans werevindicatedbefore long.The Soviet Yakovlev Yak-30/Yak32 advancedtrainers and Beriyev Be-30/Be-32 feederliner weresimilarlyvictimized by the COMECON strategists in themid-1960s, even thoughthey wereat leastas good as the Aero L-29 Delfin and Let L-410Turbolet pressed into Soviet service.) c) CTechenginelparachutetestbed A CzechAir ForceIl-28 (Avia B-228) serialled 6915 (c/n 56915) wasconverted into an engine testbed by Walter (currentlynamed Motorlet) in June 1960. Originally it served to test the indigenous 890 kgp (1,960 lb st) WalterM-701 turbojetdeveloped for the Aero L-29 Delfin advanced trainer. The centrifugal-flow turbojet was rather too portly to fit underthe Beagle's fuselage, so a ratherunorthodox installation - theengine waschosen wasmountedin an ogivalfairinginstead of the tail turret,breathing through a ventral 'elephant's-ear' air intake. The bomb baywasoccupied by testinstrumentation. Later the same machinewas used to test the 1,500 kgp(3,306Ib st)AI-25TL rurbofan in a recontoured and more elongatedfairing. This Soviet engine,designedby OKB-478 under Aleksey G. Ivchenko, powered the Aero L-39 Albatros advancedtrainer (the licence-builtversion was sometimes referredto as the Walter Titan). The engine and associated equipment weresubsequently removed but for someobscure reason the lons fairing wasretained. thoughthe air intakeand iozzle

16 Y = Versuchsmuster - Iest article or development aircraft. 17 APIB = aviapolk istrebiteley-hombardiroviththikuv fighterbomber regiment (= fighter-bomber wing).

66 . lrvusurN It-28 Bt.t<;tt

were f-airedover. In this configuration the aircraft was usedto test new modelsof parachutes by dropping dummiesfilled with sand.

carrier/launcher for the indigenous Mak-30 remotelypiloted vehicle(RPV).

d) il-28H
The type did some developmentwork in Poland as well. O ne I l- 28. se ri a l l e dl l 9 B l u c . w a s tra n s ferred to the 1n.rl.1:lut Lotnit'tvu (lnstitute of Aviation) in Warsawand convertedinto an enginetestbeddesignated Il-28H (huntowniu test rig or, in this case, testbed). It was r-rsedto test the indigenous 1 , 000k gp ( 2. 20 4 l .bs t) PZ l -R z e s z o w SO-l turbojet'' developed fbr the PZL TS-l l Iskra (Spark) advanced trainer. The engincwas installedon a specialmount and in the open bomb bay when on was semi-recessed by the ground. It was loweredclear of the fuselage hydraulic rams before startup; for ground runs the aircraft was parkedover a special trench.The experi ment alengine' s c o n tro l sw e rei n s ta l l e di n th c n avrgator's comparrtmentwhere the test engineer sat. The test programmc was successfully completedin thc s pr ing of 19 6 4 .L a te r th e l l -2 8 H w a s u s e das a

VI. Parachutetestbed
Two Polish Air Force ll-28s, 001 Red and 2 Red, were used by the Polish Air Force's Technical Institute (ITWL Inst),tut Te(hnit':n.v Wl.jsk Lotnic:1,1'fi) with a to testthe PB-28brake parachute 7 m(23 ft)di ameter.

Il-20 (ll-28P) mailplane

The Bcugle had a paw in the development of civiljet aviation in the Soviet Union as well. In order to familiarizepilots and ground personnelof Aeroflot (the sole Sovietairline) with jets and help Aeroflot to gain practical experience operating them, a few demilitarizedIl-28 bomberswere transferredto the airline. Tl.reseaircraft were designated Il-20"' or ll-28P (pochtovvl'f,sumolyotl mailplane). The type was chosencarefully.as the ll-28 was easyto fly and serviceand posed no problems for Aeroflot crews

.l'

v,t

t
(thefirstdigitis illegible; hasa civil-style Anotherll-20.SSSR-L...538 c/n54006104). Unlikecln 54005717, thisexample not just Aeroflottitlesand logo.1Y"1im Gortlon urtlutc colourscheme with a redcheatline and bluepinstripe, 1

TUEIl-28 Feurr-v. 67

Aeroflot pilots read a fresh newspaper which hasjust beendeliveredby an ll-20. This was one ol'the perks of the.iob!
rScrwluntl Dntitrit Kortti.tvnt uxltiv )

fl yi n g I l- 12 and Lis u n o v L i -2 P (o r D o u g l a s C -4 7 Dakota) airliners. The Il-28'shigh speed, long-range and modern (in its day) avionicsallowed the crews to quickly masterjet aircraft flying techniques, and easedthe subsequent transition to the big jets considerably. The aircraft's good field performance enabledit to usemost civilian airports of the time. The first group of Aeroflot flight crews started conversiontraining for the 11-20 in October 1953, and the type began carrying freight and mail in late 1954. The Il-20 was much usedto delivermatricesof the Pravda and lzvestiyd central newspapersfrom Moscow to Irkutsk, where both papers had additional print shops.If the papers were deliveredall the way from Moscow they would be one day old by the time they reachedthe Far Eastern regionsof the Soviet Union, and who wants yesterday's news? Together with the so-called Tu-104G (groozovoy cargo, used attributively), which was really a demilitarized Tu-lr6 Budger-l bomber, the Il-20 enabled Aeroflot to develop a training programme which speededup the introduction of the first Sovietjet airliner the Tu-104 Camel.

Foreign production a) Chinese production A s i t di d w i th many S ovi ettypes,C hi na bui l t the Il-28 v'itltout the benellt of a licence. This pirucy beganafter the rift in Sino-Soviet relationsover idcological differences in the mid-1960sput an end tc'r new aircraft deliveries from the USSR. SinceChina had no indigenous tactical bomber, there was no option but to copy a Sovietdesign. ln 1964 the aircraft factory in Harbin started manulacturingspareparts for the Soviet-builtIl-28s operatedby the Chineseair arm. This logically led to the production of completeaircraft;construction of the first two airframes - the prototype and a static test airframe also began in 1964,and the first locally manufacturedIl-28 took to the air on 25

l 8 S O = si l ni koi r:uturv j et engi ne. I 9 The designationwas reused,initially being usedlbr the experi mental ground attack ai rcraft of 1948.It w as subsequentl y re-reused fbr yet another spi n-off of the Il -l 8D an E LIN T aircrali (NATO Coor- Bl.

68 . IryusurN lt-28 Be,tc;tp.

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Largenumbersof H-5s werebuilt both for domesticuseand for export. Outwardly the Chineseversionwas almost identical to the genuineSoviet-builtll-28. (Chinu Airuuli )

September 1966, flown by pilot Wang Wenying, navigator Zhang Huichang and radio operator Zeng Fannan. Full-scale production at Harbin commenced the following year. Chinese-built Beugleswere designatedH-5 (hong:haii bomber) or B-5 (B = bomber) for export. To be perfectlyhonest,the Chinese did not adopt a simple copycat approach, but altered the Beugle considerably, changing up to 40 per cent of the design.In particular,the H-5 had a different (conventional) wing design without the 11-28's trademark feature (the technological break along the chord line); this saved some I l0 ke (242 lb) of weight, although the manufacturing process becamemore diffficult. Outwardly the Chinesereverse-engineered C/zor'r:how' can be distinguished from the genuine Sovietbu1lt Beagle mainly by the shape of the rear extremity of the fuselage. The original ll-K6 ballturret is replaced by the DK-7 turret mounting two Afanas'yev/MakarovAM-23 cannon with 500 rpg. This turret is borrowed from the Tupolev Tu-16 Badgermedium bomber; it is of basicallycylindrical shape, not spherical. Also, the cockpit canopy has a

(without the lengthone-piece blown transparency wise frame member),a taxiing light is built into the forward door of the nosewheel well (a feature not found on most Soviet-built Bcugles)and the starboard forward-firing cannon is deleted. A tactical nuclear strike version similar to the SovietI1-28Awas developed in September1967;the first test drop of a nuclearbomb from such an aircraft took place on 25 (some sources say 27) D ecember1968. The Il-28U was also manufacturedin Harbin as the HJ-5 (hong:haji jiuolianji bomber trainer) or BT-5 (bomber trainer),making its secondfirst flight on l2 December1970.It was ofllcially phasedin by the People'sLiberation Army Air Force (PLAAF) in 1912.and a total of 187werebuilt. The Chinesealso brought out torpedo bomber and PHOTINT versions of the H-5; the Chinese equivalent of the ll-28R was developedin 1970, bearing the designationHZ-S (hongzlrujizhenchali bomber/reconnaissance aircraft) for the home market or B-5R for export. The aircraft was equipped with two cameras for day/night high-altitude photography.Unlike the Soviet reconnaissance version,

. 69 THe Ir--28F,cN4rr-y

0qp
Wcaring lcathcr hclmcts,a Chincscpilot anclnavigator'/bonrb ain.rcltakc thcir scatsin H-5 098(rRccl.This vicw clcarlv
s h t t w s t h c l to sc ca l l l to l t. l ( ltiiltt..lit( r .tlt)

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t h c P L A A F M u s e u m a t D a t a n c s h a nA B .

lt-28 Buau 70. Ir-vusHrN

the HZ-5 had underwingdrop tanks insteadof tip extended the rangeby 47 per cent,the tanks;these by 1 combatradius by 50 per cent and endurance of the PHOTINT hour 23 minutes.Development and the aircraftwas versionwas ratherprotracted, not officially includedinto the PLAAF inventory until 1977. h) Czechproduction Czechoslovakia, too, built the 11-28, but in thiscase everythingwas legitimate,as a licencehad been In the 1950s obtained. the CzechAir Forcehad a habit of giving indigenous designations to foreign military aircraft operatedor built in Czechoslovakia.For example, the MiG-15 fighterand UTIby the Aero MiG-I5 trainer were manulactured - fighter) enterprise asthe S-I 02 (S = stihacilletounl (CS = cvilnj;stlhacifletounl - fighter and CS-102 Thus the Beuglewas built trainer) respectively. locallyas the Avia 8-228 (for bombardovac'i lletounl - bomber).while the licence-built versionof the

CB-228(for cvitnlt Il-28U trainer was designated petoun] - bombertrainer). bombardovaci

requireoperational By the mid-1950s, the general muchmore had become mentsof tacticalbombers stringent, renderingthe subsonicIl-28 obsolete. Therefore, the USSRCouncilof on 3 February1956 Ministersissueda directiveto the effectthat proBy then,asalready ductionof the Il-28 be stopped. mentioned, 6,316 aircrafthad rolledoff the assemall other bly linesin the USSR;the Il-28 surpassed jet bombers in termsof production. Soviet in the development The importance of the 11-28 of the SovietAir Forcecan hardly be playeddown. it waswhat To the VVS and otherfriendlyair forces the English Electric Canberra was to the West, 'Soviet riseto thenickname Canberra'whichgave albeit much later when the Il-28 was dead and wasclearlyluckier however, buried.The Canberra,

.s .\

Avia B-228s (Czech-built Il-28s) taxi out for a training sortie. Note the stained forward fuselageof AD-31 (probably a result of firing the nose cannon); the soot has been scrubbed away, but only just enough to make the serial readable. ( RART)

. 7l Tun Il-28 F.r.lrrrr

Thc Il-z16 was a scalccl-L

f"

This viov of thc solc Il-4(rprototypc clcarlv shou,sits Il-28 linca-scThc cnvisagcd s\\'ept-wing lcrsion \\'itsncvcr built
I li lirtt Gonh'rt unltitc t

72.Ir-yusurN L-28 Bnrcrc

than its Sovietcounterpart, soldiering on well into (mostlyin the reconnaissance the 1980s and target tug roles), and the last survivors remainoperational at the time of writing. The Il-28 hada follow-onin the shape of the Il-46 mediumbomberdeveloped pursuantto a Council of Ministers directive of 24 March 1951. It looked like a scaled-up powered 11-28 by two Lyulka AL-5 axial-flow turbojets (also called TR-3A) rated at 5,000kgp (11,022 lb st). The defensive armament arrangement wasthe samebut the I1-K8tail turret wasneq featuringa muchbiggerfield of fire and a bigger ammunition supply (320 rpg). The main landing gear designwas also similar,exceptthat thereweretwo independent shockstrutseachside, the outboard units retracting forward and the inboard units aft; this unusualarrangement was used to keepthenacelle cross-section toi minimum. The aircrafthad an overalllengthof 25.325 m (83ft 1 in.),a wingspan of 29.0m (95 ft 1.73in.),a wing areaof 105m: (1,129 sq. ft), an emptyoperating weight of 26,300 kg (57,980 lb) and a normalTOW

of 41,840 kg (92,2401b). The normal bomb load was 3,000kg (6,613lb) and the maximumbomb load 6,000 kg(13,227 lb). If the Il-28wasa Beagle, then the Il-46 was surely a Borzoi - a Russian wolfhound.(Or, more likely from a Western viewpoint,a Big BadWolf.) The ADP design stage was completed on 4 December 195 I and the prototypewasrolledout on (!). On 3 March 1952 29 December the 11-46 made its first flight with Vladimir K. Kokkinaki at the controls.Manufacturer's flight testsshoweda top speed of 928 km/h (501k0 at 5,000m (16,404 ft) and a rangeof 4,845km (3,009 miles). The State acceptance trials were completedon 15 October, showingthat the bomberfully met the Air Force's operational requirement.The second prototype designated Il-465, representing the envisaged productionversion, wasto havewingssweptback 35o. However,the swept-wingIl-46 was never completed, losing out to the more promisingand modern Tu-16.

.3
Tnp Batcrn rNSpnvrcp
fFlh. adventof the Il-28 signified the beginning I of the jet agefor the Soviettacticalbomber I force. As alreadv mentioned. a bomberunit of the MoscowDefence District commanded by LtCol A. A. Anpilov wasthe first to take deliveryof the new bomber in 1950.The availabilityof the I1-28Uprototypefacilitated conversion training no pilots transitioned end;27service from the Tu-2 to the Il-28 in just ten days, during which I 12 training flights were made.In contrast,conversion of the samepilots to the Tu-2 had taken more than two monthsand a gooddealmoreflying, The VVS bomber units re-equipped with the Beagle by the mid-1950s. Of course, the units and formations stationed in thewestern defence districts of the USSR which were closestto the potential adversaryenjoyedpriority in this respect.These included the bomber divisions based at Chernyakhovsk (Lithuania, Baltic Defence District), Starokonstantinov and Stryy (the Ukrainian part of the Carpathian DD),, (Odessa Limanskoye DD), etc. Each bomberdivision (= bombergroup,in US terms)includedtwo (= bomberwings)conor threebomberregiments sistingof threesquadrons; eachsquadronhad ten (threeflightsof threeplus a reserve Beagles aircraft in caseone went unserviceable) and one or two Il-28U trainers. For instance, the 63rd BAD of the 57th VA included the 7th FBAP at Starokonstantinov and the 408th FBAP at Stryv;': other units operatingthe Il-28 includedthe 230th FBAP at CherlyanyAB. The Il-28 introduced radar and gave nuclear capabilityto the tacticalbomber force- a feature which was particularly welcomeduring the Cold War years. Onceit had become fully operational i.e. the crewslearnedto fly in poor weather conditions and at extremealtitudes(breakingthrough cloud cover during climb and descent), use radar and synchronised optical sightsfor bomb-aiming - Soviet and usethe defensive armament effectively tactical air power received a major boost. Service introductionwasspeeded up by holdingworkshops in which the Air ForceC-in-C and other top brass, as well as ordinary servicepilots, Ilyushin OKB engineers and representatives from the factories buildingthe bombertook part. The Il-28 contributed a lot to the development of Sovietfree-fallnuclearweapons. As alreadymentioned, the Beaglewas used to test the RDS-4 nuclear bomb, which then becamethe standard weapon of the Il-28N and Yak-28 Brewer. On

I Besidesthe western part of the Ukraine. the Carpathian DD included Moldavia. 2 BAD = bombardeerovoc,hnayuaviudivee:iyu - bomber division; VA = voztlooshnayu armiyu - air army (= air force); FBAP = /rontovoy bombardeerovot'ltnyy aviupolk tactical bomber regiment. Some sources claim the 408th FBAP was basedat Cherlvanv AB.

Sporting an unusually large Soviet Air Force star on the tail, an Il-28 taxies out past a sister ship. 1rr1i,"Gonton urthive )

. lr-vustrrx 7.1 lt-28Br...u;r.r,

A cu rioL rs p ictr-lrc sh olv ing

3 A ugus t l9- 53a s p c c i u l l ymo d i l l e c iIl -2 8 d ro p pcd th c llls t S ov ic thyc l ro -s c n b o l l b a t th c Sc n ti p a l a ti nsk p r ov inggr ound.O n l 2 Au g L rsitn th c s tu l c y c a r t w o I |-28sopcrati n g l'r'rtnr Zl.ra na-Scntcy A Ii ntttni torccl Ihc tcst ol' thc l-ilstSovie t ncutrrtnbonlb nerlbrntccl c l ' l g o l ' ' V. KL rl c h u trrv L r nc lc tr hc guic lan c rl . e Sovi ct th coLlllt c r parol' t S a tn u c (-o l hcn.

A cascis on rccorcl whcr.r thc Bcugla actuallyopcratcd i n a nucl cul cnvi ronntent. On l 4 S epternber l 95zl thrcc rcgi ntcntsol ' l l -28s (the enti rc l 40th B A D ) took ol l ' and headccl l br the Totskoyetrai ni ng rangei n gror" rps ol - ni nc ai rcral t to take part i n a tacti cal nucl ear cxerci se. E ach bornbcr squadron w as cscorted by tw o fl i ghts of Mi G-17s. The

\rr-*

Flaps f ully extertdcd. Il-28 2l Rcd is caught by the camerascconds belbretouchdown. I )i,/irrr G,nt,tt ttrctti :

Tp,l B t..t,,tt l r S t ttr trt .75

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Kottti.stttrot tttr ltitt i

SovictAil ForceIl-28solicn opcratecl in closc lbrnutions. as illuslr'atecl bv this shol

Scrqtr tttrl I)tttilrir

76 . lrylrsnrx lt-28 Br..,rc;t,t

A lt hough tll.1-ltltlrc1tr alit y . t lr is pic t Lr r c is t lev er t hc lc s s i n 1 c r c s t i n g . s | t t l r v i r l g a I r l | - ] t j c l r o 1 1 l i l l . u otl| ygttcsswha 1a ircri r lt s c r v c c llt s t lr ec at r lc r lr s hipbLr t i 1 w l r s c l c | l n i 1 c | y n t l 1 l t I l t l t h c l . R t 't t . q l t '.

cxcrcise wAS coullandcd by Marshal Ghe.olgiy Ko n st ant ir . r ov icZ hhu k o v o l - G rc a t Pa tri o ti c Wa r tirme. The pilots wcrc issued goggles with special to protect thcir eyestror.r.r the f'lashol' the nuclea r explosi o n .W hc n t he bom b w e n t o f-I, c re a ti n g tl rc te l l -ta l c mllshfoom clor-rd. the incoming arntaclastartcclto take evasivcaction. but sr-rddenly a ll'eak wind blew th e cl o ud s t r aightinto i ts p a th . T h c j e ts w e rc l ' l y i n g in closefbrmation and thcre was not ntuch loont fbr ma n o euv r esbec auseo f th e d a n g c r o f c o l l i s i o n : most aircrafi managedto stccrclear,but sontewent sma ckint o t he c loud . l t i s n o t k n o w n w l .ra th t econsequences werefor thc pilots ol thcir jets. The AVMF started receivingthc Bcrrglcin the su rrm er of 1951. init i a l l y i n b a s i cb o m b e r c o n l i g r.rration. Thc Black Sea Fleet's943rd MTAP and the Red Bar.rncr Baltic Flcet's l53lst MTAP wcre the first naval units to receivcthe type; the North Fleet d i d n o t lbllow s uit r -rn ti l1 9 5 3 .th e 5 7 4 rh M T AP being thc flrst Il-28 operatorthcre.The introduction jets coincidedwith a scvere of con-rbat escalation of

i ntcrnati onaltensi on i gni ted by the K orean W ar. Thc outbrcakof' the w ar pl l t an end to post-S econd Worlcl War arnts reductions.Thc Soviet anti-shinping lblce startcdgrowing rapidly owing to both the l bmati on of new uni tsand the transferof' compl ete bor.nber rcgiurents f}om the Air Force to the Navy; sc'ron the AVMF had up to twenty torpedo-bomber r.r n it s. Later. as already mentioned, the naval bombers werc couvertedto carry one RAT-52 torpedo; this versi onw as phasedi n by the A V MF i n earl y 1953. Also" thc Bauslasof' the Red Banner Baltic Fleet's 769th OMTAP were convertedto II-28PL 'quickfl x' A S W ai rcrafi .Tw o rnoreB al ti c Fl eetIl -28 uni ts welc to undertake a sintilar conversion"but these plans were rendcredvoid by the advent of the more capable TLr16. Interesti ngl y. the Il -28 w as the dow nfal l of the Sovict leader's son, Vasiliy l. Stalin, who comrnanded the air fbrce of the Moscow Def'ence D i stri ct. D uri ng the May D ay parade of 1952, numerolrsfighters and bombers were to pass over

. 77 Trtr.B*tctt rNSERVTcE

Soviet Naval Aviation airmcn wearing leatherjackets and 1950s-style white-topped Navy caps pose besidean Il-28.
( Yclinr Gordtn urthit't')

78 . IlyusurN lt-28 Br,tctt

Red Square in Moscow to emphasizethe might of the Soviet air arm. However, the weather forecast said the weather would be beastly,with low clouds and rain all over the place. Hence the WS C-in-C cancelled the flypast; still, V. Stalin called him on the phone, requestingpermission to go ahead if the weather improved. The C-in-C gave the go-ahead, warning that Stalin would bear the full responsibility if anything went wrong. In the end V. Stalin got tired of waiting and ordered the bombers to take off and head for Moscow as planned, even though the visibility was close to nil - an unprecedenteddecision in peacetime. The result was deplorable. Some bomber units missed Red Square altogetheq others passedacross it at right anglesto the planned heading, still others were ordered to return to base before reaching Moscow. Even so, the spectators at Red Square could not seethe aircraft becauseof the low clouds, hearing only the jet thunder overhead.But the worst was yet to come: two ll-28s collided near Migalovo AB, Kalinin (now Tver'), and crashed,killing the crews. For this outstanding performance Vasiliy Stalin was promptly removed from offrce. On 9 March 1953a group of Il-28s overflew the Red Squarein Moscow during Josef Stalin'sfuneral in a farewell salute to the deceasedleader. The weather that day was bad, with extremeicing conditions, and the Beagle was the only aircraft which could accomplishthis mission,being,as it were,the only Soviet aircraft at the time to feature a de-icing system. Soon after the 11-28 had become operational with first-line bomber units, the Soviet Air Force'sflying schools also started taking delivery of the type. These included the Tambov Higher Military Pilot School named after the famous record-setting female pilot Marina Raskova (TWAUL Tambovskoye vyssheye voyennoye aviatseeonnoye oochilischchelyotchikov), the Slavgorod branch of the Omsk Military Pilot School and the Nikolayev Minelayer and Torpedo-Bomber Flying School. The Il-28 was very popular with its crews and technical staff, and with good reason. The aircraft was easy to fly and operate, adequately armed and had a good safety and reliability record, once the learning curve had been overcome. Pilots accustomed to the spartan conditions of the Tu-2 with its cold and noisy cockpits were amazed by the comfortable and well-equipped cockpits of the Beagle. They were also quick to appreciatethe Il-28's speed, rate of climb and good manoeuvrability. The technical staff, too, liked the Il-28 for its easeof access to the enginesand all equipment items requiring maintenancein day-to-dayservice.

