Il-2M

(unofficial designation of two-seater Il-2 with straight wings)

One of the first Il-2 two seater, built in Factory n.30, was presented to state tests in October 1942. It features:

• new canopy (even if the shape of the rear part is not the same of production planes, but linger and narrower
• short radio aerial mast (tall mast was introduced just before switching to the arrow wings)
• ShKAS defensive machine gun , while the production Il-2M received the larger UB 12.7 machine gun
• wooden rear fuselage
• straight wing (unknown if wooden or metallic without tip weights)
• filter at the carburettor intake on the right wingroot
• AM-38 engine
• it has still the small tail wheel of singleseaters, while the production Il-2m received an enlarged tailwheel.

The camouflage, although not clearly visible, looks related with that seen on photos of single-seaters built in Factory n.30, perhaps having lost the characteristic black 'balls' on the fuselage sides.

(From Ilyushin Il-2 by Oleg Rastrenin)

Production Il-2M white 7 of Zavod 30, early production, probably in spring 1943.

This factory still utilized variations of the same pattern with 'balls' on the rear fuselage sides that can be seen on many single-seaters of the same factory.

The plane is an early Il-2M built in late 1942 or the first half of 1943. It features:

• two-seat canopy of early 'long' type; it was illustrated as complete, even if on the photo, the rear sections of this canopy is missing. It was sometimes removed on the ground to give a greater visibility and field of fire to the gunner
• UBT 12,7 mm gun in half-ring installation
• metal straight wing, typical of factory n.18; the metal wings of two-seaters hasn't the same balance masses at the tips as single-seaters, making more difficult to distinguish wooden wings from metal wings
• larger tail wheel typical of all two seaters Il-2s
• short aerial mast, typical of early Il-2M
• pitot probe in inner position as single-seaters, as typical of early Il-2M

Production Il-2M white 7 with the standard UB machine gun downed in German-held territory in 1943, probably in spring.

The camo looks that of Factory n.30, with the red star overposed to the fuselage 'ball'.

Unfortunately the photo of this plane leaves doubts on the camo of the nose, also due to the characteristic dark ark formed by exhaust smoke on the fuselage sides that could be mistaken for a black wave-shaped longitudinal band, that on the other hand is an interpretation fully compatible with the NKAP template of 1941.

(from Squadron-Signal Ilyushin Il-2 in action)

This is the reconstruction of the pattern of the planes below, that appear to have very soft boundary lines. Examples of hard-edged variants of this camo are known too.

The reconstruction was helped by the observation of the 'reverse' scheme, seen on some photos of an Il-2KR.

This patter has been seen on some single-seater too.

The plane is an early Il-2M built in late 1942 or the first half of 1943. It features:

• two-seat canopy of late 'side-opened' type; it was sometimes removed on the ground to give a greater visibility and field of fire to the gunner
• UBT 12,7 mm gun in half-ring installation
• wooden straight wing, typical of factory n.1;
• larger tail wheel typical of all two seaters Il-2s
• short aerial mast, typical of early Il-2M
• pitot probe in inner position as single-seaters, as typical of early Il-2M

This image shows a park full of new Il-2s out of the factory (probably factory n.1 in Kuybyshev) in early 1943. The standardization of the new scheme is obvious, even if it doesn't follow closely the NKAP template. Note the very soft demarcation lines.

Although the wing is unrecognizable from this perspective, the short mast identifies this plane as a straight-winged Il-2M.

The style of painting is well different from the ones seen on other Shturmoviks.

The lack of stars on the fuselage is highly unusual too.

This drawing represents the plane'white 7' of the photo below; where not visible on photos, the camo was completed by guess with the help of photos of similarly painted planes.

The camouflage is clearly a variant of the one made in Factory n.18 and well documented on singleseaters; it looks also identical, at least on the fuselage, to that of 'white 15' of the photo below.

The photos let to suspect that there is a third lighter color in the camo; it is unclear if it's a simple repair, or an improvised modification of camouflage made at unit level, or if factory n.18 started to camouflage its planes with the addition of a third color, possibly light brown AMT-1, before the officialization of the three-shades camo of August 1943.

