Tuesday 4 October 2016

Design study - Ilyushin Il-102

From Wikipedia :

"The Ilyushin Il-102 was an experimental jet-powered ground-attack aircraft designed by Ilyushin. This aircraft was never chosen for production, being surpassed by the Su-25, and only a few development prototypes were built."

The IL-102 is a form of "shturmovik", or ground-attack aircaft, the type of which Russia was renown for producing in the Second World War (see IL-02), but this one only got as far as two prototypes.  So then - a few pictures :






Look how UGLY it is!  Brilliant.  And now a 3-view :


Broad wings, nice proportions, boxy fuselage that should go together quickly, right?  Even the cockpit is the same front and rear, just slightly cut-down to match the curve in the rear deck.  Oh yes - a rear cockpit for a rear turret - novel!



How could it be made?  An easy balsa fuselage with thick balsa top and bottom to get the curves; blue foam engines with balsa block front and back; and a foam wing with an inset spruce spar, top and bottom.

Here's some sketches : 

Roughly 1100mm wing span produces a 1000mm length, or thereabouts.  No need to change from a scale wing - its plenty broad enough.  A 3lb weight would produce a wing loading of around 15oz/sq. ft, which is quite a nice figure, but she's more likely to hit 4 pounds I'd say.

So..wouldn't it be a shame if I...

..WENT AND BUILT IT?!





2 hour's worth of work last night, and she's coming along well.



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