Ilyushin Il-10

The Ilyushin Il-10 was a Soviet ground attack aircraft developed at the end of the Second World War as the successor to the Il-2 Sturmovik. Ilyushin began with a heavily armoured fighter-interceptor design called the Il-1 and turned it into a two-seat ground attack plane, renumbered Il-10 in early 1944 because odd numbers were reserved for fighters. It first flew in April 1944, beat both the heavier Ilyushin Il-8 and a competing Sukhoi Su-6 in comparative trials, and was ordered into production in August 1944 at factories in Kuybyshev. The armament of two 23 mm cannons, machine guns and up to 600 kg of bombs resembled that of late Il-2s. Production in the Soviet Union ended in 1949, and the Czechoslovak firm Avia built the type under licence as the B-33.