Ilyushin Il-32

The Ilyushin Il-32 was a Soviet heavy military glider developed after World War II to deliver Template:Convert of cargo, including 60 troops or a Template:Convert cannon with its prime mover, ammunition and crew. To facilitate loading and unloading the glider's nose and tail sections were hinged to swing sideways. The Il-32 required a four-engined aircraft to tow it safely and it was canceled when it became clear that no such tug was going to be available after the Tupolev Tu-75 and Ilyushin Il-18 programs were both canceled because of shortages of their intended Shvetsov ASh-73 engines.

Development

After the end of World War II the Soviets devoted a considerable amount of effort to developing heavy transport gliders to deliver troops during an airborne assault. As part of this effort the Council of Ministers ordered the Ilyushin design bureau on 20 September 1947 to begin work on a glider capable of carrying Template:Convert of cargo. Its intended tug was the Tupolev Tu-75, a four-engined transport derived from the Tupolev Tu-4.

The Il-32 was an aluminum body, high-wing cantilever monoplane with a fixed tricycle undercarriage whose fuselage was square in cross-section to fit as much cargo as possible. The two-spar wings had a moderate aspect ratio. It was regarded as expendable and was built very simply to facilitate large-scale manufacture. The nose and tail sections swung up to 95° to starboard to facilitate loading.

The Il-32 made its first flight on 20 August 1948, towed by a twin-engined Ilyushin Il-12, but the Il-12 wasn't powerful enough to tow a fully loaded glider and the four-engined Il-18 airliner prototype was adapted to tow it from 20 September. During these flight tests it reached a cruising speed of Template:Convert at an altitude of Template:Convert and a weight of Template:Convert. The flight tests were satisfactory and preparations were made to begin series production, but the lack of suitable tugs was a problem. None of the Soviet four-engined aircraft that could be used were either in production or available. Both the Tupolev Tu-70 and Il-18 airliners had been canceled, as had the Tu-75 transport, and the Tu-4 was dedicated to the strategic bombing mission. Experiments were made with a pair of Il-12s towing the Il-32, but this was both difficult and risky for all involved, so the Il-32 was canceled for lack of a proper tug.

See also

Comparable aircraft

• Messerschmitt Me 321
• General Aircraft Hamilcar
• Junkers Ju 322

References

Notes

Bibliography

• 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. 
• Zaloga, Steve. Inside the Blue Berets: a combat history of Soviet and Russian airborne forces, 1930-1995, 1995, Presidio. ISBN 0891413995.  - Total pages: 339

Ilyushin aircraft

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

This article is licensed under the GNU Free Documentation License. It uses material from the Wikipedia article "Ilyushin Il-32".