Iljušin Il-28Š [kód NATO: Beagle]

Ilyushin Il-28S



In 1967, the idea of making the bomber into a Il-28fighter aircraft was developed. Thus, OKB Ilyushin proceeded to modify the bomber into a combat version designated Il-28Š. It was to be used as a conventional fighter, which meant that its main task was to be direct support of ground troops.
It is not known exactly how many aircraft were involved in the trials. However, there were certainly modifications to at least one machine as test flights and firing were carried out. During these tests it was confirmed that the launching of unguided missiles does not affect the operation of the engines and also that the ground flights do not fundamentally affect the design of the aircraft itself. The crew's vision during attacks on ground targets and the flight characteristics during ground flights were highly evaluated. It was noted that the Il-28Š can easily operate against live enemy forces and medium and small targets such as missile launchers and launchers of various purposes, car convoys and single cars, etc.
Six suspension points were installed under each wing half and a sight of unspecified type was added to the cockpit for targeting unguided missiles. A total of 12 suspension points could be used to hang UB-16-57 blocks with unguided rockets, firing containers with machine gun or cannon armament, or conventional airborne anti-personnel bombs. With 1,000 kg of bombs on the internal undercarriages ( in the bomb bay ) and twelve blocks of unguided missiles under the wings, the aircraft's range, even with a 15 min reserve, was between 290 and 310 km. This was sufficient for frontline fighter operations. The complete preparation of the Il-28 Š for combat flight did not exceed four hours. The maximum speed of the machine for flight levels below 200 m was limited to 660 km/h.
The overall evaluation of the Il-28 combat version was positive. The only reservations were basically about the armour protection, which was insufficient for this type of aviation. It was also stated that the aircraft was more suitable for local conflicts of smaller size. For these reasons, work on further development of this version was stopped.


Sources for Il-28 / Il-28Š / Il-28T / Il-28D :
V.Němeček, Military Aircraft 1 - 5, Naše vojsko 1990, ISBN 80-206-0114-7 (file)
V.Němeček, Czechoslovak Aircraft II, Naše vojsko 1984, 28-122-84
M.Velek, Il-28 - EDITION TRIADA, Naše vojsko1987, 28-045-87
http://www.airwar.ru/enc/attack/il28sh.html
http://www.airwar.ru/enc/bomber/il28.html
http://www.airwar.ru/enc/sea/il28t.html

Iljušin Il-28Š (obrázek)


Zdroj : http://www.airwar.ru/enc/attack/il28sh.html