In favour of this idea is the scarcity of black on these planes, apparently below the 50% of total surface that one would expect from a two-shades pattern.

The plane is an early Il-2M built in late 1942 or the first half of 1943. It features:

• two-seat canopy of early 'long' type; the rear sections of this canopy were sometimes removed on the ground to give a greater visibility and field of fire to the gunner
• UBT 12,7 mm gun in half-ring installation;
• metal straight wing, typical of factory n.18; the metal wings of two-seaters hasn't the same balance masses at the tips as single-seaters, making more difficult to distinguish wooden wings from metal wings;
• larger tail wheel typical of all two seaters Il-2s
• short aerial mast, typical of early Il-2M
• pitot probe in inner position as single-seaters, as typical of early Il-2M

White 15 was flown by Major Bamshin and belly landed on June 1943 on the Finnish front.

It shows some resemblance in tail-spotted camo to white 7. The strongly oblique camo bands on the wings recall the early style of Zavod 18.

Some lighter repaintings, probably made with AMT-1 light brown, seem visible on the tail and wing.

The silver or white outlined stars are typical of Factory n.18 since of the war's outbreak.

Image of planes of 667 ShAP, Kalinin front, in early 1943. The unit utilized both single-seaters and two-seaters.

The red inscription means Yaroslavskij Komsomolet (the youngs communist organizations of Yaroslav, that donated funds for these planes)

Under the dark covers, the noses are probably painted white. Note that the white paint covers even the prop blades.

(From Squadron-Signal, Ilyushin Il-2 in action)

The directive n°2389/0133 of July 3, 1943, gave new instructions to paint the Soviet warplanes:

• the upper and side surfaces of all fighter aircraft were to have two colors: greyish blue and dark grey in the same scheme;
• upper and side surfaces of all types of aircraft but fighters had to be camouflaged in green, light brown and dark grey (black for Il-4 and Pe-8);
• the red stars remained in the same six positions of before, but were addictioned with a thick white outline and, more externally, with a further thin red outline.
• the directive applied to new planes and those in repair shops; it wasn't required that operative units repainted all their planes.

The directive assumed that the non-fighter planes had to be delivered with the new camouflage starting from August 1, 1943; in the days before, black had to be replaced with dark grey.

In case of absence of dark grey, this would have been replaced by a mix of light blue and black.

The directive contained 15 camouflage schemes for many types, of which 14 were for non-fighter planes.

(sketch from 'Colors of the falcons' by Hornat and Migliardi)

Here is the general camo scheme for the template 1, easily recognizable for the wide light painting on the rear fuselage, tail and mid nose.

Compared to that of official documents, it has been necessary to add a dark grey band behind the canopy to better fit the most part of available photos.

Again, many photos can give the impression that the light brown utilized on central and front fuselage was darker than the one utilized on the rear fuselage and tail. Perhaps this could be related to the use of nitro paint AMT-1 on the wooden rear fuselage (and eventually outer panels of wings) and of oil paint A-21m on the metal-skinned mid and front fuselage, wingroots (and eventually outer panels of wings), but it's only an hypothesis. I've preferred to ignore this in tracing this drawing.

On many photos, one can see that often the camo bands over the wings had a more longitudinal and straight shape than those of this drawing.

Late Il-2M, built on the second half of 1943, differed from the early Il-2M because of:

• tall aerial mast
• pitot probe in outer position
• gunner canopy with the upper nail solidal to the folding hood of the gunner, (already seen on part of the early Il-2M)
• faired rocket rails (already seen on part of the early Il-2M)

Here is represented a plane with straight wooden wings, as those produced by factories 1 and 30.

A drawing of the camouflage depicted by the second template of 1943. In general, it is easily identifiable on photos because of the trasversal light brown band across the rear fuselage, while the light brown band on the left side, close to the gunner's position, was scarcely visible perhaps because obscured by smoke traces.

All the comments to the template n.1 are still valid for this second one.

Here is represented a plane with all-metal wings, as typical of the production of Factory n°18.

Differently that the older black-green livery, that varied in pattern depending on the factory that produced the plane, the new livery let not distinguish the manufacturer, at least at the present state of my knowledges.