Of course,like any new type, the ll-28 had its shareof teethingtroubles. Typicaldefects included flap deployment (caused asymmetric by air locksin the hydraulic lines feedingthe flap drive jacks), radar and autopilot failures. Theseweredealt with astheycame. The radarwasa royalpain in theneck at first, sinceit usedvacuumtubeswhich are sensitive to vibration and G loads (to say nothing of Sovietelectronics, which were notoriouslyunreliable).Luckily the engineers who had createdthe PSBN-M had foreseen this and designed the radar as a modular systemwith line-replaceable units (LRUs),which eliminated the needto keepthe aircraft grounded for radar repairs and ultimately wasone of the factorsof the Beagle's high combat readiness. Airmen love to tell tall tales,and one of them (concerning the Il-28) is this. After the Ilyushin OKB had made some updates,a bomber unit equippedwith Beagles received ordersthat all the aircraft be urgentlyupgraded to the new standard. The work had to be donein a hangar, and the local hangarwas too small to accommodate all the aircraft present at the base. On the otherhand,failure to comply with the orderswould resultin disciplinaryaction. Everybody racked their brainsin search of a solution until, with a sly twinkle in his eye,one crew chief saidhe knew the answer. He would not tell it until he was assured of a rewardin the form of a bottleof vodka.His methodwassimple: the techniciansdeflatedthe port mainwheel of eachbomber, - just causingthe bomber to bank a few degrees enoughto allow the port wing of one aircrafttoJit under the starboard wing oJ another aircraftl This allowedall the bombers to fit into the hangar and the updates to be madeon schedule. Bless the technician,the Man of Infinite Resourceand Sagacity! The Beagle'ssturdinessand reliability soon became legendary. On one occasion an Il-28 from Chernyakhovsk ditchedin the Baltic Seaafter an unspecifiedmalfunction; the aircraft remained afloat for more than two hoursbeforebeingtowed to the shoreand waseventually returnedto service. On another occasion a 408th FBAP Il-28U hit a storm cloud at 6,000m (19,685ft) and emerged from it at 1,800m (5,905ft) with severalholes burnedby lightningstrikes andthepaint on all leading edgessandpapered away by hail. The VK-l engineearnedparticularly high praise.Low-level missions werethe order of the day,and quite often Il-28singested birdsor clippedtreetops duringsuch missions, eatingbranches; but, the engines usually keptrunningasif nothinghad happened!

T:1aB::

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or Cold andsocialism, of peace In defence War warriors

for the New efficient combat tactics were developed

the distance i]id not exceed 40 m (131 ft) .and exceed80 m not did U.i*.." flights in a regiment

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to turn hot War was at lts peaKand was expected night-flving practised crews htogt' ;;; ;;;"t. and flving in ilight'' squadrons ;i;i;;-i;;matio"n flight a in aircraft r"*"t.t"t rne distaniebetween

thecold when ii-zs wasintroduced

with the experience A;;"i;:. nitn" vvs 6uilt up take-offs

Il-28, pilots starteclmaking .foimation aircraft' iio-'aitt tttips in groupsoithree to-lilt deployed Il-28 the flying F-* lit". toii-" ttt" unitt e'g' the tur., for training purposes; i;-*-;i; "artiirt" as the far it tn" o:to BAD would fly as

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utttitt i G"rl'rt versiont Yt'tint flying schoolsalong with the combat to the SovietAir Force's The Il_2gUwas delivered

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A nAirFo rce instruct or s hows t hell- 28U' s r ear c oc k pi t , l a y o u t t o a c a d e t . ( Y t | i n t G o n l o n a r ( h i | t )

80 . lryusurN L-28 Bt.,rott

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Flight training sornetimes led to spills.This Mu:tt'ot,79Red, made a belly-landing in a field, fortunatelysufferingalmost
rro damage. urthiya ) I Y,litrr Grtrthttr

Central Asian DD" deploying to Karshi in southeastern Uzbekistan and Maryy (pronounced like the Frenchname Marie) in Turkmenistan. During such raids the crews would practise bombing attacksat unfamiliar targetranges. Bombs were dropped from altitudes ranging from 100 to 10,000 m (328 32,808ft), both by singleaircrafrand in fbrmations of varying sizeas commandedby the leader.Specialtargets with a high radar signature were built at such ranges.Occasionally,however, bomber crews would lose their way en route, as a result,grain processing units and vehicledepots of nearby collective farms could get bombed, slnce

their imageon the PSBN-M's radar displaywas very similar to the practicetargets.Fortunatelythe damage was usuallyminimal because practicebomblets filled mainly with soot werenormally used.But one night a disasterwas avertedat the last moment. An Il -28 carryi ng a l i ve 1,000kg (2,204Ib) FA B -1000 high-explosive bomb took off from an airbasenear (now Ivano-Frankovsk), Stanislav headingfor a target range at Kamenka-Boogskaya, but strayedoff courseand overflewthe city of L'vov instead.It was sheerluck that the bomb aimer happenedto look away from the radar display a few secondsbefore the drop and sawthe city lights below.

Combat training in the Soviet Air Force's Il-28 units included operations from unpaved airstrips. l strgcl. undDnitil.
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ThisSoviet NavyI1-28T wasoperatedlil:tiJ.T,ti. Fleet's MTAP (Minelayer torpedo-bomber 567th andTorpedo-

SSSR-L2035, an Aeroflot Il-20 mailplane.

Albanian Air ForceHarbin H-5 3608.

Aboveand opposite: A three-viewillustration of Il-28 08 Blue operatedby the 57th VA (Air Army)z63rd BAD (Bomber Division)/409th FBAP (TacticalBomber Regiment),CherlyanyAB, CarpathianDefenceDistrict.

l47l Red,a Soviet-built Chinese People's LiberationArmv Air ForceIl-28.

A CzechAir Force AvtaB-228in pre-1957 markings.This particular aircraft was usedby the skydivers Jaroslav Jehlidka, ZdenEk Kaplan and GustavKoubekto seta world recordon 20 March 1957.

Czech Air Force Il-29 1904 with a post-l957 serial and a red identification band applied for a war game.

EastGerman Air Force(ZDS 2l) Il-28R 184Black (clh 5901207). Earlier in its careerthis aircraft had beenregisteredDM-ZZK and usedas a testbedfor the Pirna 0l4A turboiet.

Egyptian Air Forcell-28 1733in post-1967 camouflage.

FinnishAir ForceIl-28R (Il-288M) targettug NH-3 (c/n l7l3). The zeroon the nosewaslaterremoved

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Hunearian Air ForceII-28RTR l9 Red.

markings. Indonesian Navy Il-28T M844 in early-style

Federal Niserian Air Force Il-28 NAF-158.

North KoreanAir Force11-28 314Red.

SomeNorth KoreanBeagles,like 45 Blue,had a greenand bluecolour scheme. The tail shows what lookslike the beginnings of hastilyappliedcamouflage.

PolishAir ForceIl-28 20 Red.

55 Red was one of several Il-28Us deliveredto the PolishAir Force.

Vietnamese People's Air Forcell-28 2210Red.

T'lE Brtr;tt rN Senvrce. 8l

Penetratingenemy air defenceswas an important aspect of the Il-28 crews' combat training programme. Mock combat with Mikoyan/Gurevich MiG-15 F(tgots and MiG-17 Frescos impersonating enemy fighters showed that a fighter armed solely with cannon had no chanceagainstIhe Beugle.In a head-on attack the bomber'shigh speedcausedthe fighter to close on the target at an enormous rate, leavingthe fighter pilot little time to take aim (quite apart from the fact that the 11-28 had a pair of forward-firing cannon with which to discourage such attacks). In the rear hemispherethe bomber's effective tail turret and high manoeuvrability enabledthe crew to successfully repel the fighters. The advent of the supersonicMiG-19 FarmerAIC did not make things easierfor the adversanes in fact, it made things harder becausethe closing speed was now greater, and in a stern attack the bomber pilots would reduce speed, causing the fighter to overshoot.It was not until the all-weather MiG-l9PM Farmer-D armed with RS-2-US (K-5MS; NATO code name AA-l Alkali) air-to-air missiles came on the scene that the tables were turned. In the West,fighter development went along

much the same lines; thus, even when NATO had sufficientnumbersof North American F-100 Super Sabres,Republic F-I05 Thunderchiefsand SAAB J-35 Drakens basedin Europe,the Il-28 stood a fair chance of getting away from them, especiallywhen fl yi ng at ul tra-l owl evel . For the Western world (the 'freeworld', in the terminology of the Cold War era) the hundreds of nuclear-capable bomberswere one of the personifications of the tell-tale Soviet Threat and with good reason.The crewsof theseaircraft were carefully chosenand received especially rigorous training. Each crew was allocated a main target and several alternative targets in Western E,urope: nuclearweaponsdepots,airbases, etc. For instance, the already mentioned 63rd BAD of the 57th VA (Carpathian DD) was to attack targets in West Germany. In the event of war the tactical scenariofor the Baagle units was approximately as follows. Each Il-28 carrying a nuclear bomb would be accompanied by at leasta squadronof sisteraircraft tasked with the electronic (ECM) and air collntermeasures defence distraction role. After takinc off from

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Maintenance work on an Il-28R at a wintry airfield; the aircraft is jacked up for landing gear operation tesIs.I y(,lim Gofttoil

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82 . IlyussrN It-28 Brtt;tr.

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bomber uni ts operati ng the Il -28 (i ncl udi ng the nuclear-capable version)were stationedin some of the WarsawPact nations.which placedthem within rangeol the southcoastof E ngl i nd. The Soviet Union's Central Grouo of Forces j stationed in (TsGV * Tsentrahl'nu))u gt ooppLtur,1',rk Czechoslovakia had a number of Il-28BM target tugs based at Zvolen AB. In East Germany the GSVG (Grooppu ,;ovetskikh voysk v Ghermuhnii Group of Soviet Forcesin Germany)roperatedthe Il-28 in the basicbombeq reconnaissance and target tug versions. East German bases usedby SovietAir Force Beugles were Allstedt (11-28Rs,1968 70), (a target-towingflight equipped Berlin-Schonefeld with Il-2SBMs and Il-28Us), Brand (668th FBAP, 35 aircraft sincethe 1950s; re-equipped with Yak-28 Brev'er tactical bombers in 1965), Brandis (only occasionally), Finow (207th FBAP, l1-28s srnce 1956; re-equipped with Yak-28s in 1965), Damgarten (until 1979), Finsterwalde (briefly, early 1950s),Jiiterbog-AltesLager (11-28Rs, early 1950s), Lrirz (1950s), Neu-Welzow (20 bombers first seen in 1953), Oranienburg (Il-28s and Il-2SUs, probably 200th FBAD/22lst FBAP,

This i s h o w t h e B a u g l e ' sta il ca r r n o n we r e cle a n e d . I yt,lirtt Gurtt.nurchi rt,)

Sovietterritory the bomber formation would climb to 10,000m (32,808ft) in order to savefuel. Then, setting up an ECM barrier, the bombers would descend to low altitude over Poland to avoid detection by the powerful surveillanceradar in West Berlin NATO's first line of defence:some of the aircraft would leavethe formation, making deceptive manoeuvres to confusethe AD radar onerators. The same tactic would be used to get past the numerous HAWK, Nike Herculesand Nike Ajax anti-aircraft missilesystems. Eventually the bombtoting Beagle would be left all alone, pressing on towards the target at treetop level. Then it would climb sharply to 1,000 m (3,280 ft), allowing the navigatorto make surethey were in the right place, whereuponthe bomb would be droppedand the aircraft would head back, descendingto ultra-low level again as it did. The idea was that the ll-28's high speedwould enableit to outrun the shock waveand the crew would be protected from the flash by speci a l b linds . Even if the bomber managed to get that far and deliver the bomb, it had virtually no chance of returning to base because, with all the evasive manoeuvres, it was sure to run out of fuel on the way home. To remedy this, auxiliary airfields were initially built in Poland and East Germany, where the bombers were to make refuelling stops. Later,

3 Renamed ZGY (Zahpudnctyugrooppu vovsk Western Group of F-orces) i n 1989.

Tna Bntcrc rN Spnvrcs . 83

.olt
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craft has been re-coded . ( yelim Gonlon arthive)

Maintenance dayat a bomberunit, with a line-upof ll-28sunbuttoned lor servicing. The nearest aircraft,l2 Blue,is c/n 3402209. Note theopenavionics baycoveron 08 Blue;the 8 is applied in a heavier typethan thezero,suggesting the air-

April-December 1951 and August 1954-August 1956). and Werneuchen. The target-towing flight at Berlin-Schonefeld airport moved to Brand AB in 1954.lt was later upgradedto independent target-towing squadron status (OBMAE - otdel'naya booksirovochnomishennaya aviaeskadril'ya, number unknown), movingto Oranienburg in the autumnof l97l and thenceto Damgartenin 1977.Oranienburg also servedas the maintenance base for the GSVG's Il-28s. An Il-28 basedat Oranienburg (22lst FBAP?) crashednear the village of Teschendorf13 km (8 miles) north of the base in February 1956; just 2 km anotheronewaslost in Augustsame year, (1.24 miles) from the site of the previouscrash. Shortlyafterwards, on 26 August1956, theregiment was withdrawn from Oranienburg. Military observers from the Allied nationsand the localpopulation wereinvitedto seethe bombers'denarture on 26August1956 asa goodwillgesture. andi small air festwasheld. While we are on the subjectof Cold War warriors, the Beagle actuallyplayedan important part in Operation Mangoosta(Mongoose)- an event which nearly started the Third World War. Forty-twonuclear-capable Il-28Nsweredeployed to

Cuba by sea in September 1962togetherwith a number of ballistic missiles. This was one of the reasonsfor the famous Cuban Missile Crisis of September-November 1962 when the USA enforceda nayal blockadeof Cuba, causingthe SovietUnion in turn to dispatcha navaltask force to the Caribbean. However, facedwith the increasing probabilityof an all-out armed conflict with the USA which would be a war of destruction, the Sovietleaders had the commonsense to backdown and withdraw the missiles from Cubain an effortto ease the situation. Addressing the nation on 20 November, US PresidentJohn F. Kennedy said that the Soviet leaderNikita S. Khruschevhad pledgedto withdraw the nuclear-capable Il-28swithin 30 daysand agreedto let the Americansmonitor this process; consequently, JFK had instructed the Secretary of Defense to removethe navalblockade. The bombersleft in early December aboardthe freighters (15aircraft),SISKrasnograd SISKasimov (15) and SIS Okhotsk(12). In order to make it patentlyclearto the US government that the Soviet Union was honouring its commitmentsand the Beagles were being withdrawn, the crated aircraft were placed on the ships' upper decks,suffering heavycorrosiondamagebecause next to nothing

lt-28 Bc,tcr,r: 84 . lrvusurN had beendone to protect them from the salty ocean environment.As a result, many of the 42 aircraft had to be written off. After this. the Cuban leader Fidel Castro Ruz called the Il-28 an obsolete aircraft with limited speed and inadequate range when speaking at a public rally. Obsolete they may have been, but Castro was clearlyannoyedat letting go the rnissiles and bombers and having nothing to threaten 1o.s gringoswith! As alreadymentioned,the Beuglamade its mark in naval aviation in the early 1950s; however,it was By there that its obsolescence was most noticeable. the mid-1950sthe Il-28T did not meet the Soviet Navy's requirements any longer. Besides, the i n 1960 w eapons cutsi ni ti atedby K hruschev and hi s generalbias towards missiles blow to dealt a severe bomber aviation in generaland naval bomber aviation in particular. All AVMF minelaying and torpedo-bornberunits were disbanded,as were many tactical bomber units in the VVS, and many ll-28s were scrapped, even though some aircraft had only

wrapped in tarpaulins Soviet Air Force ll-28s were stationed outside the USSR as well. Here, severalred-coded Beugles Gttrdon urtltivt') are pictured at an East German airbaseon a foggy morning. I f'tfittr

Tgp.Bnqctr rN Snnvrcs. 85

60-100 hours'total time. This barbaricprocess took place at an amazing rate, the work proceeding in three shifts. In the Pacific Fleet alone, about 400 aircraft were demolished within a verv short neriod. Many airmen suddenly found themselves iurplus and unwanted; they were dismissedfrom the Armed Forceswithout any social security. Fortunately the VVS command was not enthusiastic about this mayhem, and many Il-28s were simply placed in storage. Numerous Beagles were transferred to flying schools where they served alongside the Il-28U Mascot dedicated trainers until the mid-1980s.Others soldieredon as tarset tugs, also until the mid-1980s.Nearly all of ihe Soviet Union's defence districts had independent target-towing flights or squadronsoperating four to ten, and sometimesmore. Il-28BMs. These were based aI Novorossiya AB (Far East DD), Berdyansk (Red Banner Odessa DD). Starokonstantinov (Carpathian DD), Tokmak (Central Asian DD, lOth OBAZ).. Zvolen (Czechoslovakia), etc. Moreoveq the Il-28 got a new lease of life (if only briefly) in the late 1960sand early 1970swhen the post-Khruschev Soviet government headed by Leonid I. Brezhnevdecided to revive the ground attack arm of the VVS (which was one of the hardest-hit by Khruschev's reforms). A number of Beagles were converted to Il-28Sh ground attack aircraft. Up to a full regiment of these aircraft was based at Domna AB (Transbaikalian DD) and Khoorba AB near Komsomol'sk-on-Amur (Far E a st DD) .

