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Ilyushin Il-54
The Il-54 was a transonic bomber developed in the USSR in the 1950's. Only two examples were built before the project was abandoned.
The Council of Ministers issued a directive to OKB-115, for a transonic bomber prototype to be submitted for State Acceptance Trials in July 1954. The design of this bomber went through several stages before settling on the final configuration.
The Il-54, as built, had a very thin 45 degree swept wing with anhedral, which was shoulder mounted on the fuselage. The Lyulka AL-7 engines were housed in slim, pylon mounted, pods at approximately 1/3 span. Because the wings and engine nacelles were too small to house a conventional undercarriage, the Il-54 used a bicycle undercarriage arrangement, with nose and main gear units on the centreline of the aircraft, at each end of the bomb bay. This arrangement meant a conventional rotating take-off would be impossible. To enable the Il-54 to take-off, in a reasonable runway length, the main gear knelt and the nose gear extended to give the ideal angle of incidence for take-off (10 degrees).
Flight trials of the Il-54 commenced in April 1955 with test pilot Vladimir Kokkinaki at the helm. Difficult handling during the landing run was rectified by modifying the undercarriage.
Production of the Il-54 was not proceeded with, due to competition from Yak-25 derivatives, and the belief that manned aircraft would soon be replaced by missiles.
Booked to fly in the flypast at Tushino in 1956, the Il-54 was dropped from the flying programme. The aircraft was then shown to a US Military Delegation at Kubinka. The Delegation were told that that the Il-54 was the Il-149 as part of a deception programme. As a result the Il-54 was given far more importance than it actually warranted, and was assigned the NATO reporting name ("Blowlamp") after it had ceased flying.
Variants
- Il-54T - Torpedo Bomber (project)
- Il-54U - Trainer (project)
- Il-54R - Photo-Reconnaissance (project)
Specifications (Il-54)
See also
Comparable aircraft
Lists relating to aviation | |
|---|---|
| General | Timeline of aviation · Aircraft · Aircraft manufacturers · Aircraft engines · Aircraft engine manufacturers · Airports · Airlines |
| Military | Air forces · Aircraft weapons · Missiles · Unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) · Experimental aircraft |
| Notable incidents and accidents | Military aviation · Airliners · General aviation · Famous aviation-related deaths |
| Records | Flight airspeed record · Flight distance record · Flight altitude record · Flight endurance record · Most produced aircraft |
References
- Gordon, Yefim; Komissarov, Dmitriy and Sergey (2004). OKB Ilyushin: A History of the Design Bureau and its Aircraft. London: Ian Allan. ISBN 1-85780-187-3.
External links
- Il-54, Il-149, S.V.Ilyushin 'Blowlamp'. Russian Aviation Museum. Retrieved on 2008-10-26.
Fighters: Il-1 - Attack: Il-2 · Il-8 · Il-10 · Il-16 · Il-40 · Il-102
Bombers: Il-4 · Il-6 · Il-20 (I) · Il-22 (I) · Il-28 · Il-30 · Il-46 · Il-54
Transports: Il-12 · Il-14 · Il-18 · Il-20 (II) · Il-32 · Il-34 · Il-62 · Il-76 · Il-78 · Il-80 · Il-86 · Il-96 · Il-106 · Il-114
Reconnaissance: Il-20 (III) · Il-22 (II) · Il-24 · Il-38 · A-50 - Trainers: Il-103
Lists relating to aviation | |
|---|---|
| General | Timeline of aviation · Aircraft · Aircraft manufacturers · Aircraft engines · Aircraft engine manufacturers · Airports · Airlines |
| Military | Air forces · Aircraft weapons · Missiles · Unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) · Experimental aircraft |
| Notable incidents and accidents | Military aviation · Airliners · General aviation · Famous aviation-related deaths |
| Records | Flight airspeed record · Flight distance record · Flight altitude record · Flight endurance record · Most produced aircraft |
cs:Iljušin Il-54 de:Iljuschin Il-54
| This article is licensed under the GNU Free Documentation License. It uses material from the Wikipedia article "Ilyushin Il-54". |