The two patterns were alternated in the same factories and the same units; variations and fusions of elements of both patterns into one plane were possible.

Il-2M of the 6 GvShAP in August 1944. Planes n.28, 20 and 15 are recognizable.

In the photo above, the plane is identified as a straight-wing one instead of a swept-wing one by tracing a perspective line between the wingtips and comparing the rear edges of the visible wing.

White 28 shows the same camouflage according to the first template of August 1943, and kremlin stars both on the fuselage and on the tail.

Plane n.20 looks painted according to the second template of August 1943.

Both them have an oblique dark grey band behind the canopy, even if it was not traced on the official template.

As in many other photos, the light brown of bands on the aft fuselage looks darker than that on the rear fuselage.

(Image below from 4+ Publications- Ilyushin Il-2M3 Shturmovik)

Another line with the same variation of the 1st template on the first (white 17) and third plane; the second (white 12) and 4th planes seem to wear the 2nd pattern, again modified with a dark grey band behind the canopy.

Plane n.12 is similar, but with fuselage bands moved rearwards; green and dark grey looks exchanged.

A noticeable particularity is the number 12 repeated on the left wing uppersurface.

This plane n.35 can be identified as a straight-wing one by its shadow on the ground.

It seems to have a red flag painted across the exhaust stack.

Its camouflage looks well representative of the first standard template, with the usual addition of a dark grey band behind the canopy.

Plane n° 55, on the background, looks painted in good accord to the second template of 1943.

(Image from 4+ Publications- Ilyushin Il-2M3 Shturmovik)

An Il-2m white 6 with unrecognizable camouflage, possibly post-1943 green-dark grey-light brown or black-green updated with light blown, and stars with silver-red outline, probably photographed in winter 1943/44. The white dots made with temporary MK-7 finish put in evidence the contours of a wide and scarcely visible star on the fuselage.

Note the removal of the back canopy section.

(From Squadron-Signal, Ilyushin Il-2 in action)

Image of Il-2KR (recognizable for the aerial mast located on the windshield frames) blue 5 that probably had the camo scheme of factory n.1. In the detail, the tail of white 1 that probably was painted in the same way.

(from M-Hobby 5/2001)

Il-2KR n°714 (serial n°7319) was built in zavod 1 in 1943, apparently with straight metal wing.

The camouflage looks exactly reversed (ie, green and black are exchanged) of the previous plane blue 5 an of standard Il-2Ms built in factory n.1.

After an initial batch built in factory n-30 in spring 1943, all successive Il-2KR were built in factory n.1.

Note the green background of both bort numbers, probably a repainting to delete previous ones, and the sharp demarcation lines.

(from M-Hobby 5/2001)

An attempt to trace the reversed camo based on plane 714, but with general markings on an usual Il-2M. The tail has some differences suggested by a careful observation of the photos of the horizontal stabilizer leading edge of this plane.

Below:

the Il-2KR could have its UB machine gun replaced with a large camera. The size of the fuel tank is reduced in height to make room for the powerful radio equipment, visible under the canopy.

Il-2KR has a circular window for a camera under the fuselage, moved on the right side under the fuselage, behind the wing fillet.

Two photos of an Il-2M with 37 mm AM-37 in underwing pods at the state tests, in June 1943. They were officially called Il2-37.

Each gun was provided of 50 rounds connected by a belt placed inside the wing.

The rocket rails were removed, and the bomb load was limited to 200 kg in overload condition (usually 100 kg) because of the increased weight of the plane.

A total of 1175 Il-2 armed with these weapons were built, nearly all in Factory n.30, and put in service between August and January 1944, but the results weren't fully satisfying because of the lack of precision due to the recoil of unsynchronized guns that causes jaw while firing, so it was preferred to stop the production of this variant to revert the production lines to the VYa-23 guns.

The antitank gun was also put in shadow by the great subcess of hollow-charge PTAB cluster bombs put in production in 1943.

This plane shows a black-green camouflage in the style of Zavod 30 (even the 'balls' on the sides look distinguishable), and red stars apparently without any outline (note the strange inclination of the one on the fuselage on this plane only).

