Il-2 typ 3 Šturmovik 4+

Il-2 type 3 Shturmovik, a publication of the 4+ series (Mark I)

The suffix 4+ in the name is the name of the imprint of the Mark I publishing house, not a scale and not an incomplete figure. The imprint focuses on monographs of individual aircraft types, and this volume keeps to a particular stage of development, that is the late two-seat version designated type 3. The product is a printed publication with no modeling components.

The real subject

The Il-2 was a Soviet single-engine attack aircraft intended for attacks on ground targets. Its defining structural feature was an armored shell that formed the load-bearing part of the forward fuselage directly and protected the engine, the radiators, the tanks and the pilot. The armor was therefore not added to a finished structure but was part of it, which was an unusual solution for the aircraft of the day. The armament consisted of cannons and machine guns in the wing, supplemented with bombs and unguided rockets under the wing.

The early machines were single-seaters and turned out to be vulnerable from behind. The design was therefore given a second cabin with a gunner and, along with it, a more powerful engine and further changes to the airframe. The designation type 3 is used in this context precisely for the late two-seat version. The Il-2 was among the most numerously built aircraft of its day.

What to expect from the publication

• A focus on one particular stage of development of the type, not on the whole family.
• The 4+ series is conceived as a pictorial monograph supplemented with specialist text.
• Reference material for a modeler; the publication itself is not a model.
• We recommend checking the extent, the language and the appendices of this title before ordering.

Who it is for

For modelers who build the Il-2 and need to tell the individual production forms apart, for anyone interested in the structure of attack aircraft, and for collectors of aviation literature.