The Ilyushin-II “Sturmovik” is something of a legend in World War II aviation history. Created in the Soviet Union as a ground attack aircraft by Sergey Ilyushin and his team at the Central Design Bureau, the “Flying Tank” as it was called, first flew in December of 1939, though wasn’t fully brought online until 1941.
The Il-2 eventually became the most produced military aircraft of all time with 36,183 aircraft built. Part of the reason why the aircraft was built in such great numbers was because of the insistence by Josef Stalin to significantly increase production after the beginning of the Great Patriotic War when production came to a near stand still. His strongly worded message certainly leaves little to the imagination:
“You have let down our country and our Red Army. You have the nerve not to manufacture IL-2s until now. Our Red Army now needs IL-2 aircraft like the air it breathes, like the bread it eats. Shenkman produces one IL-2 a day and Tretyakov builds one or two MiG-3s daily. It is a mockery of our country and the Red Army. I ask you not to try the government’s patience, and demand that you manufacture more ILs. This is my final warning.”
The Il-2 was an extremely formidable weapon in air-to-ground attack and it’s heavy armor (it’s weight comprised 15% of the total weight of the plane) made the aircraft hard to bring down. A famous story of the tenacity of the Sturmovik came to be during the Battle of Kursk on July 7th 1943, where 70 tanks from the German 9th Panzer Division were destroyed by Il-2s in just 20 minutes. As a result, the German army feared the Il-2 in its deployment on the Eastern Front.
Despite the fact it was built in such great numbers, most were scrapped after the war to make way (and materials) for the age of the jet fighters within the Iron Curtain. Only a handful remain, none in flying condition.
This tattoo was created by artist Kris Witakaye of The Inkwell in Southhampton, PA. Its wearer, an an Airman First Class with the USAF working as an Air Traffic Control specialist chose the tattoo after finding the story behind the Il-2 fascinating – an aircraft feared by the most feared army was “too much to pass up” according to him!
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Social Tattoos Says:
Nice tattoo, I play the game by the same name as the plane in the tattoo. It truly is a historic aircraft.
Posted on September 29th, 2009 at 2:27 pm