Probably the most of the production planes wore the 3-shades camouflage (green, dark grey, light brown) adopted in August 1943.

White 36 of the the 46th ShAP of the Northern Fleet, on the Finnish front, This plane is recognizable as an Il-2-37 because of the shape of the underwing gunpods and of the lack of the 23 mm gunsnon the wing leading edge, where we can see the ShVAK barrel only. The NS-37 guns were removed.

The photo shows well its camouflage according to the template n.1. As on the most of bw photos, dark grey and green are undistinguishable.

Note how sharp is the trace of smoke on the fuselage side, perhaps the effect of a partial cleaning away or repainting of its rear part.

(from Luftwaffen pohjoinen sivusta by Hannu Valtonen)

Il2-37 red 28 in winter finish during the winter 1943/44.

The rough white finish, made with washable MK-7 paint, don't extend on the engine cowling, that probably let see the later green/dark grey/light brown camouflage adopted in August 1943.

Although widely utilized in previous winters, the temporary white finish was rare in winter 1943/44, and officially abolished in winter 1944/45.

Note the tall radio mast, introduced in late 1943 shortly before switching the production to the arrow wing.

The directive n°2389/0133 of July 3, 1943, gave new instructions to paint the Soviet warplanes:

• the upper and side surfaces of all fighter aircraft were to have two colors: greyish blue and dark grey in the same scheme;
• upper and side surfaces of all types of aircraft but fighters had to be camouflaged in green, light brown and dark grey (black for Il-4 and Pe-8);
• the red stars remained in the same six positions of before, but were addictioned with a thick white outline and, more externally, with a further thin red outline.
• the directive applied to new planes and those in repair shops; it wasn't required that operative units repainted all their planes.

The directive assumed that the non-fighter planes had to be delivered with the new camouflage starting from August 1, 1943; in the days before, black had to be replaced with dark grey.

In case of absence of dark grey, this would have been replaced by a mix of light blue and black.

The directive contained 15 camouflage schemes for many types, of which 14 were for non-fighter planes.

(sketch from 'Colors of the falcons' by Hornat and Migliardi)

Here is the general camo scheme for the template 1, easily recognizable for the wide light painting on the rear fuselage, tail and mid nose.

Compared to that of official documents, it has been necessary to add a dark grey band behind the canopy to better fit the most part of available photos.

Again, photos can give the impression that the light brown utilized on central and front fuselage was darker than the one utilized on the rear fuselage and tail.

On many photos, one can see that often the camo bands over the wings had a more longitudinal and straight shape than those of this drawing,

A drawing of the camouflage depicted by the second template of 1943.

The observation of photos let to the impression that the light brown utilized on the wooden rear fuselage could have been lighter than the one used on the metal-skinned front fuselage.

Perhaps this could be related to the use of nitro paint AMT-1 on the wooden rear fuselage (and eventually outer panels of wings) and of oil paint A-21m perhaps utilized on the metal-skinned mid and front fuselage, wingroots (and eventually outer panels of wings).

Il-2M3

(unofficial designation of two-seater with arrow wing)

On photos, it's not easy to distinguish Il-2M3s with arrow wing from Il-2M with straight wing. Some criteria to distinguish them are:

• if the plane has short aerial mast, long tunnel-shaped gunner canopy closer on the sides and pitot probe closer to the guns than to the tip, it's surely an early Il-2M with straight wing
• if the plane has black-green camouflage or snowy camouflage, it's surely a straight-winged Il-2M;
• if the plane has underwing 37 mm gunpods, it's a straight-winged Il-2-37
• if there are two small hatches instead of one large one over each wing, it is a swept-wing Il-2M3
• if the outer section of the flap, visible under the wing, is not parallel to the wing back edge and to the flap line, it is a swept-wing Il-3M.

If the image doesn't allow to apply these criteria, one has to see the shape of the wings, maybe tracing some perspective lines, and detect if the back edge of both wings are about on the some line (typical of swept-winged Il-3M), or the wing is much more extended backward at its root (typical of straight-winged Il-2M).

One can also try to look to the shadow of the wings on the ground, to see if the outer edges are parallel.

