Ilyushin Il-18

The Ilyushin Il-18 is a large four-engined turboprop airliner that first flew in 1957 and became one of the best known Soviet aircraft of its time. It was designed after a Council of Ministers directive of December 1955 called for new turboprop engines and an aircraft to use them; the design had in fact started in 1954, and it drew on the experience of an earlier piston-engined aircraft that carried the same Il-18 number. The prototype first flew from Khodynka on 4 July 1957. Early production aircraft used the troubled Kuznetsov NK-4 engine, so from late 1958 production switched to the Ivchenko AI-20. The Il-18 served as one of the principal airliners of the Soviet Union for decades, was widely exported, and is still flown by the Russian Air Force and Navy. The longer-range Il-62 was its successor.