Overview
The Ilyushin Il-20 was a Soviet prototype for a heavily armored ground-attack aircraft to replace the Ilyushin Il-10. It featured a number of innovative concepts including a cockpit mounted on top of the engine, directly behind the propeller, and wing-mounted autocannon that could be adjusted on the ground to fire level or depressed 23° to allow the aircraft to strafe ground targets while remaining in level flight. However it was slower than the Il-10, and its M-47 engine was problematic in flight tests in 1948–49. It was not placed into production. The test pilots called the aircraft the Gorbach (Hunchback).
Specifications
Figures are compiled from public sources and may be approximate; they can vary by variant and configuration.
Photos
Photo 1: Alan Wilson / Wikimedia Commons · CC BY-SA 2.0
Some text and images come from Wikipedia / Wikimedia Commons under CC BY-SA licences. Source
