Ilyushin Il-22
| Il-22 | |
|---|---|
 |
|
| Ilyushin Il-22 | |
| Role | Bomber |
| National origin | Soviet Union |
| Manufacturer | Ilyushin |
| First flight | 22 July 1947 |
| Status | Prototype |
| Number built | 1 |
For the 1970s Airborne Command Post aircraft of the same designation, see Ilyushin Il-18
The Ilyushin Il-22, USAF/DOD designation Type 10, was the first Soviet jet-engined bomber to fly. It used four Lyulka TR-1 turbojets carried on short horizontal pylons ahead and below the wing. The engines did not meet their designed thrust ratings and their fuel consumption was higher than planned. These problems meant that the aircraft could not reach its required performance and it was cancelled on 22 September 1947.
The Council of Ministers ordered the Ilyushin design bureau on 12 February 1946 to begin work on a bomber that would use four of the new TR-1 jet engines. Experiences with the first generation of jet fighters had revealed unsuspected problems involved with high-speed flight and Ilyushin devoted much effort to mitigate them. The long, thin unswept wing was conventional in appearance, but it was shaped to improve lateral stability at high angles of attack and to prevent the onset of tip stall.
Another problem discovered by the jet fighters was unexpectedly dropping a wing at high speeds and high altitudes. This was traced to manufacturing defects in the wings that made no difference at low speeds and altitudes, but meant that each wing had a slightly different airfoil and hence, a different amount of lift. To counter this Sergey Ilyushin and his team developed a new manufacturing technique that reversed the traditional practice where the internal supporting members were affixed to the assembly jig and the aircraft's skin panels were then attached. This new method meant that the skin panels were placed in the jigs where the correct curvature and shape could be guaranteed and the internal structure was then fastened to them. This required that manufacturing joints be used along the chord lines of the wings and tail surfaces, which split the spars and ribs in half. Similarly, the fuselage was built the same way, although it was split vertically along the centerline. This new technique did impose a small weight penalty, but had the unexpected advantage of greatly accelerating the assembly process as the internal equipment could be installed before the halves were joined together. This allowed several teams to work on a single sub-assembly before they were mated.
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