The Il-28 at war

The Il-28 had its fair shareof 'hot'wars. the flrst of which was the Korean War of 1950-3.China suoported North Korea activelyduring the war. sending the tell-tale one million volunteers (actually regularPeople's Liberation Army troops)to the battlefields.This angered the USA badly enough to make it promise strikes against China, including nuclear strikesif necessary, if Chineseforcescrossed the 38th parallel at which the frontline had stabilized (this was eventuallyto become the demarcation line betweenNorth and South Korea). Not to be outdone,China threatened to hit both South Korea and US basesin Japan if USAF aircraft as much as overflew Chinese territory. To add weight to these words, 70 Il-28s were deployed on

1 OBAZ = otdel'not:e y-e book.siyovot'hno aviu:r:eno independcnl ltarget-] towing {1ight.

People's Liberation Army Air Force (PLAAF) air bases in Manchuria. The aircraft wore PLAAF insignia but were flown by Soviet crews. A secondmajor batch of Soviet-builtIl-28s was delivered in 1953. It is not known if the Beagles actually saw action in the war, but they did putin an appearancein North Korea. UN envoysmonitoring prisoner-of-war exchanges reported Chinese bombers, including Il-28s, landing illegally on air bases near Pyongyang in direct violation of the Iruce agreement. A short while later, however, the Beugle did see action during China's last civil war when the Chinese Nationalists led by Chiang Kai-shek claimed independence for Taiwan. In early January 1956 PLAAF ll-28s bombed the Tachen islands 360 km (200 nm) north of Taiwan which the Nationalists were forced to abandon in February. However,the high accidentrate and the danger of being shot town by Republic of China Air Force (ROCAF) Republic F-84 Thunderjets and North American F-86 Sabres forced an end to these attacks. In the autumn of 1956 a large group of Soviet forceswas deployedto Hungary to quash the anticommunist uprising in that country. More than 120 Baogles basedin the CarpathianDD wereplacedon maximum alert duty, readyto launch strikesagainst the insurgents. Fortunatelythis neverhappened, but Soviet Air Force Il-28Rs secondedto the Special Corps taskedwith quellingthe mutiny did fly reconnaissance missionsover Hungary.One of them was shot down by the rebelsover Csepel Island on the D anube on 8 N ovember 1956,ki l i i ng rhe crew .On l8 Decemberthe SupremeSovietof the USSR (the nation's top governing body) issued a decree granting the Hero of the Soviet Union title posthumously to an Il-28 crew consisting of squadron commander Capt. A. A. Bobrovskiy (pilot), Capt. D. D. Karmishin (navigator)and the squadron's chief of communications Lt. (sg) V. Ye. Yartsev (gunner/radio operator). It seems very probable that it was the samecrew. On the other side,it is reported that a handful of Hungarian pilots who had supported the rebels made a few sortiesfrom KunmadarasAB, attacking Soviettroops who had built pontoon bridgesacross the Tisza River. Soon. however.all Hunsarian airbases were overrun by Soviettroops,and-therebels' fl yi ng acti vi ti es stopped. Another area where the 11-28 saw action in the autumn of 1956was the Middle East. Egyptian Air Force (EAF) Beaglas first saw action during the SuezCrisis (26 October 7 November 1956).Great Britain was thoroughly displeasedwith President

lt-28 Brtotr 86. IrvusHrN

Gamal Abdel Nasser'sindependentpolitical course; when Egypt nationalized the Suez Canal on 26 July 1956,this was the last straw. In concert with France and Egypt's arch-enemy,Israel, Great Britain took action. According to the plan, lsrael would start an armed conflict with Egypt, then Great Britain and France would interfere on the pretext of ensuring the safety of international traffic in the Suez Canal and occupy the area. Stage l, Operation Kadesh ('cleansing' in Hebrew), was scheduled for 29 October-l November, and Stage 2, Operation Musketeer,for I 7 November. By then the EAF had taken delivery of about fifty Beagles but only one squadron operating twelve aircraft was fully combat-capable. Two other squadrons had only just been formed before the fighting began, and the crews had not yet mastered the new jet bombers. Consequentlythe Il-28 was For instance, on usedin the conflict on a small scale. the night of 3l October one of the Beaglesbombed an Israeli kibbutz named Gezen An Israeli Defence Heyl Hu'avir) Gloster Force/Air Force (IDF/AF Meteor N F.13took off to interceptthe intruder but could not find the target in the darkness. On the same day a group of ll-28s raided Lod airbasebut the bombs missedtheir target, exploding near the Jewishsettlementof Ramat-Rachel. The EAF top commanders fully realized that, with no qualified crews to fly them, the Beugles would be sitting ducks and a lucrative target for the Anglo-French strike force. Hence President Nasser ordered the EAF's assetsto be dispersedto remote basesor relocatedto Syria and Saudi Arabia. (It was just as well that he did; on the night of I November Great Britain and France launched Operation Musketeer as planned. RAF bombers detached to Luqa, Malta, and Royal Navy strike aircraft from the carriers HMS Albion,HMS Eagle and HMS Bulwark attacked Egyptian airbases in the Suez Canal area.) Twenty I1-28swere flown to the Royal Saudi Air Force (RSAF) base at Riyadh by Soviet and Czech crews; the other 24 or 28 Beaglesmoved to Luxor, Egypt's southernmost airbase, where they were supposed to be safe. This assumption turned out to be wrong; on 4 November RAF English Electric Canberras bombed Luxor, forcing the evacuationof eight more Il-28sto Saudi Arabia. On the same day the base was attacked by French Air Force (Armee de I'Air) Republic F-84F Thunderjet fighter-bombers; the French claimed the destruction of every single aircraft at the base but the EAF acknowledged the loss of only seven bombers. Sporadic armed incidents between Egypt and Israel continued between the Arab-Israeli wars.

Combat aircraft took part in these operations; for example, United Arab Republic Air Force (UARAF) Il-28s flew several night reconnaissance missions over the lsraeli seaport of Eilat in December1958. In 1959ChineseIl-28s saw action again when the government forces ruthlessly stamped out an ethnic minority uprising in Tibet. Apart from that, the Beagleswere used in numerous skirmishes with the TaiwaneseNationalists - mostly over the Strait of Taiwan. Some sources suggest that Il-28Rs and HZ-Ss actually overflew the island on reconnaissancesorties; severalof these aircraft fell victim to Nike Ajax missiles. One Chinese Beagle, however, was lost in a different way. On I I November 1966pilot Li Hsienpin, navigator/bomb aimer Li Tsai-wang and gunner/radio operator Liang Pao-sheng of the 22nd Bomber Regiment/SthBomber Division defectedto Taiwan in an Il-28 serialled0195 Yellow.The three had conspired to defect long before the flight. joining the PLAAF and successfullypassing the complex loyalty check system. The aircraft took off at noon from Hangchow coastal airbaseon a routine practicebombing sortie. After following the coastlinefor a while it turned and headed for Taiwan at full speed.Chinese fighters scrambled and gave chase- too late. The ll-28 was quickly spotted by Taiwanese air defence radars; ROCAF Lockheed F-104G Starfighters took off to intercept, escorting the bomber to Taoyuan air baseafter the pilot had made his intentions clear by rocking the wings. The aircraft overran on landing, collapsing the nose gear and damaging the nose glazing' all three crew members were injured, the gunner dying a day later. The defection was timed to coincide with the centenary celebration of Sun Yat-sen,the'father of the Chinese revolution' revered by both Communists and Nationalists, celebratedon l2 November. Sure enough, the Taiwanese and Western press created an almighty uproar. This was compounded by the pilot, who was the least injured in the crash landing, speaking at the Centennial Rally the next day and denouncing Red China and communism in general. Meanwhile, the unfortunate event was promptly reported to the PLAAF HQ in Beijing, and retribution followed swiftly. The Air Force ViceCommander Cheng Chung arrived at Hangchow on the same day and probably gave everyone a thorough dressing-down. All flights from Hangchow and other basesnearest to Taiwan were suspended until further notice. Apart from the nose section,0195 Yellow was virtually intact. The Nationalists repaired and test flew

. 87 TsB Bntcrc tN SEnvrce

the aircraft,then reportedlyusedit for reconnaissanceflights over mainland China (somesources say the aircraft was handed over to the USA for closeexamination). Shortly afterwards, the British model kit manufacturer Airfix released a ll72nd scalemodel of the Beagle.(Speakingof which, anotherkit of the Il-28 to the samescalefrom the Chinese companyTrumpeterhas appeared on the marketrecently.) In1962Nasser senthiscombataircraft(including Il-28s) to Yemen,extendingmilitary aid to the Republicans who had overthrownthe king. At the same time the Soviet Union also supportedthe Republicans, supplying them with a number of Beagles. The Il-28sattacked the Royalists' positions and flew reconnaissance sorties;the Western press reportedthat they wereflown by both Yemeniand (This may well be true.Sovietmilitary Soviet crews. personnel participated in manyregional conflictsin which the SovietUnion wasnot formally involved, and not only in an advisorycapacity, and that was something the public back at home was definitely not supposed to know!) Sometimes the bombers attacked the Sauditowns of Dhahran and Najran locatednext to the Yemeniborder.In June 1966a solitary Il-28 escortedby UARAF MiG-l7Fs bombed the RSAF base at KhamisMushayt; in the samemonth UARAF Il-28Rsflew reconnaissance missions overthe Saudiseaport of Qizan.Whenthe Six-DayWar erupted, however, all Egyptiantroops hadto leave Yemen because thinsswerebad enoush backat home.

The Il-28 sawaction in Africa as well. In April 1967a coupd'ttat occurred in Nigeria and the corrupt government wastoppledby Gen.Irons,C-in-C of the Nigerian Armed Forces. The next month, however, Irons was killed in a new couporganized by Col Ojukwu, governorof the Easternprovince and one of the leaders of the Ibo tribe. The rebels declared their intention to secede, forming the socalled Stateof Biafra, namedafter a bight in the Gulf of Guinea.This immediately sparked a bitter three-year civil war between the separatists and the government. federal The FederalNigerian Air Force(FNAF) originally usedsix impressed Nigeria Airways Douglas DC-3s (ex-SN-AAN, 5N-AAP, etc.) and twelve Czech-supplied Aero L-29 Delfin advanced trainers against Col Ojukwu's rebels in the light bomber/paradropand strike roles respectively. Pretty soon,however, it obtainedreal combat aircraft from Arab nationssupporting the Islamicgovernment in Lagos in its struggle against the Christian Ibo separatists. Egypt was the first to extend help,supplying 4l MiG-l7Fs (misidentified as MiG-l5s by somesources) and, together with Algeria, six second-hand Il-28s in 1969. The bombers wereflown by Egyptianmercenary crews. Operatingfrom Enugu and Kalabar, the Beagles bore the brunt of the bombingmissions but were reportedlyfound to be ineffective. They certainly did not venture nearthe Biafrancapital, Uli, which waswell protected poor mission by flak. Moreover, planningand the lack of a clearlydefinedforward

When the Il-28 was phasedout, many of thesebombers sat at Soviet airbases,awaiting disposal. ( yelint Gouton ur.hive )

88 . IlvussrN lt-28 Bt,rcLe

line of own troops (FLOT) sometimes resulted in friendly forcesbeing bombed! Sometimes the ll-28s were used to escort the DC-3s on bombing/paradrop sorties or for strafing Biafran positions. In February 1969 a group of DC-3s escorted by I1-28s and MiG-l5s paradropped supplies and ammunition for government forcessurrounded at Owerri. When this didn't work and the DC-3s were temporarily unflyable through flak damage, the federal forces commandeered a Pan African Airways DC-4 which had landed at Port Harcourt, loaded it with ammunition and ordered the captain to fly to Owerri, escortedby an Il-28. However, the captain contrived an engine malfunction, forcing a return to Port Harcourt which probably savedboth aircraft and crew. The war presented no great danger for FNAF fighter pilots and bomber crews, since the Biafran Air Forcehad no aircraft capableof air-to-air combat. All the enemy could put up was Malmo MFI-9B primary trainersconvertedinto makeshift attack aircraft. Flown by mercenary pilots led by the Swedish Count Carl Gustav von Rosen, these aircraft were known locally as Minicons probably a corruption of mini-COIN (counter-insurgency aircraft) and could only attack ground targets, which they did with a measureof success. Still, the accident rate was rather high and all the Beugles were soon grounded after being damaged in accidents.On 20 March 1969one Il-28 struck treesduring a low-level mission and suffered an engine failure, making a successfulforced landing at Port Harcourt. Another Beagle veered off the strip at Port Harcourt on landing, burning out the brakes and tyres, but was later repaired. On another occasion an 11-28was slightly damaged at Enugu by Minicons but was later repaired. ln 1961 there was trouble in the Middle East again when the third Arab-Israeli war, commonly referred to as the Six-Day War (5-10 June 1967), broke out. The lsraelishad been planning this war long and carefully right down to building five mock Egyptian airbasesin the Negev Desert, where they constantly practised raids against the real thing. Within a year all IDF/AF combat squadrons had passeda training course at thesefacilities. Building on the resultsof this training, the Israeli high command developeda pre-emptiveattack plan known as the Moked Plan. The combined air forces of the Arab nations outnumbered the IDF/AF almost three times, so it was decidedto destroy them on the ground rather than tangle with them in the air. The first wave of strike aircraft was to attack nineteenairfields deep in Egyptian territory, knocking out the aircraft basedthere,but it was decidedto

spare the runways at the four baseslocated on the Sinai Peninsula so that Israeli aircraft could use them, once the peninsula had been occupied. The first strike was scheduled between08.35and 09.10, when the Egyptian fighters were not expectedto be out on combat air patrol and the basecommanders were usually not on site. This would be followed by three more waves of strike aircraft which were to destroy the greater part of the Egyptian Air Force on the ground by 14.00.After that, the strike force would be redirectedat airbasesin Syria, Jordan and Iraq. By the spring of 1961it becameclear that war was imminent; skirmisheson the Israeli-Syrian border in which both sidesusedheavyweaponsand aircraft were becoming increasinglymore frequent. On l7 May Egypt started concentrating troops on the Israeli border; four days later Egypt and Israel caffed a mobilization of the army reserve, and on 22 May President Nasser declared the Suez Canal closedto Israeliships. The Arab nations(Egypt, Syria,Jordan,Lebanon and lraq) had a total of some800combat aircraft at the start of the conflict. This total included49 to 56 Il-28s- 35 or 40 in Egypt, ten in Iraq and four to six in Syria. These aircraft and the Tu-16 Badger-A bombers (30 in Egypt, including some Tu-l6KS-1 missilestrike aircraft, and six in lraq) were considered priority targetsduring the planned air strikes. On the morning of 5 June a massiveassaultwas launched against Arab airbases. Among other things,28 EAF Il-28sweredestroyed on the ground at Ras-BanasAB and Luxor. One more Beagle and its fighter escort (probably MiG-l7Fs) were shot down by Heyl Ha'avir Dassault Mystdre IVs while attacking Israeli troops advancing on at El'Arish. The SyrianAir Forcelost two Il-28son the ground. In February 1968the Il-28 first put in an appearance in Vietnam, when three Beagleswere deployed to Fukien AB, 30 km (18 miles) north-west of Hanoi. It was believed they were to support the large-scaleViet Cong offensive launched after the USA had stopped the first series of bombing attacks on Vietnam (the Tet offensive), but the Il-28s did not participate in this operation. Normally the Beagles were based in southern China; if the US intelligence service reported the presenceof theseaircraft on any North Vietnamese airfield, the airfields in question would be pounded with cluster bombs loaded with pellets. ln 1971 the North VietnameseIl-28s did see action, supporting the Vietnamese People's Army and the Pathet Lao guerrillas in Laos. Soviet airmen took part in these operations, too; pilot Berkootov and navisator/bomb aimer Khachemizov were even

. 89 Tsp Bc,tcr,t rN SERVTcE

:::::::i,,t

l:lll

ril;i

Armourers load large-calibre HE bombs into a regimentof PLAAF Il-28s. ChineseBeagles also had their shareof lighting. ( Chinu Aift ftr/i )

awarded the title of Hero of the Vietnamese People'sArmy. August 1968added another shamefulpageto the Il-28's biography when Beagles were used, along with other Soviet Air Force aircraft, to suppressthe mutiny in Czechoslovakia. Specifically these were 7th FBAP bombers from Starokonstantinov, and possibly Il-28R reconnaissance aircraft from Schuchin(Belorussian DD). Skirmishes between Israel and Egypt continued after the Six-DayWar until 1970.EAF 11-28s participated actively in these clashes, flying reconnaissance missions over Israeli territory; two of them were shot down between l0 July and I August 19'70. One more example was lost in a 'friendly fire' incident in March 1970 when an I1-28BM towing a sleeve-type target was destroyed by an S-125 Koob (Cube; NATO SA-3 Gainfuf surface-to-air missile; the missile system was manned by a Soviet crew under N. M. Kootyntsev. Of course a scandal erupted; to make matters worse one of the airmen

who had perishedin the shootdown was a member of one of the Arab royal families. However, using the missile system's data recording equipment, Kootyntsev proved that the air defence crews had not beeninformed of the bomber'smissionand the Il-28's IFF transponder was out of order. Furthermore, a group of four Heyl Hu'uvir McDonnell Douglas F-4E Phantom IIs had crossed the Suez Canal, formating with the Beagle, then headingback at ultra-low level.As a result,the missile team misidentifiedthe ll-28 as the leaderof an Israeli strike group and opened fire. The Egyptians had to admit the Soviet officer was right. Iraqi Air Force Il-28s were used operationally in the late 1960sand in the first six months of 1974in Saddam Hussein's relentlesswar with the Kurdish minority living in the north of Iraq and striving for sovereignty. The Kurdish rebels claimed one bomber shot down in April 1974. According to some reports, Soviet Air Force Il-28Sh strike aircraft were used operationally

9 0 . I r v us r r r|. x - 28B r..r< ;t.r,

b-"brt:

A f o n n l t t i o n o l ' I ' L A A I:

llL tt,g lt' s cltr lin - uln cr e r cisc. i( l ti rttt .ti rl rrl r)

d ur ing t hc S ino -S o v i c l l rfl n c c l c o n l l i c t a ro L l ncl l )u nr ans k iyI s lanc l o u 1 h cA n tu r R i v c l i n th c c arl y 19 7 0s . I n t hc lat c 197 0 sth c b l o o c l yfc -q i n tc o l ' P rtl P ot (pnrbably Chincsc-bLrilt uscclu hlrncllirlol' Bca.q/r,s H- 5s )agains lt hc o 1 -r1 -ro s i ti l io rrc n cs heaclcc bly H cng Sl tnr lin.who bc c a mch c a c lo l ' th c g o v e ru n te n ta f i cl ' Pol Pot rvasor.rstccl. Onc ol- thc Il-28swas reprtrtcclll' shot dorvn; two mol'c werc caplLllcd intact at Po c hc nt ongA B n c a r Ph n o n t P e n l t o n 7 J a n u arl , 1 979 u' hc n t hc b a s c w a s o v c rrL l nb y Vi c tn a n tcsc Iti )( ) p\s gpp( ) rit6r ] t IC p p l -rl stii p rr. T hc A lghan W a r w u sl h c l a s tc o n l l i c t i n l v l ti c ht hc vcnc lablcbonr be r p a fti c i p a tc c lD . e s p i te i ts a g c. i t tu l nc d out t o be w c l l s u i tc c l b r th i s l v a r.th a n k s tcl i ts lLr ggc c l pc nd a b i l i ty dc i n th e h a rs h c o n c l i ti o n s of Al -uhanis t an. wit h i ts i l l -e q L ri p p ea cilrtl c l d sa n d fcr' l 'a s iv c dus t . Unerp e c te d l y . th c s e e rn i n g l y a rc hai c ma nnc dt ail s unn e l ' ' s s ta ti o ntu rn e c lo r-rt to b e c l u i ttr-rscl-r.rl; thc slrnnerwould firc at cneutytroops on thc g l o r - r nd. c lis c ou ra g i n g a tta c k s w i th s l to u l d cr' l a unc hecs l ur f uc e -to -a i rn r i s s i l e sT . h e e ffi c i e n cyol ' this tactic can be.juclged by thc litct that r.rot a sir.rgle Al g han A ir F br c e Il -2 8 rv a sl o s t to th e ML r.l a h i di n rebels'air clef-enccs. However.Ihe Bcucleswgrc lost o n e nigl" r t in. lanu a rv 1 9 8 5 i n a w a rr th a t w i l s n ot

Ll ncomnrou cl uri ngthc A l ghan W ar.Trai torsl tntong thc A l ghan pcrsonnclol ' S hi ncl ancl A B w ho hacl bccn boLrght o11' by thc rcbcl sbl cw r" rp cl cvcuol ' thc bonrbcrs; thc l l amcscl Lri cklsprcacl y to thc othcl ui r' cral i unclthc 335thC onrposi l e A i r R cgi mcntccasccl 1() cxl sl . In 1985 anothcr C hi ncsc l l -28 abscondcd. thi s ti nrc to S outh K orcu. Thc crew w as l essl Lrcky thi s ti me: thc ai rcral i w as total l y dcstroyed w l ti l e atten.rpti ng a l brcccll andi ng i n a l ' i cl cl . ki l l i ng the gunner and a local firrr.ncr. l -i nni sh Il -2uR s w crc used a l ot l br 5nsppi ng (FinlanclwASon liicndly arouncltl.re Sovietbcllclcr. tcrms rvi tl .r the S ovi ct U ni on. br-r1 that di d not stop thc l--innsliour spyin-u!) The r"reighbor-rr's Bcuglas w crc a constantsourceof annoyancc l br the S ovi et Air Def-cncc Force (PVO Protit'ot,o:tloosltrtu.t'u tthontrut) lighter regimentsstationecl in the area.As soou as the air def-ence raclarscletectecl an ailcrafi hcading towards the bordcr liou-r Finland. fighters w oul cl scrambl eto i nterccpt. R eal i zi ngthey had beendetected. the Fi nni shcrel vw oul d fl y al orrgtheborclcron their side.while thc Soviettighterswoulcl do thc silmc on l/icl' sicie. firmlv inciicating that the ' kccp thei r poocl t off our l aw n' . nei ghbor-rrs shoLrl d Tl'rentl.reIl-2tl would ostensiblygive up arrd hcad

Tp'p. BLqam rN Spnvrcp. 9l

into Finnish territory; as soon as the frghters, too, headed back to base,the spyplane would pop back up. By then the fighters would be getting critically low on fuel and had no choice but to head for home. the angry pilots radioing to base to urgently send a relief crew. The I1-28R'slong endurance (thanks to its tip tanks) allowed the Finns to play this game of tag.