Three images of Il-2M3 that fit fairly well with the template n.2, easily recognizable by the light brown trasversal stripe in correspondance of the rear fuselage star and the dark grey band in mid of the nose.

The thin white curved stripes painted on the nose are for aiming while bombing.

All the planes are of late production, being equipped with tall radio mast.

Photos of Il-2M3 probably in Factory n.1 in Kuybyshev.

The camo is compatible with the template 1 of the camouflage introduced in 1943.
The camouflage on the wings, the stabilizer and the rear fuselage is sharp and repetitive, probably made by mask, while the metal parts of fuselages and wing appear much less contrasted, nearly uniform. The wooden wings are painted before to be mounted on the fuselage, and it's likely that the same thing is for the rear fuselage. The puzzle-like pattern of the right wing is noteworthy.

From http://scalemodels.ru/modules/forum/viewtopic_t_7288_start_380.html

The same scene from a different perspective.

Although the planes seen here are Il-2M3, this puzzle-like variant of the camouflage has been observed on some operative Il-2KR (the observation variant, easily recognizable for the aerial mast located on the windshield) and on the Il-2 restored for the museum of Prague (although it seems to bear unaccurate colors).

White 07, the plane of twice HSU V.I. Mykhilyk, commander of the 566th ShAP.

The inscription behind the star means 'Avenge for Khristenko' and the city skyline includes 'For Leningrad'.

The livery seems corresponding to the second template of 1943.

(Image from 4+ Publications- Ilyushin Il-2M3 Shturmovik)

A line of Il-2M3 on the Estonian airpost of Tatu in October 1944 during a ceremony.

The camo of many planes, including the three closer ones, is atypical and could be a variation of the second template with grey and green reversed.

The first plane has evidence of the deletion of a star on the fuselage, probably by overpainting with green.

Becaus of its tail, the fourth plane looks to confort to the first template of 1943.

(Image from 4+ Publications- Ilyushin Il-2M3 Shturmovik)

This famous Il-2M3, probably freshly repained for a propaganda film over Berlin in April 1945, contrasts with the darker and low-contrasted planes on the background. It looks to conform to a common variation of the 1st template with dark grey band behind the canopy.

(Image below from 4+ Publications- Ilyushin Il-2M3 Shturmovik)

This plane shows a camouflage in good concordance to the scheme 1.

It shows also well-visible markings: the color of the tail (silver?) represents the air division, while the number of white bands and the color of the spinner is related to the squadron.

(Image from 4+ Publications- Ilyushin Il-2M3 Shturmovik)

An Il-2M3 with NS-45 45 mm guns installed in underwing nacelles at state tests in February 1944. It wasn't put into production because of the loss of precision due to the recoil of the guns.

The camo scheme seems the first one of August 1943, recognizable for the light brown band at mid of the nose. It seems to feature a glossy red spinner.

(From Ilyushin Il-2 by Oleg Rastrenin)

In late 1944 the Soviet Air Force had altready reached a position of superiority over the German Luftwaffe and its alleys. While Germans reverted to green/brown camouflages to hide better their planes on the ground, the Soviets decided to extend to all planes the blue grey/dark grey camouflage that has been successful for fighters since August 1943.

On October 1, 1944, the Resolution n.6339 was approved, but burocratic delays retarded its publication till January 1945.

The resolution included templates for many types of planes.

Comparing those drawings to the photos, there are doubts if the directive was applied, and how; very few types respect the new templates, but many planes could have been updated, as suggested by Orlov and Hornat, by repainting blue-green over green areas and dark grey over light brown areas. This would have led to a predominance of dark grey over blue-grey, but seems to be not a common case on photos.

Many types received wide soft repainting with a light color, leaving visible part of the previous camo; one can think that this light added color is blue-grey, even if one could have expected something darker from AMT-11. Perhaps it was sometimes surrogated with a mix of light blue and black, according to the formulas prescribed in 1943 for fighters.

( sketch from 'Colors of the falcons' by Hornat and Migliardi)

Usually, photos suggest that Il-2 continued to be painted in the 3 colors schemes of 1943; even the newly-produced Il-10s of late 1944-early 1945 look painted according to colors and templates of 1943.

