Ilyushin Il-54
{{Short description|Soviet transonic bomber}}
{{redirect|Il-54|the road|Illinois Route 54}}
| {{Infobox Aircraft Begin
| name=Il-54 | image= File:Il-54-sila-1.jpg | caption=Three-quarter view of the second Il-54 prototype }}{{Infobox Aircraft Type | type=Bomber | national origin=Soviet Union | manufacturer=Ilyushin | designer= | first flight=3 April 1955 | introduced= | retired= | status= | primary user= | number built=2 | developed from= | variants with their own articles= }} |
The Il-54 was a transonic bomber developed in the USSR in the 1950s. Only two examples were built before the project was abandoned.
Design and development
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.{{Cite book |author=Gordon, Yefim |author2=Komissarov, Dmitriy and Sergey |title=OKB Ilyushin: A History of the Design Bureau and its Aircraft |publisher=Ian Allan |location=London |year=2004 |isbn= 1-85780-187-3 |pages=150–154}}
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 takeoff 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 takeoff (10 degrees).
Flight trials of the Il-54 commenced in April 1955 with test pilot Vladimir Kokkinaki at the controls. 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 crewed aircraft would soon be replaced by missiles.
Booked to fly in the flypast at Tushino Airfield 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 was told that the Il-54 was the Il-149, as part of a deception programme. As a result, the Il-54 was assigned far more importance than it actually warranted, and was assigned the NATO reporting name ("Blowlamp") after it had ceased flying.
Variants
Specifications (Il-54)
{{Aircraft specs
|prime units?=met
|crew=3
|length m=28.963
|span m=17.65
|height m=
|height ft=
|height in=
|height note=
|wing area sqm=84.6
|aspect ratio=
|airfoil=
|empty weight kg=
|empty weight lb=
|empty weight note=
|gross weight kg=40400
|gross weight note=(1st prototype)
:::::::{{cvt|40660|kg}} (2nd prototype)
|max takeoff weight kg=41600
|fuel capacity=
|more general=
|eng1 number=2
|eng1 name=Lyulka AL-7
|eng1 type=turbojet engines
|eng1 kw=
|eng1 hp=
|eng1 shp=
|eng1 kn=75.537
|eng1 note= with water injection (1st prototype)
:::::2x Lyulka AL-7F {{cvt|98.1|kN|lbf}} with afterburning (2nd prototype)
|max speed kmh=1150
|max speed note=at {{cvt|5000|m}} (1st prototype)
::::::{{cvt|1250|km/h|mph kn}} at {{cvt|5000|m}} (2nd prototype)
- Landing speed: {{cvt|243|km/h|mph kn}}
- Take-off run: {{cvt|1150|m}}
- Landing run: {{cvt|1150|m}}
|max speed mach=
|cruise speed kmh=
|cruise speed mph=
|cruise speed kts=
|cruise speed note=
|stall speed kmh=
|stall speed mph=
|stall speed kts=
|stall speed note=
|never exceed speed kmh=
|never exceed speed mph=
|never exceed speed kts=
|never exceed speed note=
|minimum control speed kmh=
|minimum control speed mph=
|minimum control speed kts=
|minimum control speed note=
|range km=2057
|ferry range km=2312
|ferry range note=with drop tanks
|endurance=
|ceiling m=13630
|ceiling ft=
|ceiling note=(1st prototype)
::::::{{cvt|14000|m}} (2nd prototype)
|g limits=
|roll rate=
|climb rate ms=25.25
|time to altitude={{cvt|5000|m}} in 3.3 minutes
|wing loading kg/m2=
|wing loading lb/sqft=
|wing loading note=
|fuel consumption kg/km=
|fuel consumption lb/mi=
|thrust/weight=
|more performance=
|guns=
- 1x {{cvt|23|mm|3}} Nudelman-Rikhter AM-23 cannon in the port forward fuselage.
- 2x {{cvt|23|mm|3}} Nudelman-Rikhter AM-23 cannon in the remotely controlled tail barbette
|bombs= {{cvt|3000|kg}} of bombs (normal), {{cvt|5000|kg}} of bombs (overload)
|avionics=
}}
See also
{{aircontent
|see also=
|related=
|similar aircraft=
|lists=
}}
References
{{reflist}}
External links
{{commons category|Ilyushin Il-54}}
- {{cite web|title=Il-54, Il-149, S.V.Ilyushin 'Blowlamp'|work=Russian Aviation Museum|url=http://www.ctrl-c.liu.se/misc/ram/il-54.html|access-date=2008-10-26|archive-date=2008-10-24|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20081024133730/http://www.ctrl-c.liu.se/misc/ram/il-54.html|url-status=dead}}
{{Ilyushin aircraft}}
Category:1950s Soviet bomber aircraft
Category:Abandoned military aircraft projects of the Soviet Union