Survivors
As already recounted, hugenumbers of Il-28swere wantonly destroyed because of Khruschev's missilizationideasor endedup as AAA and gunnery targets. Otherssimplyrotted awayat variousbases, waitingto be scrapped; for instance, the hulk of an Il-28waspresent at KubinkaAB nearMoscowuntil at least 1997,and several dozen were dumped at Tambovwhen the TVVAUL re-equipped with the TupolevTu-I 34UBL CrustyB trainer. Fortunately several examples of this sleek bomberhavebeenpreserved for posterity. The collectionof the SovietAir ForceMuseumin Monino nearMoscowincludes Il-2804 Red(c/n53005771); interestingly, this aircraftoriginallysported ten mission markingson the nose.Another Moscow-built (10 Red,c/n 65010809) Beagle is preserved in the Soviet Armed Forces Museum in Moscow. An (01 Red,c/n 36603807) Omsk-built example is on display in the open-air aviation museum at Khodynkaairfieldin the centreof Moscow;at one

time this aircraft featured crude nose art depicting Santa Claus and Cheburashka(a cartoon character) on the starboard side. An Il-28 coded 07 Red is on display at the Naval Air Arm Museum in Safonovo near Severomorsk-l AB (Murmansk Region). An Omsk-built example coded 85 (c/n 56606201) is a ground instructional airframe at the Samara State Aviation University (SGAU Samarskiy gosoodarstvennyy aviatseeonry)y ooniversitet; formerly KuAI Kuibyshev Aviation Institute). One example coded 30 Red is displayed on a plinth outside the Air Force'sAircraft Overhaul Plant No. 712 in Chelyabinsk, which refurbished Il-28s. Others probably survive as gate guards on various Russian airbases. A few more ll-28s are on displayin the aviation museums of Bulgaria, Czechia, Finland, Hungary, Poland and Romania.
,<t(*

The Il-28 hasbeenaptly described by one Russian author as 'a successful designthat was alwaysout of luck'. Eventhoughthe Il-28's combatpotential wasnot usedto the full, it wasthis typethat introducedjet aircraft and all-weather capabilityto the bomberelement Air Forceand several of the Soviet otherair arms. The11-28 helped of to trainhundreds first-class gave navalpilots.Western aviation experts the Beagle it asa masterpiece duecredit,describing of Sovietaircraftdesisn.

Bn.qcms WonrD-wIDE
fTlh. Il-28 was operared by 25 nations in Europe. Asia (includingSE Asia),Africa and I I the Middle East. Second-hand aircraft were alsoexported, whichincidentally saved a few Il-287 torpedo-bombers from the torch. Force (Al Quwwat al-Jawwiya al-Jaza'eriyalForce AtrienneAlgtrienne) via Egypt,with which Algeria was closely allied; direct deliveriesmight have caused unfavourable politicalconsequences for the SovietUnion. Theseaircraft probablyparticipated in the clashwith Moroccoin 1963. Another twelve Beagles weredelivered directly from the USSR after the 1965military coup when the new government (which was evenmore pro-Soviet) requested additional military aid. Nearly all the Beagleswere unserviceableby 1979, and the few whichremained operational wererelegated to secondary duties.

Afghanistan
A numberof obsolete Il-28 bombers phased out by the VVS were delivered to the Royal Afghan Air Forcein 1969.Reportson the numberof aircraft supplied vary considerably, rangingfrom twelveaircraft (one squadron) to 45 aircraft (three squadrons).The Beagleswere mostly based at Mazar-eSharif wheremost of the Sovietmilitary advisers were stationed. The Il-28s were probably usedoperationally by the Afghan Republican Air Force (Afghan Hqnai Qurah)at the opening stages of the Afghan civil war (i.e. prior to the Soviet invasion). Only one aircraft wearingthe serial 163 Black and early-style red roundels with yellowDari script has beenidentified;it was operatedby the 335th CompositeAir Regimentat Shindandin the summer of 1979.All of the unit'sIl-28sweredestroyed on the groundin January1985. Albania The Albanian People's RepublicAir Force(Forcat Ushtarake Ajore Shquipdtare, later renamed Aviacione Ushtarak Shquipdtare) took deliveryof an unspecified numberof Chinese-built Harbin H-5s. Threeaircraftserialled 026,29and 3608havebeen identifiedto date;the last example belonged to the 4020th(formerly l594th) Aviation Regimentbased at RinasAB nearthe Albaniancapital,Tirana,and remained operational until 1993.(In somesources the Albanian name has beenrendered as Aviatika Militar e Republika Popull\ree Shquiprise.) Algeria The SovietUnion beganprovidingmilitary assistance to Algeria in 1962,right after the country gained independence from France.Initially twelve Il-28 bomberswere delivered to the Alserian Air

Bulgaria
The Bulgarian Air Force (BVVS - Bolgarski VoyennoVozdooshni Seeli) operutedvarious versionsof theBeagle. Around 36ll-28swerebased at Tolbukhin AB in the north-eastof the countrv: these included four Il-28R reconnaisanc e aircrafl,'a few Il-28T torpedo-bombers and two Il-28U trainers.A dozenaircraftmodified for electronicwarfare dutieswerereportedly still operational in 1983. Only oneaircraft,coded43 Red (c/n ...2504), has been identified so far; it is on display at the BulgarianAir Force Museum(Graf IgnatievAB, Plovdiv).

China
CommunistChina was by far the largestforeign operator of the type. Deliveriesto the People's LiberationArmy Air Force(PLAAF, or Chung-kuo Shen Min Taie-Fang-Tsun Pu-tai) started in 1952. By 1956the PLAAF inventoryincludedmore than 250 Soviet-builtIl-28s. This number was further expanded when production of the Beagle and Mascotas the H-5 and HJ-5 respectively startedat Harbin. RAT-52 torpedoes for the Il-28 werealso manufactured locally. More than 300I1-28s werein service by theendof 1964,not countingIl-2SUs(a total figure of 400plushasbeen reported in service with twelve tactical bomberregiments). Their principal role was to be on ready alert and intimidate the Taiwanese Nationalists. More than 100Il-28sweretransferred to the naval air arm (PLANAD and converted

. 93 Bt:t;t,t,s Wonrn-u'tnr.

into torpeclo-bombcrs similar to early Sovict conversior.rs. This was at a time when a mannc assault frorn Taiwan wasconsideled a distinct possib i l i ty i n n- r ainland Chin a . Kn o w n P LA A F I l- 2 8 sa re l i s tc di n T a b l e 1 6 .T h e rn ca rri n g of P LA A I T s e ri a l si s o b s c u l e .b u t i n th e cascol- five-digitscrialsthe first two digits may be a code dcnoting one ol- thc elevendcf'cnce districts. th e fo u r t h digit a unit co d e .w h i l e th c th i rc la n d fi l l l r d i g i tsm ak c up t he indiv i d u a ln u m b e ro l -th c a i rc ra t f i u th e r-r nitChines . eI l-2 8 s u s r" ra l lh ya d d a rk g l e e n r-rppcrsurfncesancl pale blue undersr.rrfaccs. but wholc units are knowr.r 1o havc bcen equippcclwith n a tu ra Im et aI( or s ilv c r-p a i n te ca l) i rc ra l l . Th e Bru glL, r em ainc in d s e rv i c e r" rn tith l e l a te 1 9 9 0 s (3 0 0 H - 5s and HZ - 5s w c rc re p o rtc d l y s ti l l o n s trcn g th wit h t he P L AA F a n c l 1 ,5 0 to rp e d o b o mb cr swit h lhc P LA N A F i n 1 9 9 7 ), th o u g h i t w rL s gradually supcrscdccl by Tu- l(r bourbcrs ancl Tu - l 6 K- I l- | 6 ant i- s hi p p i n gm i s s i l c c a rri e rs . T Irc la ttcl ty pc was built in X i a n (w i th o u t th e b c n c fl t o l ' a l i ce n cc )as t hc H- ( r. a n c l s o l c l i c rso u u ' i th th c

P LA N A F as the H -6 IV armed w i th C -601 Silkr.vonn rnissiles Chinese coDics of thc K - l t' /N A TO A S -5 A .' r.

Czechoslovakia
The flrst three ll-28swcr"e clelivcrcd to the CzechAir (-t't/r,,.r/r,r'.'l,rl;c Force (CzAF. ol fVL I-olt'n,;kl Lt,tcctt' o) i n Janual y l 9-5,5: the type w as i utencl eci to rcpl acethe obsol cteA ero C -3 (the C zechdcsi gnuti orr ol - S i ebelS i 204D s usctl as bctntber l rai ncrs). Four S ovi eti nstructors(surnatl csTsi l i n. Y crshor,. Li si tski y ancl S al azki n) stal tccl trai ni ug thc l -i rst ten crcws clu 9 Fcbrr.rary. Thc Czcchs ri,crecluick on thc uptake,and thc threc ui rcral i pul ti ci patccl in thc VE-Da1' air 1-raraclc on 9 Maf itt t6c sllt.tc ycar. flown by Czech crcws (l'ligh1 lcadcr Mrr.j. K orri i r' ). On l 7 S eptcnrbcl 1955 tcn Il -28s cscortcclbv l i ghtcrs took part i n thc A vi ati on D ay l l ypl st i n ll'ont of- 1hc Czcch govcntr.r.ro.rt, dropping livc bombs ou ' cucl l ty l brti l l cati ons'(!). H ow cvcr.thc pcrlbI.rancc was alnrctst ovcrshadowccl bv ir

\Y-:++1;;

A busy scette at a Chineseairbasc. with numcrousH-5s gctting leacl1" lbr thc day'sflight trairrine.Notc thc servicentan in tl"re lbrcgror-rrtd who Irasliverred up his khaki attirc with a clccidctlli' non-r'egulatic'rn stmw hatt. tChittu .1irtnr1r t

94 . Ir-yusurNL-28 Bt,tcLt Table 16. KnownPLAAF ll-28s

Serial 6l Red 0031 Red 0 1 31Red 0194 Red 0195 Yellow

C/n ? ? ? ? ?

Version il-28U Il-28 il-28 Il-28 Il-28 ll-28 Il-28 Il-28 il-28 Il-28 n-28 It-28 Il-28 il-28 Il-28 Il-28 \-28 Il-28 |-28 il-28 HJ-5(I-28U) Il-28* Il-29* Il-29* Il-28* Il-29* It-29* Il-28* Il-29* * Il-29 Il-28* Il-29* It-29* Il-28* Il-28* Il-29* Il-29* Il-29* il-28 H-5 H-5 il-28 Il-28 HJ-5(il-28u) n-28(H-5?) [-28 (H-5?)

Notes

0986Red ? 1 1 10 Y ellow ? 1206 Red ? l2l0 Yellow ? 1400 Red ? 1402 Red ? 1403 Red ? l47l Red ? I 510Red ? 1 5 12 Red ? l 5l3 Red ? 1618 Yellow ? 17 18Red ? l80l Red ? 1 0198 Red ? 10692 Red ? 3 0 518 ? 3 07r 0 ? 3 071 I ? 307 t2 ? 307t3 ? 30714 ? 3 0 715*, k ? 3 07 I 6** ? 307 l7 ? 3 0 718 ? ,| 307lg** 3 0 8 10 ? 3 0 81 I ? 3 0 812 ? 309 I 3** ? 3 0 814 ? 3 0 81 5 ? 43050 Red ? 43684 Red ? 43693 Red ? 44690Red ? 45552 Red 63019 Red none none ? ? 4149 s4120

Naturalmetal Hangchow AB; green with blueundersurfaces. Defected to Taoyuan AB, Taiwan,I l-l l-66; preserved Naturalmetal Greenwith blueundersurfaces Naturalmetal Greenwith blueundersurfaces Naturalmetal Natural metal Naturalmetal Greenwith blueundersurfaces Greenwith blueundersurfaces Naturalmetal Naturalmetal Greenwith blueundersurfaces; unconfirmed (drawrng only) Naturalmetal Naturalmetal pLAAF Museum,Datangshan Naturalmetal.Preserved AB pLAAF Museum Naturalmetal.Preserved

Naturalmetal Naturalmetal Naturalmetal;sometimes reported in errorasIl_2gU Preserved PLAAF Museum, two-tonebluecamouflage with white undersurfaces; non-standard nose Natural metal pLAAF Museum Natural metal.Preserved pLAAF Museum Naturalmetal.Preserved

Notes: * Exactversion not known (maybe H_5). *t< Existence not provedbut likely.

Bntctts Wonro-wtoE . 95

&3*.

:sx

r(-30
Il -28R ' sdrop tanks.The front and rear porti onsof thesepods weredielectricancipaintetldark blue. Ini ti al l y C zech mi l i tary ai rcraft and hel i copters had alpha-nr.rmeric serialsconsistingof one or two lettersand two figures;the lettersweie a codedenoting the squadron to which the aircraft belonged. l l -28sw ereal l ocated seri al s i n the A D , B A , C D , D E , E B , FC , FH . GO, LB , P K , P U , P X , R L. TH bIOC K S and possiblyothers.The serial was painted on the lorward luselage in hugecharaclers. A diflerenrsystem w as i ntroduced i n mi d-1957,w i th l bur-di gi t serialsmatching the last fbur of the aircrali's construction number;the serialwas now paintedon the rear luselage Until 1960CzechBeugles continuedappearingat airshows. For example, the 1956 VE-Day parade featured a flypast by no fewer than sixteen ll-28s. The grand show staged in Prague-Ruzyne airport on 2 September1956was openedby a fbrmation of three ll-28s led by Maj. Hdjek and closed by another Il-28 escorted by four MiG- I 5s,followedby three vics of three Beugles.Business comes first, however,and the crews kept training. Training was not l i mi ted to home ground: i n June 1956ni ne arrcraft were deployed to Hungary and nine more to East Germany to participatein Warsaw pact military exercises, acting as aggressoraircraft. To this

A CzechAir ForceIl-28 (or Avia 8-228)in pre-1957 markinss.rRl/lrr

formation of 33 C-3s shaped like a hammer and sickle.The organizersof the flypast had probably wanted to show that aircraft which had done sterling service make way for new types,but the implication was just the opposite the old guard never surrenders, it only dies! Th e b om ber unit s equ i p p e dw i th II-2 8 sb e c a me f u l l y o p e r at ionalby O c t o b e r t9 5 5 . U n ti l th e m i d 1960sthe Czechshad a habit of redesignating foreign military aircraft in Czech AF service. For example,the Messerschmitt Bf l09G was the S-99 (t h e Bf l09G - 12 r r ain e r w a s th e C S -9 9 ), th e MiG-l 5bisFugot-Bwas built as the Aero S-102(and t h e UTI-M iG - |S M idge t a s th e C S-1 0 2 ),e tc . As already mentioned,Czech-built tl-28 bombers and Il-28U trainerswere designated 8-228 and C8-228 respectively. Besides the bomber version (sometimesreferred to as the Il-28B by the Czechs) and the Il-28U trainer, the Czech AF had some II-28RTR ELINT aircraft. The aircraft were progressivelymodified; e.g. the nose guns were removedand new avionics installedin 1959-60.Some aircraft were fitted with empty shellcollectorcases under the tail turret. At leastone bomber wasconvertedlocallyinto an ELINT or ECM aircraft.This was characterized by largecylindricalpods at the wingtips resembling the

96 . lrvu srrrxl:-28 Bt , . t t ; r . t

t''/n) {

ffi*ll

t:

ThisCzcch Air.Fil r c c ||- 2ELl( or Av iaC. B- 22ii) c : t r r i c s t r t l a | p I r i t - n r t n l c r i c s c r . i l t l t r n 1 h e l i l l . w i r c l plcltlfcwltstakctr alt c r l95T. whc r t t hc lbur ' - c ligit s c r i u l s o r . r t h c a l i l - L r s c l a g c w c l c i n t r o d u c c d . i / 1 . . 1 R 7 r

cnd thcy wcresuitablyr.narked by a blue clr red stripe around thc rear l'r-rselagc. Czechoslovakia also served as a trainir.rgground I'or Baugle crcws fior.t.r Egypt. Syria. Indoncsia. Nigcria and a few r.uore count r ies . T he bas icbom b e r w a s rc ti re di n 1 9 6 5 . T h e trri ner.s and reconnaissance versions rcntained in selr ice unt il 1973.B y 19 7 7 a l l C z e c hIl -2 8 s . e x c e p tfo u r i ti rcrall displayedat the Military Museum at PragueKbely airport, had cither bcen scrtipped or had ended up as target drones or gunncry targets at practice raltges. Czech sportsmenalsc'r used the Il-28 lor setting several world records.Thc idea was born when the Czechswon every possiblemedal at the 3rd World Skydiving Charmpionship held at Moscow-Tushino in 1956; the catch-phraseo1- the day was 'The studer.rts have surpassedthe teachers'.Of course. the winners were treated like national heroes. Among other things.they had an audiencewith the

thcn P re si dent of' C zechosl ovaki a. A ntoni n Zipotocky who asked thcrn in a private couverselti on w hat hc coul d do for them. S ci zi ngthe opportLlnity. absolute world cl.rantpionGr.rstavKoubek sai dthey w oLrl d l i ke to makc a j url p 1romhi gh al ti l ude i n order to gl ori fy thei r homel and, but onl y the Air Force had aircraft which could takc them high enough specifically thc Il-28 bomber,which could accommodate a team of skydiversin the bomb bay. The President tasked the Minister of Def'ence Lornsky with providingassistance; the ministergave appropriateorders to the Czech Air Force C-in-C. Lt-C err.JoselV osahl o. Apparently the rnilitary werenot overjoyed about this r-rnexpccted task, let alone the prospectof letting civilians use their aircraft. Since this was a presidentialtask, they could not just give Koubek and his team tl.re brush-off.Hencethey tried to scare the unwanted guestsoff. At the first meeting with Lt-Gen. Voshhlo the sportsmengot bawled out by his aides, who kept telling them rhey would get

. 97 Bn,qcus Wonr-o-wron Table17. KnownCzAF ll-28s

Serial

C/n ?

