In subsequent years Ross flew the CF-5 and the CF-188 in both air-to-air combat and low-level ground attack roles. Ross instructed on the Canadair CT-114 Tutor, the diminutive jet trainer he flew extensively with the Snowbirds display team from 1990-1991, before undergoing his fast-jet conversion. He and his two brothers followed their father Bud into the Canadian Armed Forces (with Ross and one sibling joining the air force, the other joining the navy), whilst their sister pursued a different aviation career and went on to fly for Alaska Airlines. Whilst Il-2 combat claims were largely overstated as was typical for the era, there’s no doubting that the Sturmovik’s exploits on the Eastern Front, and the ‘tank killer’ mythos that surrounds it to this day make it a true flying legend remembered with the same reverence as the British Spitfire and American Mustang.įollowing completion of the Il-2’s test schedule, the aircraft was shipped from St Petersburg to FHCAM’s museum facility at Paine Field, Washington where it was flown for the first time in the west by Steve Hinton on 9 August 2012.Īlberta native Ross Granley was born into the very definition of an ‘aviation family’. This marked the completion of one of the most significant historic aircraft restorations ever undertaken. The original Mikulin AM-38F engine was impractical to restore (no such engines are airworthy in the 21st century), and the aircraft was instead mated with a reliable Allison V-1710-113 engine, the same power plant used in the Lockheed P-38 Lightning.Īfter a lengthy rebuild, the Il-2 made its maiden flight in late September 2011, wearing the markings of twice-awarded Hero of the Soviet Union, Air Marshal Alexander Efimov, who had 126 tank ‘kills’ and seven air-to-air combat claims to his name whilst flying Il-2s. The aircraft consequently bears signs of combat damage, its peppered cowling offering a vivid reminder of the perils faced by Sturmovik crews. There the Sturmovik lay until recovery in 1991, its payload still mounted underwing after almost 50 years.įHCAM commissioned the restoration in 2005, and construction began in an old fighter factory in south-western Siberia, utilising numerous original parts recovered from three other Sturmovik wrecks, including cockpit instruments, cockpit floor, undercarriage legs and parts of the cowlings and armour plating. Semyonov, bailed out of the stricken aircraft at low-level and was killed. Prohorov was fatally wounded and died in the crash, whilst the Il-2’s rear gunner, S.M. Tasked by the 828th Attack Aviation Regiment of the 260th Composite Air Division, the aircraft was downed by anti-aircraft fire whilst attacking an aerodrome on 10 October 1944 and crashed near the Titovka River, on the northern tip of Murmansk. The Wehrmacht shared the sentiments, and accounts of destruction wrought by “Der Schwarze Tod” – “The Black Death” – from Stalingrad to Berlin itself preceded the Sturmovik.įHCAM’s aeroplane is an Il-2M3, a conglomeration of four salvaged Il-2s with its identity taken from a Sturmovik manufactured in Kuybyshev in 1943 with c/n 305401. The Sturmovik was renowned by the Soviets as a ubiquitous, potent close air support aircraft at the spearhead of the Soviets’ war-winning counter-offensive, its ability to soak up tremendous battle damage whilst reportedly destroying scores of tanks and sweeping the Germans from the countryside giving it an almost mythical aura. By the time manufacturing ceased, the Il-2 and the up-rated Il-10 enjoyed the distinction of having the largest production run of any military aircraft design in aviation history, with more than 42,000 built.

The Sturmovik first took flight in autumn 1939 and served extensively in the ground attack role with the Soviet Air Force on the Eastern Front from 1941-1945.

In this fascinating, in-depth assessment of the Il-2’s operation and handling characteristics, Ross offers The Vintage Aviation Echo a comprehensive account of flying the Sturmovik. The aircraft is owned by Paul Allen’s Flying Heritage & Combat Armor Museum (FHCAM) at Paine Field, Washington and is one of the rarest Second World War aeroplanes flying today. Ross Granley is one of a distinguished few western pilots entrusted with flying the Ilyushin Il-2 Sturmovik, the first of just two airworthy examples of the type in existence.

Il2 air combat maneuvers