Version

Notes

AD-3I A...-81 BA.lO? BA-11(l ) (2) BA-11 6926 CD-IO 0501 DE-50 DE-51 TH-I4 PK-30 PU-I2 t904 2t07 2303? 2309? 2404 3303 6915 notknown

il-28 (8-228?) n-28 (B-228) Reserialled 7019? ? n-28U (CB-228?) 56775 \-28 (8-228) Fateunknown;see nextline 56926 il-28RTR (9-228) Reserialled to, seebelow Preserved Czech (VM VHU)*. Prague-Kbely aerospace museum 65010501?Il-28U C/n reportedas650.100501 - misquote? Reserialled to, seebelow Preserved VM VHU ? r-28 (B-228?) ? r-28 (9-2287) ? r-28 (8-228) ? l-28 (8-228?) ? I-28R (8-228?)

s70r9

t904 52107 52303? 52309? ...2404? 53303 56915 54665

Il-28 \-28 (B'-228) il-28R (B-228)

n-28
II-28RT (B-228) r1-28RT r-28 (B-228) I-28 (8-228)

Preserved VM VHU preserved Reported VM VHU but possible confusion with 3303, seebelow Unconfirmed (drawingonly) Preserved Nadace LbteckdHistorickdSpoletnostiVj,Ikov(Yylkov AviationHistoricalSociety Collection), Slatina. Could be B-228 cln 52404 Preserved VM VHU Enginetestbed Possibly serialled 4665

Note: VM VHU = Voiensk,! 'l' muzeumVojenskiho historickihoistavu * Military Museumof the Military Historical Society.

incinerated by the engineexhaust, or freeze like rabbits at high altitude,or getsmashed to deathagainst the aircraft'sfuselage by the slipstream, or their lungs would burst and they would suffocate. But Koubek and his teamwould not be put off that easily and demanded persistently that a test with a dummy be performed at first. Grudgingly the military had to agree. The sportsmen got their first look at the Il-28's bomb bay at Mlad6 AB, Milovice,discussing the modifications which needed to be madeto the aircraft with the local technicians. An Il-28 serialled TH-14 was equipped with a cine-camera mounted aheadof the bomb bay to checkhow the dummy would travel after leavingthe bay.Later, live jumps were made by Air Force parachutistsBilek (first nameunknown) and Leopold Ozi.},al. Meanwhile, the sportsmen were preparing in earnestfor the record attempt. Specialheat-insulatedand windproof clothing,includingfacemasks of the kind worn by anti-terroristtroops,wasmade to protect them from the slipstreamand the killing

cold of the stratosphere. The parachutists trainedin a pressurechamber,with physicians monitoring their health;two of thecandidates failedto pass this test.Then the aircraft'sbomb bay doorswerelined with thick felt to reduce the risk of injuries,special suspension beltswereinstalledas a safetymeasure to restrain the parachutists until the aircraft climbedto a safealtitude. and the bomb bavwasfitted out with an oxygensystem, an intercom,lights and additionalcameras. Prior to the recordattempt the skydivers made two training jumps from 6,000m (19,685ft) and 9,000m (29,527ft). An unexpected complication - the barographs arose on the latter occasion which were to record the altitude during the jump froze and failed.A special frost-resistant lubricanthad to be developed urgentlyand all of the parachutists' equipment(altimeters, barographs, chronometers, oxygen kits) weretested at -60oC(-76"F) and simulated altitudes up to 13,000 m (42,651 ft). Incidentally, eachman'sequipment, togetherwith the PTCH-3parachute, weighed 60 kg (1321b).

9ll . Irlr.srrr.l h -28 Bt : . u, t . t ,

(tic nnauI l -fi i R u b o u t r/t. An F lir s i tstu k c -o l l ' f uu. to b c s i n l /l /

A t 08. 07on 2l Ma rc h 1 9 5 7 .Il -2 8 T H -1 4 p i l otccl by Jaroslav Ha.lcktook oll' ll'onr MlaclaAB. acconrp anic c l by a LJ T I-M i G-1 5 ,' tl n { q r,/ tn ri n c r l s rr canr c r a s hip.W he n th e b o n .rb ec l l i n rb c cu l sh i g h a s i t w oulc lgo.c loing5 5 0 k m/h (2 9 7k t). a t 0 8 .-5 th 5 c s k1,cli v c ls J alos lav J c h l i i k a . Z c l c n e k Ka p l an a ncl C us t av K oubc k l c l t th c b o n b b a i r a t l l .8 -5 0 nr (42. 158 1t )anc lf t ll I 1 .6 6 4 n (3 8 .2 6 7 l t) b e l b reo peni n g t heir par ac hu tc s . Not s at is lledw i th th i s rc n .ra rk a b la cc h i c v e m ent. th e s am e t r io de c i d c d to r.n a k c a s c c o u d s tra tosp her icjLur p at n i g h t. At 2 l .l -5 o n 2 7 M a rc h they took ofl' ll-om Mlaclh AB in the sarncairclali. leavi n g it at 21. 56at a n a l ti tr.rd o e f l l .5 l 8 m (4 1 .0 (r9l t) m (3 9 .6 3 9 a nd f alling 11. 08 2 l i ) b e l b reo p e n i n gth ei r paracl.rutcs. Specialsearchlights wel'eset up on the g r ount l. s hining v e rti c a l l y i n to th c s k 1 ,to te l l the pilots when and whereto clropthc sk1'divers.

East Germany
Thc LSK/LV ( Lult,rtraitllii/1t' tmd Lulivcrteidiguttg DantokrutisL'ltatt dar Daut,scltan RL'ptrblilt Air Force and Air DefenceForce of thc Gcruran Demoelatic Republic) used the Il-28 erclr"rsivcly lbl trlrget-tow-

ing clLrtics. To this cr.rcl thc 3rclSt4/al (squacllon) ol .l FCi I (.fug1/licgcrgcsclnrutlcr lightcr wing) at (-ottbus w as rcorgani zecli n Fcbruary l 9-59 as orclerccl by EastGcrn.rany's ntinisterol- clel-cucc. Thc sclr.urclror.r's flrst aucl seconclllights continucd tc'r l t G-l ' /F F).t' .st' t t opcrarcP ZL Li m-5 (P ol i sh-bLri Mi (' ) day l i ghtcrsanciLi m--5P (P ol i sh-bui lMi t G-l 7P F' l -rt' .sto-D ) al l -w cather i nterceptor" s.' w hi l c the thi rd t' l i ght w as i ni ti al l y ecl Lri pped w i th tw o Il -28s seri al l ecl 190B l ack ancl 196B l ack.To thi s cncll bur LS K /LV pi l ots took conversi or.r i n C ottbus tl ai r.ri ng or.rI Februaly 4 March. while two navigatorsand three raclio operators Llnderwent theoretical trai ni n-{ at tl .re S ovi ct A i r Force' s l l th OR A P (otdel'ttt'r' rtr:r,ed.t'r'utcl'ttt'.t' aviupolk indcpendent rcconnai ssance regi ment) stati oned at N cu-W el zow AB. Shortly aflerwards3/JFG I was transfblmecl into ZDS 2l (Zicldur,stallungsstu//el target-towing scluadron).'The unit bccane fully operationalir.r tl.re

I Li nr = l i tcttt.r'j rt.r nt.ri l i rrt,r' l i cence-bui Jt l i ghter. I S omc (i crr.nan soul ces cl ai m that thc l l -28s rcnrai neclon stl engthn'i th.l FG I unti l D ecemberl 9-59.

Butctas Wonlo-wroe . 99

spring of 1960, providing target practice primarily for Volk,sarmee (People'sArmy) AA gunners firing anything from 14.5mm (.57 calibre)machine-guns to 57 mm 5-60 radar-directed automatic AA suns. The latter were noted for their high accuracy,6ft.n shooting the towed 'sock'right off. Target practice took place at the Zingst AAA range on the Baltic Seacoast. Il-28 target tugs were used to train East German Navy (Zolksmarine) gunners as well; their tasks included dropping flare bombs which were used as targets by AA gunners (!). LSK/LV fighter pilots were to join the fun later on, practising attacks on low-flying targets.Of coursegreat care was taken to ensure the target tugs would not be hit by friendly fire. A single Il-28U was delivered in 196l for crew training. The location of ZDS 21 chaneed several times; at one time the unit operated frJm Drewitz AB, not far from Cottbus. Five more Il-28s were transferred from the l lth ORAP to ZDS 2l at this base in 1962. After 1972 the unit was permanently based in Peenemiinde.In due time the unit was renumbered, becoming ZDS 33;on I Decemberl98l it was demoted to ZDK 33 (Zielctarstellunsskerte target-towing flight;. Originally the East German ll-28s were painted

silver overall, but some aircraft were later reoainted in a camouflage schemewith dark greenidaik earth upper surfaces and light blue undersurfaces.The Il-28s served without incident until 1982,when they were replaced by Czech-built Aero L-39V Albatros target tugs and KT-04 towed targets. The last aircraft, serialled208, was retired on 20 October 1982 and preservedat the LSK/LV ofTjcers' flvins school in Bautzen (OJfiz i er hochschuIe Franz l,f i hr ii s l. E ast German II-28s w ere al so used to test new models of parachutes.Before a test jumper coulcl risk his life, a tin dummy filled with sand would be dropped from an Il-28 at various speedsand altitudes.

gypt (UnitedArab Republic; Arab Republic of Egypt)

The Egyptian Air Force (EAF, or al Outrvrat ulJawwiya it-Misriya) took delivery of its fi-rstBeagles in December 1955,ordering about fifty B-228sand CB-228s from Czechoslovakia. The aircraft were based at Cairo-WestAB. After the Suez Crisis of 1956,in which at leastsevenof thesebomberswere lost, President Gamal Abdel Nasser launched a maJorprogrammeto re-equiphis armed forces;this includedthe acquisitionof more Beugles. In March

Table18. EastGerman ll-28s

Serial C/n

Version I l -2 8 Il -2 8 R Il -2 8 R

Notes

I l??? 180 Bl a c k 184 Black 190 Bl a ck 193Black I9 6 Bl a c k 204Black 205Black 208Red** 224 Black 226Black

...2002 . . . 9014 r8 5901207

55006937 Il -2 8 650103r l? il-28U 55006944 4404426 54006279 55006448 il-28 Il -2 8 Il-28 rl-28

55006445 il-28 5500641 7 Il -2 8

Serial asreported but doubtful; latest German publications do not confirm existence of thisaircraft in EastGermany! Ex DDR-ZZI (engine testbed. V EB Entwick Iungsbaupirna),transferrecl I - I | -61 . WFU Oranienburg AB ?-?-76; SOC*25-6-j9, scrapped Ex DDR-ZZK (engine pirna). testbed, VEB Entwicklungsbau transferred l -l l -6 1 . W F U Orani enburgA?-?-77; B S OC25-6-j 9, scrapped D/D 1959. SOC l2-10-82, scrapped D/D 1961. C/n reported as61031L Camouflaged. SOC30-3-79. became a targetat thegunnery rangein Peenemi.inde D/D 1959. Crashed 30-7-"11 DID l2-l-62.Crashed in Poland12-10-63 DID 1962. Crashed in the USSR?-5-69; SOC30-5-70 DID 1962. Camouflaged. SOCl3-10-82, preserved Bautzen Museum this oate DID 1962. SOC9-l2-77.scrapped DID 1962. Crashed at Peenemiind e 4-2-i0:. SOC30-7-71

Notes: * SOC = struck off charse. ':!* The red serial on 208 iinoteworthy, as normally only single-seat fighters wore red serialsin the East German Air Force; all other aircraft wore black serials. The aircraft transferred lrom the Soviet Air Force havebeen referred to as Il-28Rs, which certainly seemslogical" considering that they were transferred lrom a reconnaissance regiment. However, German ,ourcei say only iwo Il-28Rs were delivered;and indeed the other LSK/LV Beaglesd6not have the tip tanks characteristic of the reconnaissance version.

100 . IrvusHrx lt-28 Bt-:,tc;r.r:

.t ,r

:i ,
....'rii..,.i;li:::rl,

..

,...

:.:.: '..
'i {

'1 ,

This EgyptianAir Forcc Il-28 was displayedin Cairo in I 956 toge with otlicr aircraft therroperatedby the EA F. The tl.rer bomber can'iespre-UARAF greenand wliitc national insignia.r lt.,tRz r

1 957 t hr ee Rom a n i a n s h i p s b ro u g h t th e fl rs t ten Il - 28s t o A lex and ri a ,a m o n g o th e r th i n g s ; b y l ate Junet he E A F had a b o u t 4 0 o n s tre n g th . I n his s peec h o n 2 5 J u l y 1 9 5 7o n th e o c c a s i on of Nasser'sfiflh anniversary as President,Egyptian Air Force Chief of Stafl Air Vice-Marshal Mohammed Sidki stated that the EAF's first-line assets had doubled as compared to the time immediatelybeforethe SuezCrisis.To add weight to his words.a formation of no fewerthan 100combat jets was to pass over Cairo on the sarne day. However. the show of lbrce fizzled because the technicalstaff had managedto prepareonly 42 aircraft for the display elevenMiG-l5bis Fugot-Bs, eighteen MiG-l7F Fre,st'o-Cs and thirteen ll-28s. The watching crowd went wild all the same, but the messagewas clear: it would take years for the Egyptian Air Force to becornefully combatcapable. When Egypt and Syria joined forces against Israel, creating the United Arab Republic on I February 1958,the EAF Il-28swere includedin the assetsof the newly created United Arab Republic Air Force (UARAF). Three squadrons of Beugles

were fbrmed: in addition to the basic bomber and Il-28U trainer, the UARAF reportedly operated Il-28R tactical PHOTINT aircraft and Chinese-builtH-5s. Egypt reclaimedmost of these aircraft in September1961when the United Arab Republic ceased to exist and Egypt and Syria (and their respective air forces)went their separate ways. Reports on the number of Egyptian ll-28s vary widely, some sourcesstating as many as 72 aircraft in 1966.These included four second-handIl-287 torpedo-bombersbought from the Soviet Navy in 1962with a supply of 90 RAT-52 torpedoes. Other sources claim that 21 of 30 (!?)aircrafi on strength in 196l were destroyed on the ground by Israeli air stri kesduri ng the S i x-D ay W ar (5 l l June 1967). Two Il-28swereresoldto Nigeria and six to Syria; it makesyou wonder where the remaining 34 aircraft went! Anyway, by the beginning of the Holy Day War (6 October 1973) Egypt had a Beugle force of 35 or 40 aircraft in four bomber squadronsand one reconnaissance squadron. The Il-28s were now based at Aswan. No more than four or five remained airworthy by 1983; two aircraft were

B ttt;tt s Wonl Ir-u tD F . l 0l

1\
l'.*"*-|

I l \ - **-*

*.-\

r'

'\
i\

:\

l*"
"*"g-:-:i

t" t''lL
.N*-i lb

Egyptian Air Forcc ll-28 1733at Kont Anshim AB: the aircrali wcarscamoullagcintrocluccd alier the Six-Dav War ol
1967. t ; ti ,,t(r,rtl ,,u ,tr, h i ,

w ri tte n of f on 25 A pr i l 1 9 7 0 u n d e r u n k n o w u c i r.(possiblya rnid-air collision or ground clrmstances co l l i si on) . On l y t wo air c r af t ,s e ri a l l e d1 7 3 3a n d 1 7 7 8 .h a v e been positively identified so lhr; both wore sand/brown camouflage.A drawing exists ol- one

more ai l cral l i n r-ratural metal fi ni sh seri al l ed1731. Speakingof which, Egypt was one of the f'ew air' iirms to havc camouflagecl Il-28s (most operators had silver-paintedaircrall); the camoullage was introducedas a result of lessons learnedin the SixDav War.

102. Ir.rLrsrrrtrt lt-2E Br..u;r.r,

*t

*-,$

tr-

rlr#'f
.l ; ""'llili

3.

t,.{

'.;,,,

I
t"
A n trtlrcrcrrrno ul'll qc tl: l . Al; llc t t , glcl77li" . ut ( ' lir . o- w c s t u i t h r S o v i c t _ b u i l K t r A Z - 1 5 - 5 l l( r x ( rt r u c k i n t h c l o l . c g r . o L r n d.

Finland
J'h c l: inr r is hA ir F o r-c c (l l tttttro i n tu !) rc c c i l ,c crtnc l l l -2ll bor ubc rlnc l o n c II-2 8 R p l i o to rc c o n n u i s s uncc i ri l c nr lt in 1960 I ; trv o n ro rc Il -2 8 R s fb l l o u c cl i n 1 9 66. S t r ange' ly c n o u g h .a l l l b u r Bt,ttg l cw s c rc o p cr_ l u te cby l t hc F innis h A i t. F o rc c ' s tfa n s p o rts c l u a dron ( KuIjt't u,s Icttt ttIu i yttt'. or KLr lj L Lv ) lLtU tti. N Il-2ll/.1 wcrc latcr-cortve rtcclto targct tu-es accorcl_ i n g t o t hc S ov iet Il -2 8 B M s ta n c l u ri i th : e -*rv v o rkcd 'l'able 19. l,'innish Air Force ll-2lls
Serial NII-I NH - ] NH .J NII-,1 C/rr !'ersion \otes D/ D* 28- l- ( r 0 :r 'c r i 'e c.lf i c . h c a r , 1 , i . r d i . - u l 0 - l l - 7 6 : f L r l lc / , 5 3 0 0 _ 5 7 0 ( r . j D/ D l, l- 6- 6 l: WF L I 6 - 8 I : t i r l l c i n -590171(il D/ D l- 66. W F L J1 0 - 6 - 8 t : f i r l l c / n 5 9 0l 7 t i , l DiD l- ( 16. wF L l 3 0 - 6 - 8 l " p r c s e r 'c d s t r . r t t 'r t I r r r t t r i lM t r t t . s c . . T i k k a k o s k in : ot N'loscou-br-rilt (secSo'"'ie r sccrion/ll-l8Tl).lirll c/n 5901l0(r.l

\\i rth\,anous ty;l cs ol ' targcts.i ncl Lrcl i ng l col tvcl t_ ti onal sock uncl u l ur-sccl urt-sha;l ccl gl i cl cr.Thc ai l cral t l vcrc si l v' crovcral l . l vi th the cl e tuchabl c cngi nccow l i ngsori gi nal l ypai ntccl grccn ou N H _l ; l utcr.thc cow l i ngs. w i ngti ps(or ti p tanks.i n thc case of' the l l -28R s)anclstabi l i zcr ti ps l vcrepai ntecl cl av_ glo orange. Thc lircl.afi carriecl a clay,glo u,.rng" peunaulor_rl l i nccl i rt rcd ou thc fl n. pctssi bl to v rtrark l l tcrDi rsti l t' uct tU gs.

.-5706 . I 710 . r 7l3 . l 10 6

il-2t It-2 tR il-28R II-]ER

Notes: * D/D Dclir,,crl,Datc

Bt,tctts Wonlo-wrop . 103

Gortlon urcttirL ) I l-28R N H-2 (c/n I 7 l0) with camouflaged wraps on the tip tanks to hide the dayglo finish. ( Yt,lirtt

,.8rr

'r.\-

dayglo Another Finnish Il-28 target tug. NH-4 (cAr ll06); this aircral'tapparentlydoes not have the characteristic markinss. ( Y'lin Gorlon urtlrirt,)

104 . IryusHrNl..-28 Br,tctr;

Hungary
The Hungarian Air Force (MHRC - Magyar Honvedseg Repik) Csapatai)introduced the Il-2g in late 1954learly1955. Thirty-seven exampleswere initially on strength, with one regiment based at Kunmadaras; at least some of them (possiblyall) were Czech-built B-228s and CB-228s. A second Beagle regiment, the 82nd Vtsyes Reotik) Hadosztaly (bomber regiment) at Keiskemet, was established later.Little elseis known, exceDt that the l ast tl -28sw erereri redi n 19i 2.

Table20. Hungarian Air Force ll-28s

Serial C/n Version Notes Often reported in error as a Romanian Air Force aircraft PreservedO:igetvar Mu:eunt, V6cses. in lake Soviet Air Force markings PreservedMugyur Repiilist\rtcneti Mu:ewn,szolnok Preserved, location unknown

l 0 Red I9 R ed 20 Red 34 Red 50 Red 55 Red 7 l R ed 72 Red Tl R ed

? ? ,! 56424 ? 56455 'l ,) 69420',!

il-28 il-28RTR Il-28 (B -2 2 8 ) rr-2 8 Il -2 8 il-28 (8-228) I l -2 8 Il-28 il-28U(CB-228?)

34 Red, a Hungarian

Beugle , in flight. ( ytfin Gontort urttrilc )

Czech-built Hungarian Air Force Il-28 55 Red in a local museum

. 105 Bucrcs Wonlo-wron

Indonesia
When President Sukarno was in office. Indonesia was on fairly good terms with the Soviet Union and enjoyedSovietmilitary aid. In l96l the Indonesian naval air arm (Tentera Nasional Inelonesru Angkatan Laut, or TNI-AL) took delivery of more than thirty overhauled Il-28T torpedo-bombers serialledfrom M-841 onwards, together with a suitable complement of RAT-52 torpedoes, and six Il-28U trainers (M-801-M-806). The aircraft were suppliedvia Czechoslovakia, which also servedas a training basefor the crews,and equipped No. I and No. 2l squadronsat Surabaya.Quite possibly the aircraft were reserialledlater on, as a photo existsof TNI-AL Beagles serialled 504, 506 and 508, plus I1-28U s seri al l ed 511and 512. In 1966, however, Dr Sukarno was overthrown

"?&d.lai,$i

r:irttiix,rrar!5t*{e*a.iq&*r ;;ar -!tx!Wq1'rit!er::**tr:"..,,

--8-

f ndonesianNavy Il-28T M-842 taxiesout for take-off.with M-844 and M-847 visiblebevond . I R/1nr)

Another IndonesianNavy Bcagle, now wearingTNI-AL insigniaand the new-style serial506. rRznrr

106 . Ir-yusHrN It-28 Bex;tr

ht ,

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M-803, onc of'lbur IndonesianNavy ll-28Us. immediately afler take-oll'. rn.arizr

r,lriilllrw!&,

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Another Mustot in new-style TN I-AL insignia,apparentlywithdrawn fiom use.Note the double trccof spades noseart, presumably a squadronbadge./ R.tRrl

by the staunchlyanti-Communist Gen. Suharto. A wave of repressionsagainst Communists swept through Indonesia, and Soviet support was promptly cut off. Predictably,all Soviet-built aircraft were soon grounded by lack of spares. The last Beugleswere retired in June 1972.

light-bomber squadron equipped with ten ll-28s and two Il-28Us. The aircraft were supplied via Egypt in 1958,replacingde Havilland Venom FB.50 fighter-bombers.Interestingly,the M ilitair' 82 handbook reported ten Il-2SUs in servicewith the IrAF i n 1982.

Iraq
Prior to the Six-Day War the Iraqi Air Force (ai Quv,w'at ul-Jutrv'i,yu al-lraqiya) operated a single

Kampuchea
A handful of Il-28s (probably Chinese-builtH-5s) were operated bv the National Khmer Aviation

Buctes Wonlo-wror. 107

A FederalNigerian Air Forcell-28 undergoingminor maintenance. rR;Rrr

,gar,;ff

This Federal Nigerian Air Force Beugle is photographed in an intriguing setting possibly after an off-field landing; though none were lost to enemyaction. several ll-28sweredamagedin accidents. /R,lnrl

(NKA) when the country was run by the dictator Pol Pot.

Morocco
The Royal Moroccan Air Force (al Quwwat ulJawwiya al-Malakiya Marakishiya or Aviation Royale Chtrifienne) operated a mere two ll-28s, probably supplied by Egypt.

Il-28 bombers (two from Egypt and one from Algeria); some sources,though, claimed that the FederalNigerian Air Force(FNAF) had at leastsix of the type. The aircraft wore wraparound green/darkbrown camouflage.Only one Nigerian Il-28, NAF 635,is known; a drawing of an example serialled NAF-158 has been oublished. but this appearsdoubtful.

North Korea Nigeria

In 1969Nigeria, which had been in the throes of a civil war sinceMay 1967,bought three second-hand

An unknown number of Il-28s were delivered to the

Korean People'sArmy Air Force before the end of the Korean War; at any rate, ten Beaglestook part in

108. lryusurNlt-28 Bt,t<;r.r

th e v ic t or y par adei n Py o n g y a n g o n 2 8 J u l y 1 9 5 3 .In the early 1960s CommLrnist China beganrebLrilding North Korea'sair force in an attempt to strengthen its military presencein the region. Obsolete exPLAAF equipmentwas exportedto North Korea in violation of the ceasefire treaties;this included 70 ll-28s deliveredby sea. Deliveriescontinued r.rntil th e m id- 1960s wh , e r, re l a ti o n sb e tw e e nC h i n a and North Korea deteriorated. Only three examples have been identifled to date; two ol these are b o m ber s Har bin H -5 4 5 B l u e i n d a rk g re e nc a moullage with natural metal undersurfaces and red ru dder ,and I l- 28 3 1 4 R e d i n o v e ra l ln a tu ra l m e tal fi n is h.T he t hir d a i rc ra l t i s a n Il -2 8 R s e ri a l l e d 0 220 Red. onceagain in r.ratural metal flnish.

luospares werefbrthcomingthe lbrce was facedwith the daunting prospectof being gror-rnded entirely or linding replacement aircrafi. Thus, the Soviet'Canberra'wasselected ers a possible replacen-leut fbr the US Car.rberra sinceit was readily availablefrom China. Moreover. Pakistan w as evcn negoti ati ng the del i veryof 30 to 40 Il -28s directly fr"omthe USSR in 1969.Had the deal gone through it would inevitablyhavecar.rsed a rifl in the Indo-Soviet relationship. Eventually, however, Pakistan arranged to buy an adequate supply ol' Wright J65 turbojets fbr the B-57sin France,so thc ll-28s werepr.rt in storageand neverflown.

Poland

The fl rst Il -28s fbr the P ol i sh A i r Force (P W L Rtl.skicWoj.sko Lottric:a)arrivcd at Warsaw-Okpcie In 1965China s ig n c da c o n tra c t w i th P a k i s ta non ai rfi el d (w hi ch i s now thc ci ty' s i ntcrnati onalai rth e dc liv er yol- c omb a tj c ts . n ra i rrl y C h c n g d u F T-5 port) on 20 JLrl y 1952. Thc typeattai ncdi ni ti al opcrtrainer s ( a M iG - 1 7 c l e ri v a ti v ea ) n d Sh e n y a n gF-6 ati ng capabi l i ty (l OC ) eal l y the l bl l ow i ng year. (Chines e- bLr ilt M iG -I9 5 F ) l i g h te rsto rl .re Pa k i s r l ni allowing the ktrtg-serving Tu-2 and PctlyakovPe-2 Air Force(PAF. or PukistunFi:u'.t'u). The deal also bombel s to be reti red. Thus thc secondstage ol ' i n cluc led lbur t ec nS o v i e t-b u i l t Il -2 8 b o m b e r-s w h i cl r Lrpgradi ng the P W L w as compl eted;thc l l rst w as wer e deliv er - ed in 1 9 6 6 1 o l b rn t a l i g h t-b o m ber tl.re replacentent ol' pislon-engined lighters with sq uadr c lr r . ak is t a n P d e n i e dIn d i a n c l a i r.uth s a t i t was Mi G-f 5 Fupt-A l B s and Mi G-17 Fr.r,,rcos w hi ch u singt he t y pe opc ra ti o n a l l y . w erel atcl l i cence-br.ri l t the P ZL Mi el ecl actoryas by The r eas onf br th i s d e a l w a s th a t th e U S A had thc Li m-l /Li m-2 and Li n-5/Li m-6 scri esl especwi thdr awn all nili ta ry s u p p o rt i n th e w a k e o 1 ' the tivcly.Apart liom the basclinebornber version,thc In d o- P ak is t ar ni c o n tl i c t o f 1 9 6 5 . T h e PA F w as P W L al sohad l l -28R seqLri ppi ng seve ral l ong-rarrge e n t ir ely eqLr ippe dw i th U S a i rc ra fl . i n c l r" rdi ng reconnaissance units. Ma r t in B - 57B s( a s p i n -o fl ' o f th e C a n b e rra ), a n d as A smal l number of- Il -28U trai ners w as al so

Pakistan

Polish Air Force I l-28 I I Red j ust belbre la nding . I t1.o j.skrtru ju Frrtt.qrulit Aggtt. :ttut

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delivered;starting in 1955, they served alongside regufarIl-28s at the WOSL (Wyszu Ofic'erska Szkokr Lotniczu Officers'Higher Flying School) popularly known as Szkola Orlet (Eaglets'School) at Dgblin. The Masc'ots were known locally as SII-28, the S standing for [samolotls:kolnt,(trainer), and had alpha-numericserialscommencingwith S. The PWL's ll-28s wereof both Sovietand Czechorisin.

Polish pilots quickly grew familiar with the type and performed well during national and Warsaw Pact manoeuvres. The most striking demonstration of their skill, howevet came at the 1966 military parade in Warsaw commemorating the 1,000th anniversaryof Polish statehood.Until the 1970sit was quite common to sky-write by flying in special formations,and messages like 'Peace'or'50 yearsof

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Maintenancework on P WL Il -2 8 U5 5 R e d .Note the non-standard dipole aerial mounted on the rear lairing. (wtj.skowt
Aguciu F'otogrulicnu )

A publicity shot of sevenPolish Air Force Il-28s. r M11skowt Agentju Fotogru/it:nu)

BttctrsWonr-o-wroE . lll

Table21. KnownPolishAir Forcell-28s

Serial

C/n ? ? ? ...1 9 l0 ? ? ...2905 ? ? ? ? 56729 41302 ? ? ? ? ? 56729 ? ? ? 56538

Version

Notes

l Red 2 Red 3 Red 4 Red 5 Re d TR e d 03 Red 09 Red ll Red 17Red 20 Red 22Red 30 Red 32 Red(a) 32 Red (b) 33 Red 34 Red 39 Red 40 Red 4l Red 42 Red 43 Red 46 Red 50 Red 52 Red 54 Red 57 Red 58 Red 59 Red 62 Red 64 Red 52 Red 65 Red 68 Red 69 Red 72 Red 001Red 021Red 030Red 101 Red l l l Re d I l9 Blue 133Red Sl Red? 32 Red? 53 Red 54 Red 55 Red not known

Il-28 I1-28 r1-28 It-28 Il-28

Air Force Technical Institute(ITWL), brakeparachute testbed Soviet-builtbut factory unknown. Preserved MuzeumWyzwolenia Miasta (Poznair Poznania City Liberation Museum)* Soviet-built but lactoryunknown

n-28
Il-28R il-28 Il-28 It-28 Il-28 r-28 (9-228) Il-28R (8-228?) ll-28 Il-28 Il-28 Il-28 Il-28 (B-228\ 11-28 Il-28 11-28 Il-28 Il-28(8-228)

(PolishArmed Forces Preserved MuzeumWojska Polskiego Museum), Warsaw, with fake serial65 Red (see below) Reserialled to, seebelow

? ll-28 Il-28 ? ...2308 Il-28 ? Il-28 ? ll-28 ? Il-28 ...2113 Il-28 ...2212 ? ? 41909 ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? 69216 ? ? 4r906 Il-28 Il-28R ll-28 Il-28R(8-228?) il-28 |-28 Il-28R

Converted to targettug. Preserved Muzeum Braterstwa Broni(Comradeshipin-ArmsMuseum), Drzon6wnearZielonaG6ra** Seefive linesbelow Soviet-built but factoryunknown

Soviet-built but factoryunknown.Reserialled to, see below (Polish Preserved Muzeum Org:a Polskiego Arms Museum), Kolobrzeg Soviet-built but factoryunknown.Preserved WOSL, Dpblin (Navy Museum),Gdynia Preserved MuzeumMarynarki Wojennei Preserved Muzeum Lotnictwa i Astronautyki(MLiA- Aerospace Museum), Krak6w; full c/n may be43051 I 909 ITWL, brakeparachute testbed

n-28
Il-28 il-28 il-28H Il-28 Il-28U il-28U il-28U (CB-228) n-28U Il-28U n-28 (8-228)? Convertedto, seebelow Inst! tut Lo tnictwa,enginetestbed Existence not proved but likely Existence not provedbut likely Preserved MLiA, Krak6w Couldbe an Il-28R(full c/n 430511906?)

Notes: * Aka MuzeumCytadeliPoznafiskiej (Poznafr FortressMuseum) *i! Somesources statethis aircraft aspreserved MuzeumZiemi LubuskrT(Lublin RegionMuseum).

112 . IrvusHrN h-28 Br,qcLe

This was one Socialistcountry that was paranoid about security, so little wasknown about Romanian Il-28s until recently.The type was introduced into the Romanian Air Force (Foryele Aeriene ale RepubliciiSocialisteRomdne)servicein early 1955, By the mid-1970s the PolishIl-28shad beenwithwhen the Regimentul282 Avialie Bombardament drawn from firstJine service and usedas targettugs (282ndBomberRegiment) atlanca AB,40 km (25 with fabric sleeve-type targets,just as in East miles) south-west of Galati, took deliveryof the Germany. Yet again the Poles went one better, first three aircraft two bombers and one Il-28U developing targets with acoustic hit detectors. Soonafterwards the unit movedto Mihail The last PWL Beaglewas retired on 29 December trainer.a Kogdlniceanu AB. As it oftendid, the SovietUnion 1977. sent a team of instructorsto train the customer's The Il-28 contributeda lot to the progress of personnel in situ; the groupwhichcameto Romania parachutingin Poland.On 4 September 1957the to assistin masteringthe Il-28 was led by Capt. parachutistTadeusz Dulla made a jump from an Mikhail Boykov.It remained with the unit until 5 Il-28 flying at 12,500m (41,010ft),3 setting a May 1955, whereupon the282nd BomberRegiment nationalrecord.Later,other Polishskydivers made relocated (now to Otopeni Bucharest's international jumps group singleand from Il-28s in a similar airport). fashion. Two yearslater the unit moved yet again, this Table 22. Known Romanian Beagles
Serial 001Red 002 Red 003 Red 014Red 0 1 5Red 0 1 8Red 125Red? 301 Red? 307Red 308Red 309Red 3 1 0Red 402 Red 403Red 405 Red 407 Red 408Red 433Red 443 Red 462 Red? 491Red? 501Red 543 Red? 701Red 703Red 704Red 706Red 707Red 708Red 709Red 710Red? C/n Version Il-28U Il-28U Il-28U Il-28 ll-28 Notes

something-or-other' made up of aircraft were almost obligatoryat airshows. Yet the Poleswent onebetterand created an eagle - the Polishnational symbol- out of no fewerthan 33Il-28s. Theimpressiveformationwasled by Lt-Col Jerzy W6jcik.

Romania

i
? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ,|

r-28U
? B-5 B-5 B-5 B-5 B-5 Il-28R Il-28R Il-28R il-28U (BT-5?) il-28U (BT-s) I1-28 Il-28 B-5 B-5 Il-28U B-5 B-5 B-5 B-5R B-5 B-5 B-5 B-5 B-5 Existence not confirmed Existence not conhrmed Targettug conversion Repainted in grey/blue camouflage by 7-01as 310Black.Damaged beyond repairat Borcea-Fetegti AB 2l-7-01 Preserved MuseulAvialiei,Bucharest-Otopeni airport Targettug. Crashed at BacduAB l-8-55 Preserved MuseulAviatiei,Baneasa section DID 1979. StoredBacduAB DtD 1979 Targettug Existence not confirmed Existence not confirmed Existence not conhrmed StoredBaciu AB StoredBaciu AB

Existence not confirmed

. I 13 Bt,tcr,rsWonr-o-wroe

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A long row of VVS Beagleson the flight line, headedby ll-28U 03 Blue. ( y'lintGonton urtttitr,l

time to Boteni. and was transformed into the Regimentul 282 Avia(ie Cerc'etare(Reconaissance Regiment).In 1960it was demotedto squadronstatus, becoming the Escadrila 282 Aviulie Cert'eture, and relocatedfor the last time to Borcea AB. near Cocargeaua, whereit remainsat the time of writing. Two of the bombers (433 Red and 443 Red) were used for target-towing duties at Mihail KogalniceanuAB in the 1960s;it is not known whether they were standard Il-28BMs or local conversions.The original Soviet-builtBeugles (unofficially designated Il-28B in Romanian Air Force service) and Il-28U trainers were later supplemented and gradually replaced by Chinese-built B-5s deliveredin 1972.One of them. 307 Red. was also converted for target-towing duties; target practice took placeat the Cap Midia gunnery range. Starting in 1961,all Romanian Beuglas and their engineswere refurbished at the Bacdu aircraft overhaul plant (URA Bacdu).5 In due time the unir was renumbered, becoming Escadrila -i8 Avia(ie Cercetare;also, the original natural metal finish of the H-5s gave way to an overall light grey colour scheme (except for the tail turret, which is white) and the new Romanian roundels replacing the Socialist-era star-typeinsignia.Romania is the last

European nation to operatethe type. Incidentally, the Romanians have given the Beuglca nickname, BlAndul Bcn ('Gentle Ben', after a good-natured bear in a TV series), reflectingthe aircraft'seasyand forgiving handling. (and a major treat for warbird A minor sensation enthusiasts) was planned for 27 29 July 2001, when a RomanianAir Force H-5 was to participatein the 30th Royal International Air Tattoo at RAF Cottesmore,Rutland, making the type's first-ever visit to the West. Unlbrtunately these plans were dashed to the ground (literally) just a few days beforethe show when the aircraft (3l0 Black) crashl andedduri ng a trai ni ng fl i ght on 2l Jul y,l osi ng i ts enti restarboard w i ng. S i nce al l other survi vi ngH -5s were non-airworthy at the tinte (or in less than showcase condition anyway),the trip had to be cancelled.

Somalia
In the late 1960s the Somalian AeronauticalCorps (Dayuurutluhu Xooggu Dulka Sontuliyeed) reportedly operated ten ll-28s. Unfortunately no details are known.

Soviet Union
3 Other reports statea height of I 1,900rn (39.041ft)
A

Some sources claim that all three aircraft delivered initiallv u ere t r a i n e r s . 5 Later renamed IAv Baclu (lntreprenderiu Avioane aviation enterprise);now Aerostar SA.

The SovietAir Force(VVS) was the largestoperator of the type. Unfortunately, becauseof the systemof tacticalcodesdescribed earlier, the only way of positively identifying an aircraft is by the construction number, of which only a few are known.

114. Irvusurult-28 Bn.qcLr Table 23. SovietBeagles C/n Tacticalcode/ Version registration Il-28T* Il-28T* II-28TM ll-28 Il-28 Il-28R Il-28U Il-28U Il-28 I1-28RM 11-28 Il-28 Il-28LSh Il-28 ll-28LL Il-28T Il-28 ll-28 Il-28 Il-28 Il-28 Il-28 rl-28 Il-28U Il-28U Il-28U Il-28 Notes

a) Moscowproduction 50301104 none 50301106 not known 4 Red 50301408 not known 50301801 not known 430512301 not known 61003001? not known 6*003501? not known 52003701 not known 52003714 none 52003719 not known 53005005 not known 53005112 12Red 54005217 38 Red 53005710 l0 Blue 53005717? 09 Red 53005771 04 Red 55006424 26 Blue 55006445 not known 55006,+48 not known 55006542 I I Red 55006937 not known 55006968 03 Red 65009706 42Blue 65009807 100Red 1I ? not known 650103 65010809 16Red 10Red b) Voronezhproduction 6450001 not known 6450301 not known 2402101 0l Red 3402209 12Blue notknown 3402701 c) Omskproduction 0016601 not known 0416601 not known 36603509 not known 36603807 01 Red 56605702 33 Red 56606201 85 Red d) unknown factories not known ...1905 ...2007 not known ...3513 ...4702 ...4705 ? not known not known not known 2Red

Prototype, IlyushinOKB Prototype, IlyushinOKB. Converted to, see below Prototype, IlyushinOKB

C/n reported as63001 C/n reported as63501 prototype, VK-5-powered version/first IlyushinOKB Prototype, IlyushinOKB VK-5-powered prototype, version/second IlyushinOKB IlyushinOKB, ski landinggeartestbed - delivered Yearin c/n out of sequence late? LII, ejection seat testbed Nikolayev Minelayer and Torpedo-Bomber FlyingSchool (Russian) Preserved Soviet Air ForceMuseum, Monino Transferred to the EastGermanAF as224Black Transferred to the EastGermanAF as208Red GSVG,Oranienburg AB (until 1975) Transferred to the EastGermanAF as 190Black

C/n reported as03I I . Transferred to the EastGermanAF as 193Black Moscow-built. Recoded to. seebelow Preserved Armed Forces Museum, Moscow(currently resprayed as l0 Red outllne)

Il-28 Il-28 Il-28 Il-28 ll-28 Il-28 Il-28 Il-28 Il-28 Il-28 Il-28 11-28 11-28 Il-28 Il-28T Il-28T Il -2 8 -1 3 1

LII, refuelling system testbed

Preserved Moscow-Khodynka (no tactical Preserved Civil AviationMuseum,Ulyanovsk, as11-20 code, Sovietflag on tail, Aeroflot logo on fuselage) Preserved/GlA KuibyshevAviation Institute (KuAI)** (c/n 50301905) Probably Moscow-built ProbablyMoscow-built(cln 50302207). Development aircraft, Ilyushin OKB, brakeparachute tests Full c/n 52003513 or 36603513 Full cin 52004702 or 46604702 Full c/n 52004705 or 46604705

BLlct,Es Wonlo-wtor,. I l5 Tabfe 23 (continued). Soviet Beagles Cln Tactical code/ registration Version

,) ,) ? ?

,! ?

7 Red 08 B lue l9 Red 22 Red 2l Red 25 Red 29 Red 30 Red

Il-2gT*

rt-28
il-28Sh II-2 8 il-28Sh II-2 8 S h II-2 8 Sh II-2 8

Pacific Fleet/567th MTAp

57th VA/63rd BAD/408rh FBAp. Cherlyany AB. I957 PreservedR Igu.rAvi ut.ij u.r M ti: cf,r, R i ga_S pi Ivc

Preservcd as gateguard at a Russianairbase I e. SSSR- L.. . 5 3 8 Ie. SSSR-L2035; existence not conflrnted

54005777 CCCP-A |-20 54006 I 04 c c c P - A ...5 3 8 It-20 ,) CCCP-A2035 il-20

: a*

Notes: The purpose-bLrilt Il-2gT.witha long weaponsbay Now SamaraStateAviation Univcriity tSCAUf .

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r!i:.-r:i:r, A typical publicity shot from a Soviet airfield.with II-28 crew chieri reporting to the pilots. At leastone arrcrafi.35 Rcd. has red-painted cowlings. Note the II-28U trainer io: n.a) ,,t ,h;;;;;i,h; i.r*. , ,rr,,,, Grtrrktn urtttiyt,t

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Bt,tctos Wonr-o-wroe. ll7

Syria
The Syrian Air Force (al Quwwat al-Jawwiya ulfrqbiya as-Suriya) took delivery of six ex-Egyptian Il-28s. Two of them were destroyed bv Israeli attacks during the Six-Day War (5 ti fune tqOZ).

Taiwan (Republicof China)

The Republic of China Air Force operated a sinsle e x-PL A A F I l- 28 whic h fe l l i n to N a ti o n a l i s th a n " d s when its crew defected on ll November 1966. The aircraft was reportedly used for spy missions over mainland China, retaining its PLAAF stars-andbars insigniaand the serial0195Yellow.It is now on display at the ROCAF museum at Taoyuan AB.

People's Air Force (VPAF, or Kh6ng euan Nhant Dan Vit Nam). For instance, Vietnamese ll-28s (obviously ex-PLAAF but Soviet-built aircraft)are known to havebeenrepaired at Mengtse airbase in Yunnan province.In 1968 the VpAF inventory included eight or ten Il-28sbased in Hanoi. Only threeserials, 1817Red, 2210Red and 3256Red, havebeenreported,but the former two are unconfirmed. VPAF Il-28s probably supported North Vietnamese groundtroopsduring the VietnamWar but did not intrude into SouthVietnamin order to hit Republic of VietnamAir Forceor USAF bases. Yemen Both North and SouthYemenoperated the Beagle on a smallscale in themid-1960s. The yemenArab (North Yemen) Republic had six Il-28s,while the People's Democratic Republic of yemen (South Yemen) hadtwelve. Unfortunately no serials or base details areknown.

Vietnam(North)
Having established fairly close ties with North Vietnam in the mid-1960s, Communist China started foistingits obsolete military aircraft,including Beagles, on the Vietnamese. China served as a training and maintenance basefor the Vietnamese

Tup Ir -28rNDEran
tbllowing structural description applies t o t he bas ic b o mb e r v e rs i o n o f th e Il -2 8. -Fh. I I The Il-28 is an all-metal monoplane with shoulder-mountedunswepttrapezoidalwings, two turbojet enginesin underwing nacellesand a conventional swept tail unit with a low-mounted tailplane. The crew includes three persons: pilot, navigator/bombaimer and tail gunner/radiooperator. The airframe is made chiefly of D-l6T duralumin, with flush riveting usedthroughout. AK6 aluminium alloy is used for the wing/fuselage attachment fittings and grade 30KhGSA steel for the tail unit/fuselage attachment fittings. The frames of the cockpit canopy, navigator's station and tail gunner's station glazing frames are made from cast ML5-TCh magnesiumalloy, as are the frames of the navigator'sand tail gunner's entrance hatches. Fuselage: Circular-section stressed-skinsemimonocoquestructurebuilt in four sections for ease of assembly.The skin panels are 0.8 2.0 mm (0.03 0.78in.) thick and are supportedby 50 fiames (l -17, f 74, 18, l 8A , l 88 and 1947), i ncl udi ng 14 mainframes,and 38 stringers,7 of which are reinforced. Maximum fuselage diameter between framesl 7 and 20 i s 1.8m (5 ft 10.86 i n.). The .forward fuselage (section ,F/. frames I I lA)

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rhis photo shows some ol the removitbleaccess panels which made thc Bcuglcso easy to scrvicc.I ti,/ittt Grrtl.rt urcltiv,)

lncorporatesa pressurized cockpit (frames 6 I lA) and a pressurized navigator's compartment (frames 0-6), both of which have sloping rear bulkheads. The navigator's compartment features extensive Plexiglassglazing, with an optically flat Triplex lo we rfo rwar dpanel I 3- 1 5 mm (0 .5 1 0 .5 9i n .) rh i c k . The entrancehatch (frames3 6) locatedin liont ol' the cockpit canopy is offsetto starboardanclhinged to port; the navigator's ejectionseat is immediately below For bomb aiming by means of the optical sight the navigatorusesa foldingjump seatattached to frame 2. The cockpit canopyconsists of a fixed windshield with an elliptical flat Triplex forward panel l3-15 mm thick and two curved sidelights, and a rear section hinged to starboard with a one-pieceblown Plexiglasstransparency.The cockpit is equipped with a control column featuringa W-shaped control wheel, hinged rudder pedals. port and starboard consoles with throttles and other controls.The forward fuselage incorporates the nosewheel well (frames 4--1 lA) and the nose cannon ammunition boxes(frames7-8). The ejection seats have back plates of l0 mm (0 .3 9i n .) st eel ar m our an d d i s h e di e a t p a n so f 6 m m (0.23in.) steel. Additional duralumin armour sheets 10 3 0 mm ( 0. 39 l. l8 in. ) th i c k a re i n s ta l l e du n d e r the navigator's seat.The pilot's windshielddoesnot incorporate bulletproof glass.Total weight of the armo u r i s 454 k g ( l, 000 1 b ).

The centre.fuselage(section F2 , frames I I B 38A ) is unpressurized, incorporating the bomb bay (fiames l8-29) and the avionicsbay fbr the search radar (frames l l B l 6). It al so accommodates the wrng centresection(fiames23 21) and the fuel cells are located in the f uselagelbrward and aft ol' the wings.The bomb bay is closedby two pneumatically actuateddoors powered by the pneumatic system. with an emergency air bottle. The rear fuselagc (sectionFJ. frames 38B 42A) is

The navigator's station glazing. I yt,litrr Ciottlon trrchircl

120. IrvusurNlt-28 Bt,tr;r,t

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Tlrc cockpit carropy. Notc that Il-28 crewsslill wore lcathel heln-rcls (iortt.tt and l1yinggoggles. urtttitt,) 1ti,/irtt

eu

.fl1"

Thc tbrward ttrselage of an ll-28U. 1 ti,/inrGonton urchirc t

also unpressurized, incorporating an avionics bay (with ventral access l.ratch) and tail unit attachment fittings locatedat frames38.40 and 42A. ll-28s built by Plant No. 64 in Voronezhhave sectionsF2 and F3 cornbinedinto a singlewhole, so that the fuselage is built in three sectionswith manulacturing joints at fiames I I and 42. (section,lN4, The aft.fuseluge fiames 428 47) is the tail gunner/radio operator's pressurized cabin accessed from below via a forward-openinghatch locatedbetweenfiames 42B and 45. The tail turret is nrountedon fiarne 4'7.The gunner'sstation has a 106 rnm (4.11 in.) br-rlletproofrear window and 68 mm (2.67 in.) bulletproof side windows; additionally. the gunner and the ammunition boxes of the Il-K6 turret are protected by 8 mm (0.31 in.) steelarmour. Wings: Cantilever shoulder-mounted two-spar structurebuilt in threesections. The centresectionis integratedinto the fuselage and the detachable onepiece wing panels carry the engine nacelles.The wings employ a TsAGI SR-5S(Pl l-l) aerofoilwith

T u e L - 2 8 r ND n r e t . l 2 l

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the gunner"s entry hatch. which doublesas an escape The all l'uselage and tail unit of an Il-28R (c/n 2905),sl"rowing ju Rtrogntl il :rur slide/slipstlearn deflector. l lll j.ttrnu.1.qt,rtt 1

122. Ir-yusnrN lt-28 BeN;tt

a thickness-to-chord ratio of 12"/u. Dthedral 1"12'. incidence 3o,aspectratio 7.55,taper 2.08. The wing box fbrmed by the two spars (attached to the fuselage at framesNos.23 and27), reinforced skins and multiple ribs and stringers acceptsthe aerodynamicalloads. The wing skins are 24 mm (0 .0 7 - 0. 15 in. ) t hic k . A r th e ti p s ,th e tra i l i n g e d g eis occupiedby ailerons, the starboardaileron incorporating a trim tab. The rest of the trailing edge is occupiedby two-section hydraulicallyactuatedslotted flaps inboard and outboard of the engine nacelles. The flaps are deflected20" for take-off and 48'for landing; total flap area is L45 m2(80 sq. ft). Both the aileronsand the flapsare horn-balanced to reducecontrol/actuatorforces. Tail unit: Conventional swept tail surfaceswith cantilevertailplanes. The fin and the stabilizers have a two-sparstructureand are attachedto the fuselage by threepairs of bolts. The fin is sweptback 41" at quarter-chord(leading-edge sweepis 45'). The stabilizers have33oleadi n g -edge s weep and 7 ' d i h e d ra l . T h e ta i l u n i t u ti l i z e s symmetrical NACA aerofbils with a thickness-tochord ratio of 12 10"/, fbr the vertical tail and l l -1 0 ' k , lor t he hor i z o n ta l ta i l . S ta b i l i z e rs o a n i s 1 .3 6 m ( 24 f t 1. 17 i n .), s ta b i l i z e ra re a i s t0 .8 2 m , (1 1 6. 34 s q. f t ) ; f in ar e ai s 7 .8 mr (8 3 .8 7s q . ft).

Landing gear: Pneumatically retractable tricycle type, with oleo-pneumatic shock absorberson each unit. The aft-retractingnose unit has twin wheelsori gi nal l y 600 x 155 mm (23.6 x 6.1 i n.), l ater 600 x 180 mm (23.6 x 7.08 i n.) or 600 x 185 mm (23.6 x 7.28 in.). The main units with single 1,150x 355 mm (45.27x 13.97i n.) w heel sretract forward into the lower portions of the engine nacelles, the wheels turning through 90oby meansof mechanical linkages to lie flat under the jetpipes. The nosewheel well is closedby a forward door segment attachedto the nosegear oleo and two lateral doors; eachmainwheelwell is closedby twin lateral doors and a small rear door hinged on the inboard side. All wheel well doors remain oDen when the geari s dow n. The Il-28R hasa hydraulicallyretractable landing gear 1,260 x 390 mm (49.6x 15.35i n.) mai nw heel s f-eaturing a hydraulic spin-up system to prolong tyre life. Wheel track L4 m (24 ft 3.3 in.), wheelbase 6.677m (21 ft 10.8i n.). N osew heel tyre pressure 4.5 kg/cm' (0.315 psi), mainwheel tyre pressure 7-8 kg/cmr(0.49-0.56psi). Powerplant: Two Klimov VK-lA non-afterburning turbojets,each rated at 2,100 kgp (5,952 lb st) for take-off and 2,400 kgp (5,291 lb sr) lor cruise. The VK-lA has a single-stage centrifugal

*^ ' :r*FB{

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,*

This view of Il-28U 42 Blue (c/n 65009706) showshow the Il-28'stwo-pieceannular cowlingsare removedto expose the enginecompletely.

Tue Il-28 rNDpren . 123

nine straight-flowcombustionchamcompressor, bers, a single-stage axial turbine and a subsonic fixed-area nozzle. The enginefeatures an accessory gearboxfor driving fuel, oil and hydraulicpumps and electricalequipment.Starting is electricalby means of an ST2or ST2-48 starter. in area-ruled The engines areinstalled underwing jetpipes. nacellesand fitted with long extension via four attachEachengine is mountedon a bearer ment points: two trunnions on the right and left casing belowthe axisof the sides of the compressor engineand two mountinglugsin the upperpart of The forward part of eachnacelleconthe engine. the front secsistsof two annularcowlingsections, carried tion incorporatinga paraboliccentrebody verticalpylon;whenthese are on a straight-through almostcompletely detached, the engineis exposed for maintenance or removal. jetTo reduce thetake-offrun, two PSR-1500-15 (JATO) rockets with a thrust of take-off assisted lb st) and a burn time of 13 sec. 1,650 kgp (3,637 fuselage sides underthe could be fitted to the centre wing roots. Control system: Manual controls throughout. elevaailerons for roll control,one-piece One-piece rudder for tors for pitch control and one-piece directionalcontrol; the rudder and elevatorsare The starhorn-balanced to reducecontrol forces. incorporudderand both elevators board aileron, rate trim tabs.The elevators and rudderhavecable control runs, while the aileronsare controlledby push-pullrods.The elevator trim tabsaremechaniwhile the starby meansof cables, cally operated board aileronand rudder trim tabs are electrically actuated. Fuel system: Five self-sealing fuel cells(bladder aheadand aft of the tanks)locatedin the fuselage l5-18; wings(No. l, framesI lA-15; No. 2, frames 18-21; No.4, frames 29-32;No.5, No.3, frames frames 32-36). The cell walls are 3.3-10.8 mm (0.120.42in.) thick.The total capacity of the fuel is 7,908 lit. (l,739imp.gal.)on the standard system bomber and6,600 lir. (1,452 imp.gal.)on theIl-28U trainer.The Il-28R reconnaissance versionfeatures modifiedinternaltankageand 950 lit. (209 imp. gal.)drop tanksat the wingtips,which givesa total (2,101 imp.gal.). of 9,5501i1. Electric system: Two GSR-9000 (later STG-12000) starter-generators driven by the engines and two l2-4-30 lead-acid batteries in the fuselage. installed Hydraulicsystem: The hydraulicsystem operates and,on the Il-28R,the landthe flaps,wheelbrakes ing gear actuatorsand mainwheelspin-up drives. Hydraulicpoweris providedby a GNP-l hydraulic

pump driven by the port engine,with two hydraulic accumulatorsas a back-up. Pneumaticsystem:The hydraulic system operates the landing gear (on all versions except the I1-28R), bomb bay doors, gunner's station entry hatch, and inflatable canopy/hatch seals.In an emergencyit is also used to deploy the flaps, operate the wheel brakes and jettison the navigator's hatch cover. Compressedair is stored in severalsphericalbottles which are charged on the ground and topped up by engine bleed air in flight. De-icing system: The wings, tail unit and engine air intakes are de-icedby engine bleed air. Armament: The defensive armament comprises four 23 mm (.90 calibre)Nudelman/RichterNR-23 cannon. Two of them, with 100 rpg, are rigidly mounted in the nose, the other two, with 225 rpg, are carried in the Il-K6 tail turret installed in the rear fuselageand controlled by the gunner. The normal bomb load of the Il-28 consistsof 1,000kg (2,204Ib) of bombs carried internally.The maximum bomb load is 3,000kg(6,612lb) - i.e.one FAB-3000HE bomb.

Avionics andequipment
avionicssuite The 11-28 features a comprehensive at night and in any enabling the aircraft to operate weather. equipment: SD-l VOR a) pilotingand navigation instrument receiver, AP-5 electric autopilot,OSP-48 (comprising landingsystem an ARK-5 Amur autofairing immematic directionfinder (in a dielectric diately aft of the cockpit), an RV-2 Kristall low-altitude radio altimeter and an MRP-48Dyatel radio receiver), RV-10high-altitude markerbeacon altimeter. RSU-5 (on early equipment: b) communications production aircraft) or RSIU-3 Klyon (Maple) UHF command radio; RSB-5 communications fin top between radio with antenna cablestretched aft of the cockpit; and antennamast immediately peregovornoye oostSPU-5intercom(samolyotnoye roystvo). AGK-47B artificial c) flight instrumentation: DGMK-3 remote horizon,GPK-46 gyro compass, gyromagnetic indicator,KI-ll compass, compass indiKUS-1200airspeed AB-52navigation display, y ookazaht erov unny eI' skorost i), cator(ASI, kombine VD-17 altimeter,RV-2 radio altimeter indicatot EUP-46electric turn and bank indicator(elektrichpovorota), VAR-75verticalspeed eskiyooka1ahtel' indicator (YSI, variometr),UP-2 turn indicator (ookazahtel' povorota), MA-095 Mach meter, etc. AVR-M and AChKhO chronometers.

124. IryusurN h--28Bntcu T able24. Specifi cations Overalllength Span Height Wing area Empty operatingweight Normal gross weight Maximum grossweight Grossweightin overload condition Maximumlandingweight Normal bomb load Maximumbomb load Top speed: at S/L at 4,500 m (14,763 ft) at 10,000 m (32,808 ft) Unstickspeed: with an 18,400 kg (40,564Ib) TOW ) Ow with a 2 3 ,2 0 0 k g (5 1 ,l a 6 l b T Landingspeed
Rate of climb

17.65 m (57ft 10.88 in.) 21.45 m (70ft 4.48in.) 6.7m (21ft I I .77in.) 60.8 m'z(653.76 sq.ft) 12,890 kg (28,417lb) 18,400 kg (40,564 lb) 21,000 kg (46,2961b) 23,200kg(51,146 lb) 14,750 kg (32,517lb)

1,000 kg (2,2041b) 3,000 kg (6,6121b) 800 km/h(444.4kt) 902kmlh(501k0 855km/h@7 5 kt],

235km/h ( I 30.5kO 260km/h (144.4kt\ 185 km/h(100.0 kts) 15m/sec \2.952ftlmin) 12,500 m (41,010 f0 10,750 m (35,269 ft) 6.5min 18.0 mi n 31.0 mi n 40.7min 45.4min 1,930 km (1,198 miles) 3 hrs 7 min 875m (2,870 ft) 1,290 m (4,232ft)

Service ceiling: with an 18,400 kg (40,564Ib) TOW witha23,200 kg (5l,la6lb) TOW

Timeto height*: 5,000 m (16,404ft) 10,000 m (32,808 f0 2,500 m (41,010 f0

Time to service ceiling: with an 18,400 kg (40,564 lb) TOW with a 23,200 kg (51,1461b) TOW Range** Endurance** T/O run*: T/O run***: Landingrun concrete strip, unstick speed 220 km/h(122.2kt) dirt strip,unstickspeed 235km/h (130.5 k0 concrete strip,unstickspeed 260kr/h (144.4 k0 dirt strip,unstickspeed 260km/h (144.4 kt)

(5,643 1,720m f0 2,350 m (7,709 tt)

I,170 m (3,838 f0

Notes: * with an 18,400 kg(40,5641b) TOW ** with a 20,750 kg(a5,745Ib) TOW and cruising at 9,700-11,500 m (31,82,t-37,729 ft). *** with a23,200 kg (51,1a6Ib) TOW

rNr Dnrarr-.125 Tsp Ir--28

d) targeting equipment:PSBN-M 360o groundmappingand search radar,OPB-6SRoptical computingbomb sight(on radar-equipped aircraftonly; substituted by OPB-5son aircraft with the radar removed),PKI collimator gunsight (for the pilot) and a collimator gunsight for the gunner. The revolving radar antenna is coveredby a teardrop fairing madeof PVC. e) IFF equipment: Bariy-M (Barium) IFF transponder in rear fuselage,later replaced by SRO-2M Khrom (Chromium) IFF transponder (samo y rahdio y otvetchik) with lyotny lokatseeonny triple rod aerials ahead of the nosegearunit.

the pilot and Rescue equipmentIn an emergency, navigator/bomb aimer use upward-firing ejection seats.The tail gunner/radiooperator bales out downwardsvia the entrancehatch; the hatch cover is actuatedby twin pneumaticrams,doubling as a deflector. slipstream Il-28T torpedo-bombers carriedan LAS-3 inflatable rescuedinghy; one was also carried by reconnaissance aircraft and bombers on overwater missions. and tail navigaExteriorlighting:port, starboard landing lights in the outer tion lights; retractable faces of the eneine nacelles.

Appendix I .
AcnoNYMS ANDGrossARy

AD - air defence. or retractable launcher and havingfoldaway ADP - advanced development project. stabilising fins to fit into its launchtube. AFA - aerofotoapparaht - qerial camera. FOD - foreignobjectdamage (damage to a jet AM - [pushkaf Afanas'yeva i Makahrovqengine caused by ingestion of foreignobjects, Afanas'yev/Makarov cannon. usuallyon the ground). AMD - aviatsionnaya mina desanteeruyemayq Free-fall - i.e.,with no provisionfor weapons air-dropped mine. guidance [anti-shipping] to the target. ARK - avtomqticheskiy rahdiokompas - automatic GHQ - GeneralHeadquarters. directionfinder (ADF) usedin coniunctionwith GKAT - Gosoodahrstvennyy komitetpo groundbeacons aviatseeonnoy - StateCommittee tekhnike on ASW - anti-submarine warfare. AviationHardware (ex/toMAP, which see; AUW - all-up weight. demoted during the Khruschchov yearsbut then AVMF - Aviahtsiyavoyenno-morskovo reinstated). flota NavalAir Arm. GSVG = Grooppa sovetskikh voyskv Ghermuhnii BAD - bombardeerovochnava aviadiveeziva Group of SovietForces in [East]Germany bomberdivision1= group). (19a5-89);renamedZGY (Zahpadnaya gruoppa BD - bahlochnyy derlhahtel' -beam-type - Western voysk Group of Forces, i.e., rack (asdistinctfrom bomb cassettes [weapons] Soviet/Russian Armed Forces continsentin East for small-calibre bombs). Germanyand then reunitedGermani in Bleedair - excess air pipedfrom the compressor r988-94). section of a gasturbineengine for varioususes HDU - hosedrum unit (a powered drum installed (pressurization, de-icing etc.). on a flight refuelling tankerfrom which the fuel CG - centreof gravity. transferhoseis deployed). C-in-C- Commander-in-Chief. HF - high frequency (radio). COIN - counter-insurgency (roleor aircraft),i.e., IFF - identification friend-or-foe (usuallyby for useagainst guerrillas; typically, this applies means of interrogators and transponders to light fixed-wingattackaircraft,often adapted sending codedsignals wheninterrogated to from general aviationdesigns. identifythe aircraftas 'friendly'). DD - DefenceDistrict (voyennyy okroog)- one of IFR (1) - instrument flying rules. the largeareas into which the territorv of the IFR (2) - in-flight refuelling. SovietUnion (Russia) was(is) dividedwith ILS - instrument landingsystem (system of respect to the MoD's control of the Armed ground-based and airborneradio navieation Forces. aidspermittingblind runwayapproacf,'and DF directionfinder. landingat night or in adverse weather). DK - distantsionno foop ravIyayemay a] kormovaya IMC - instrument meteorological conditions kal - remote-controlled lst relkovaya oostanov tail (whenthe pilot hasno external visual barbette. references forjudging the aircraft'sattitudeand ECM - electronic (disruntinsthe countermeasures altitudeand hasto rely solelyon the flight operationof enemyradiosand the likei. instruments). Elevating angle- angleof verticalmotion of a JATO - jet-assisted take-off(by meansof rocket trainable gun. boosters to shortenthe take-offrun). ELINT - electronic intelligence (reconnaissance). KP-14- kislorodnyy preehor - individualoxygen FBAP frontovoy bombardeerovochnyy aviapolkbreathing apparatus. tacticalbomberregiment (= wing). KU - kormovaya - tajl oostanovka [strelkovaya] FFAR - folding-fin aircraft rocket- unguided barbette. rocketdesigned to be launched from a podded LII - Lyotno-issledovatel'skiy institoot- Flight

Acnoruyvseno Clossany . 127

ResearchInstitute named after Mikhail M. Gromov in Zhukovskiy near Moscow. LL letayuschchayalaboratoriya - lit. 'flying laboratory' (testbed or research/survey aircraft). Localizer (LOC) a radio beacon indicating the landing approach heading (part of the ground component of an ILS). Mach buffeting - vibration at high Mach numbers causedby disruption of the airflow over the tail surtaces. Mach number the aircraft's speedin relation to the speedof sound (333 m/sec) which is Mach 1 .0 . MAP - M inisterstvo aviat,seeonnoy promyshlennosti - Ministry of Aircraft Industry. MMZ No. *t<* - Moskovskiy mashinostroitel'nyy zavod Moscow Machinery Plant No. ***. Mock-up reviewcommission- a commissionconsisting of customer (in this context, Air Force) and aircraft industry representatives which inspectsa full-scale mock-up of a new aircraft and reviews the advanced development project in order to eliminateany obvious shortcomings before prototype construction begins. MOP Ministerstvo oboronnoy promyshlennosti Ministry of Defence Industry. MRP - markernyy rahdiopreeyomnik - marker beacon receiver. MTAP - minno-torpednyyaviapolk minelaying and torpedo-bomberregiment. MTOW - maximum take-off weieht. Never-exceed speed(Vxs) - the sfieedlimit determined for an aircraft due to structural strength limits; exceedingit may causethe aircraft to break up due to ram air pressure. l'lll - neoochno- issledova t el' sk iy i nst it oot research institute (any kind). NII VVS naoochno-issledovatel'skiy institoot voyenno-vozdooshnykh seel- (Soviet) Air Force ResearchInstitute named after Valeriy p. Chkalov. NKPB noc.hnoykollimahtornyy pritsel bombardirovochnyy- collimator bomb sight for night use. NR - ftrz^rfrfra] Noodel'mana i Rikhtera Nudelman/Richtercannon. NS - pasikaf Noodel'mana i SoorahnovaNudelman/Sooranov cannon. OKB - optyno-konstrooktorskoye byuro - experimental design bureau. OMTAP - otdel'nyy minno-torpednyy aviapolk independent minelaying and torpedo-bomber reglment. OPB - opticheskiy pritsel bombardirovochnyy optical bomb sight.

ORAP - otdel'nyy razvedyvatel'nyy aviapolk independent reconnaissance regiment. OSP oboroodovaniyeslepoy posahdki - blind landing equipment (ILS). PHOTINT - photographic intelligence(reconnaissance). PO - preobrazovahtel'odnofahanyy- single-phase AC converter. PSBN - prihor slepovo bombometahniya i navigahtsii- blind-bombing and navigation device. PSR = porokhovaya stsrtovctyq raketa solid-fuel rocket booster. PZL - Panstwowe Zaklady Lotnicze - State Aircraft Factories concern (Poland). RAT - reaktivnaya aviut.sionnayutorpeda airdropped rocket-propelled torpedo. Radar cross-section(RCS) - a measureof how visible an aircraft is to ground radars. RB (in RB-17 designation) reaktivnyy bombardirovsc'hchik- jet bomber. RBP - rahdiolokatseeonnyy bombardirovochnyy pritsel -'radar bomb sight' (bomb-aiming radar). RD - reaktivnyy dvigatel' - jet engine. RDS - the meaning of this acronym designating early Sovietnuclearmunitions (RDS-3. RDS-4 etc.) is not known but some sourceshave deciphered it as reaktivnyy dvigatel' Stshlina jet engine'! 'Stalin's REB - rahdioelekttonnayahor'ha, - ECM. RP - rahdiopreetsel-'radio sight' (i.e., fire control radar). rpm - a) revolutions per minute (rotation speedof a shaft etc.);b) rounds per minute (rate of fire of a machine-gunor an automatic cannon). RTR - rshdiotekhnicheskaya razvedka - ELINT. RY - rahdiovysotomer - radio altimeter. SAM - surface-to-air missile. Self-sealingfuel tanks - flexible tanks with a special protective rubber layer. The rubber swells when it comes into contact with iet fuel if the tank is punctured by bullets.theieby closingthe bullet holes and stopping the leak. SP - [sistema]slepoyposahdki blind landing system(ILS). SPU - samolyotnyy dahl'nomer distance measuring equipment(DME) sPU - samolyotnoyeperegovofnoye oostroystvo intercom. ss (as a suffix to numbers of official documents) sovershenno - toD secret. sekyetno Stateacceptance trials in ihe Soviet Union/Russia, trials in order to determine whether a military aircraft is suitable for service.

128. IrvusHrN lr-28 BtrcLr

For civil aircraft, Stateacceptance trials are basicallycertification trials. TKRD - toorbokompressornyy reaktivnyy dvigatel' jet engine'(an early - lit. 'turbo-compressor Sovietterm for turbojets). Traversing angle- angleof sideways motion of a trainablegun. TsAGI - Tsentrahl'nyyaero- i ghidrodinameecheskiy institool - Central Aerodynamics & HydrodynamicsInstitute namedafter Nikolay YegorovichZhukovskiy. U (i.e.,U-19) - ooskorttel- booster. UB (l), e.g.,UB-2F Chaika- oopravlyayemaya bomba- guidedbomb.

- ooniversahl'nyy UB (2), e.g.,UB-16-57 blok versatile[rocket]pod, i.e., one that can be carried by various aircraft types. YA - vozdooshnaya armiya- air army (= air force). VEB - Volkseigener Betrieb(German)- people's (i.e.,state-owned) enterprisein former East Germany. VHF - very high frequency(radio). VMC - visual meteorological conditions (more or lessclear weatherwhen the pilot canjudge the aircraft'sattitude and altitude by using external visual references). WS - Voyenno-vozdooshnyye seely- Air Force(in this instance. Air Force). Soviet/Russian

. Appendix II

Dnrnn Praxs

The Rolls-Royce Nene-powered first prototypeIl-28.

The second prototypepowered by RD-45F engines.

An early-production 11-28; note the redesignedcanopy and the addition of landing lights.

130. IryusHrr.r L-28 BercLr

A later11-28 bomber;note the relocated landinglights.

Above, below and opposite:A three-view illustration of a typical production Beagle.

. 131 DererrPr-eNs

132. Ir-yusHrN Ir-28 Br,tctt

An Il-28 fitted with non-standard communications equipment; note the additionalaerials underthe rearfuselaee.

Another Beagle with non-standard communications equipment and a differenr anrenna array.

The Il-28U trainerprototype.

DererrPleNs. 133

A typicalproductionIl-28U.

A prototypeof the I1-28R reconnaissance aircraft;note the aerialatop the extreme nose.

A productionIl-28R with early-model communications (notethe wire aerialfrom cockpitto fin). equipment

134. Irvussrulr-28 Brtctn

An updated Il-28R with a bladeaerialfor the communications radio.

One of the two Il-28Rsdelivered new to EastGermanyin its latterdaysas EastGermanAir Force180Black or 184 Black.The aircraftis converted for target-towing duties;note the lack of radar and cannon.

A PolishAir ForceIl-28 in ECM configuration with wingtipjammerpods.

DerarrPreNs. 135

The I1-28RT ELINT version.

An Il-28T torpedo-bomber conversion.

Presumably the Il-28N nuclear-capable bomber.

136. IlyusurN L-28 Br.tcrt

The Il-28RM prototype.

The experimental Il-28 bomberwith VK-5E engines; note the non-standard cockpit glazing.

4 Red,the II-2STM prorotype (c/n 50301 106).

. 137 Derar Pr-eNs

Scrapviewsof the II-28TM'smodifiednoseglazingand tip tanks.

An 11-28-131 with a UB-2F Chaikaguidedbomb underthe fuselage.

An Il-28Shattackaircraft

138. IryusuruIr-28 Bzrcrc

An II-28BM targettug.

II-28LL l0 Blue(c/n 53005710), LII's ejection seattestbed usedin the Vostokmanned-spacecraft programme.

01 Red (cln2402l0l), the Il-28 usedby LII as a tankertrainer.

. 139 Dnran Pr-eNs

The Il-28 refuelling system testbed with a fixedrefuelling probe.

The SovietIl-28R usedas a testbed for a Dooshkinliquid-propellant rocketenglne.

DM-ZZI (c/n l4l8) or DM-ZZK (cln 5901207), one of two Il-28Rsusedas testbeds for the EastGermanpirna 0l4,A._1 turboiet.

140. Ir-vusurrr lt-28 Br,cctt

Avia8-228 6915(cln 569 I 5) as originallyusedto testthe walter M-701 turboiet.

The sameairqalt in a laterconfiguration with the Ivchenko AI-25TL (walter Titan) turbofan.

An Il-20 mailplane usedby Aeroflot.

DBraru Praus . 141

A standardCzechAir ForceAvia B-228(BA-l I , cln 56775) with a Sirenaradar warning receiver.

An early-productionHarbin H-5.

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Pagenumbers in italics refer to illustrations

panels 119 access Aeroflot 64, 66-67.66.67 Afghanistan service90, 92 'aircraft73' (Ttt-14) 15 'aircraft77'(Tu-12) 10,I0 'aircraft 8l' 18 airframe I 18 Albanianservice92 Algerian service 92 anti-submarine warfareaircraft, ll-28PL 49 Arab-Israeli wars 86, 89 seealsoSix-DayWar armament 1l-12, 123seealsotail turret,Il-K6 ball attackaircraft,Il-28Sh 49-50,50,85, 89-90 Avia 8-228:63, 65-66,70, 70,95 Avia CB-228: 96 avionics 13, 16, 123,125 avionics testbeds54-55,55 bank, uncommanded13 Berkootov, pilot 88-89 Biafra 87-88 Bobrovskiy, Capt.A. A. 85 Bogdanov, Fyodor D. 53 bomb.RDS-4nuclear 40 bomb,UB-2F Chaika guided47, 47,49 bombload 13 bomb sight l3-14 bomberversion, basic 22,24 Boogaiskiy, V. N. l4 BrunoBaade BB 152: 62,65 Bulgarianservice92 CG shift problem 22,24 CastroRuz,Fidel 84 ChengChung,Vice-Commander 86 Chinese Air Arm (PLAAF) 67 68,68, 69, 70, 89, 90, 92-93.93.94 Chinese defections 86 87,90 production 67 68,68,70 seealsoHarbin Chinese cockpit l2-13 cockpitcanopy 12,18,22,ll9, 120 Cold War 79-85 combattactics 79 80, 81-82 construction numbersystems 20 CubanMissileCrisis 83-84

Czechoslovakian mutiny 89 Czechoslovakian production 70,72 seealso Avta9-228; AviaCB-228 Czechoslovakian service34, 65-66,70, 70, 93,9 5-98, 95,96 de-i ci ngsystem 13,123 defects78 ECM aircraft,II-28REB(?\ 33,34 ELINT aircraft,II-28RTR 33,J-t Egyptian Air Force 85-86,99-101, 100,I0l, 102 ejection seattestbed, I|-28LL 56,56, 57, 58,58 ejection seats13,24 ejection trainerversion, ll-28u 29,29 engine testbeds Czech63,65-66 EastGerman 62,64-65 Il-28H 66 Soviet 6l-62,62 EnglishElectricCanberra70,72 equipment 123,125 fighterdevelopment 8l FinnishAir Force 90-91.102 N H -2:103 N H -3:5J NH-4:10-i first flight 14-15 foreignproduction 67-68, 70,72 fuelcells 22.24.123 fuselage 13,118-120 Gallai, Mark L. 54 Germany, East,service in 82-83,84,98 99,98 Goryaynov,Nikolai O. 59 guided bombcarrier, Il-28-l3l: 47,47,49 Harbin BT-5:68,69 H-5: 67-68,68, 69, 70, 92,93 HI-5:68,69 H Z-5: 68.70 HungarianAir Force 33,104,104 Hungarianuprising 85 hydrogen bomb test 73 74

INosx . 143

Ilyushin,Sergey Vladimirovich8, ll, 14, 11 Ilyushin Il-20 (Il-28P)mailplane 64, 66 67, 66, 67 Il -2 2 :9 -10, 9 ll-28 Beagle bomber 22,23,25 08 Blue 8J lQ Rred24, 35 12Blue 8J 23 Pred 74 26Blue 21 27 Blue 2I 30 Red 24 35 Red 1/J 5l Blue 2-i 67 Fred 116 Il-28-l3l guidedbomb carrier 47, 47,49 Il-28A (If-28N) nuclear-capable bomber 40,40 II-28BM target-towing aircraft 50,51, 52,53 I1-28Hengine testbed66 l1-28LLejection seattestbed 56,56,57,58,58 II-28LL radar testbed54-55 geartestbed Il-28LSh landing 60,61,61 Il-28Mtarget drone 53,54 Il-28N (ll-28A) nuclear-capable bomber 40, 40 Il-28P(ll-20)mailplane64,66-61,66,67 II-2SPLanti-submarine warfare airqaft 49 Il-28R tacticalreconnaissance aircraft 29-30, 32,I l, 90-91.98. 103.121 avionics32 cameras30 fuel system30 internallayout 118 landinggear 30,32 performance32 performance, take-off(field) 33 Polish -11, 109 prototype29,30 I|-28REB(?)ECM aircraft 33,34 Il-28RM experimental tacticalreconnaissance aircraft 4 1 ,4 1 , 42, 43, 45 II-28RTRELINT aircraft 33,-l-l Il-28Stacticalbomberproject 4l Il-28Shattackaircraft 49-50.50.85. 89-90 I1-28T torpedo-bomber 36 39,36,37,105 fuel system37 load 37. 39 ordnance prototype37,39 specifications 38 Il-28T torpedo-bomber conversion39-40 I1-28TMexperimental torpedo-bomber 4647, 46, 48 l1-28UMascoltrainer 25-29,25, 28, 79,96,106,110, 120 03 Blue 11J 03 Red 115

18Blue 55,55 42Blue 122 79 Red 80 85 Red 26 87 Fred26 cockpit 26 27 ejectiontrainer version 29,29 production 28 prototype27,28 reconnaissance aircraft 50 Il-2824 weather l l -46:71,72 improvements 22,24 in-flightrefuelling system testbeds 58 59,59,6l Indonesian Navy 105-106,105, 106 instrument landingsystem 13 Iraqi Air Force 89, 106 Irons,Gen. 87 in 90, 106-107 Kampuchea, service Karmishin,Capt. D. D. 85 Kennedy, President John F. 83 navigator/bomb Khachemizov, aimer 88-89 Khruschev, Nikita S. 83, 84 K okki nakiV , l adi mi r K . l + 15, 16,l 8-19,27,29,32, 39,72 KootyntsevN. M. 89 Korea, North, service in 85, 107-108 Koubek.Gustav 96. 97.98 Krautz, Helmut 65 lgor'Y. 74 Kurchatov, Kiiss,I.B. 29 landinggear 12,122 geartestbeds landing 60,61,61 Lavochkin La-2008 54,55 Li Hsien-pin 86 Li Tsai-wang86 Liang Pao-sheng 86 maidenflight 14-15 mailplane, Il-20(Il-28P)64,66-67, 66,67 manufacturingchanges24 Mewes, Klaus-Hermann65 Mikoyan MiG-19 Farmer-A 58 59, 81 Mikoyan MiG-19 Farmer-C8l Mikoyan MiG-19PFarmer-B28 missile systems research aircraft 55 targeting missiles53 modifications22,24 Moroccanservice107 MoscowMay Day parade, 1952:76,78 Myasishchchev, Vladimir Mikhailovich l0 NATO codenamegiven 21

144. IryusnrNlr-28 Bt,qcLr Nasser, President GamalAbdel 85 86. g7. gg.99 navigator's stationglazing ll9, I Ig Nigeria,service in 87-88,107,107 nuclear bomb test 73 nucfear-capable bomber, Il-28N (ll-28A) 40"40 nuclear exercise, tactical 74,76 Ojukwu,Col 87 OperationKadesh 86 Operation Mangoosta (Mongoose)83-g4 OperationMusketeer86 Pakistani service108 parachute testbeds65-66 parachuting world recordattempts96_9g performance comparison 17 , 32 seea/sotake-off(held) performance Polish Air Force-11, 66, 108,108, l0g, ltLlt2. I I0 powerplants Klimov RD-45F 16 Kl i m ovV K - l: l7- 18.7 8 Klimov VK-IA 122*123, 122 Klimov YK-5: 41,44,45 Rolls-Royce Nene(Klimov RD-45) l2 pre-production Il-28:18-19,18. l9 production, total 70 productioncommences 19,21.22 prototypes\4-15,14, 16 Puhlmann, Gerhard 65 radar l8 radar testbed, I|-28LL 5+55 radiationreconnaissance aircraft 34 Razumov, R. A. 54-55 reconnaissance aircraft seeIlyushinIl-28R; Ilyushin II-28RM reliability 78 Romanian Air Force 53. I l2-l l3 serialnumbers 15 Sidki,Air Vice-Marshal Mohammed 100 Six-DayWar 88 ski landing geartestbed, Il-28LSh60,61,6I Somalian service113 Sorokin, N. D. 1+15, l8-19, 39 S o vi eAi t r F or c e ( V V S ) 1 0 ,7 3 ,8 5 l,l 3 1 1 5 63rdBAD 79 80,81 647thSpecial Composite SupportAir Regiment34 flying schools78, 85 g5 target-towing flights/squadrons SovietArmy motorcyclists24 SovietNavalAir Arm (AVMF) 28-29,j6, 27.8+85 specifications 124 speeds, top l9 stabilityl5 Stalin, Josef 17,78 Stalin, Vasiliy I. 76,78 Suez crisis 85-86 survivors9l SyrianAir Force I 17 systems 123 tacticalbomber, experimental, with VK-5 engines44, 45 tacticalbomberproject,Il-28S 41 tacticalcodes l5 tail turret, Il-K6 ball ll-12, 19,82 tai l uni t 12,13, 121,122 Taiwan's claim of independence 85, 86 Taiwanese service I l7 take-offperformance15,33 targetdrone,Il-28M 53,54 targetdrones, PM-6G/R 52 target-towingaircraft EastGermanversion 52-53 performance comparisons 52 Romanian version 53 Soviet versions (I|-28BM) 50,51,52,53 Titov, Gherman 58 torpedo,RAT-52rocket-propelled 34, 35,36 torpedo-bomber conversion34,35, 36 seealsoIlyushin II-28T/TM trainer seeIlyushin Il-281JMascot training 79-81 Tupolev, Andrey N. 15-16 Tupolev Tu-12('aircraft77') 10,I0 Tu-14:15,16, 17 Tu-l4T (Tu-89)16 Tu-77(Tu-12) 10,I0 Tu-81(Tu-14)16 Tu-89(Tu-14T)16 tyres 16 undercarriage 12,122 Vietnam,service in 88-89,l17 Vinogradov, A. P. 27, 29,39 Vostokre-entry vehicle ejection seat 56, 56,52,59, 58 war service85-91 weatherreconnaissance aircraft, ll-282| w i ngs 12,13,120,122 Yartsev. Lt. (sg)V. Ye. 85 Yemen, service in 87, Ilj Yerofeyev, B. A. 27, 29

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