Eventually, some images show that some Il-2 could have been partially repainted with a light color that could be light brown, but could either be grey, in an attempt to roughly accomplish the 1944 directive.

This exceptional color photo taken in Prague, July 1945, shows that blue-grey was really utilized on bombers, but in this case replacing the light brown in three-tone camo.

(Photo from 4+ Publications-Ilyushin Il-2 Shturmovik)

A line of Il-2M3s of the 3rd ShAP, the only Czech unit equipped with Il-2s. The photo is taken in Prague-Letnany airfield on June 1, 1945, with the color photos above. They wear both camo patterns, with light brown replaced by grey. This substitution is nearly undetectable, apart for weak traces of repainting on the rear fuselage and, perhaps, for the lighter shade that represents the AMT-11 blue-grey on bw photos.

The embarassing conclusion is that a good part of the photos of Soviet Il-2s taken in 1945 and resembling to bear the standard camo of 1943 could be of planes that have been modified in the very same way, that is hardly detectable.

(Photo from 4+ Publications-Ilyushin Il-2 Shturmovik)

The closer two Il-2M3s bear the inscription 'Chapayevtsky' in honour of the revolutionary hero V.I. Chapayev.

The visible planes wear pattern 1 camo of 1943, possibly modified by replacing the light brown with blue-grey, given that the photo was taken during the spring of 1945.

The light band appearing on the tail of the second plane is due only to the sunlight on the moved rudder.

(Photo from 4+ Publications-Ilyushin Il-2 Shturmovik)

Here is a drawing of a generical Il-2M3 with the camouflage of 1943 modified by repainting the light brown with blue-grey AMT-11.

One can suppose that some trace of the repainting is visible close to stars, markings and boundary lines, where the new color could let some light brown visible, or overpose to the other colors.

An Il-2KR with straight wing, camouflaged according to the first template of August 1943. It is recognizable because of the position of the antenna mast.

Note the late-style rocket rails.

(from Viktor publishing Il-2 part 2)

This image of an artillery reconaissance Il-2KR white 482 has a camouflage that is difficult to interpretate; it could be a repainting on the base of an old black-green or an uniform green plane. Note the three digit numbers, common on this variant.

(Photo from 4+ Publications-Ilyushin Il-2 Shturmovik)

A line of Il-2M3 is displayed to civilians, probably after the war's end.

The planes appear to have their upper and side surfaces painted with a solid color, probably green.

The first plane could even seem to have all the nose of one color, with a small mark resembling a winged arrow.

UIL-2

(trainer Il-2 with double commands)

UIL-2 with an unusual camouflage of difficult interpretation.

The very angular shape of the rear section of the canopy identifies it as an early configuration.

The small discontinuity in the inclination of the leading edge identifies its wing as an arrow one, as all the photos I've examined till now. It's unclear if UIL-2s with straight wing were ever built.

An arrow-wing UIL-2 painted in green-grey-brown camo according to the second template. Note the deletion of VYa-23 guns and their fairings, while the ShKAS on the wings were preserved, as standard for these trainers.

The sliding hoods are of the partially armoured type, as those of very early Il-2s.

(From Ilyushin Il-2 by Oleg Rastrenin)

An arrow-wing UIL-2 with fully trasparent sliding hoods.

It shows evidence of light repainting on the rear fuselage and tail. The base scheme could have conformed to the template n.2. Such light repaintings on the rear fuselage are common in 1945 and later; they could be a rough attempt to conform to the late 1944 grey-grey standard adding a wide blue-grey blotch (AMT-11), not following the template included on those instructions. In this case, the repainting looks even lighter than the light blue of undersurfaces, so it could be another color, ex. some light grey or blue-grey.

UIL-2 of Yugoslav Attack Aviation Training Center at Zemun airport, near Belgrade, still utilizing Soviet stars.

The sliding hoods are a mix: the rear one is the fully-armored type of usual Il-2s, while the front one has the upper armor preserved, and fully trasparent sides; half panel is slided back and let see the pilot directly.

The light bands (grey?) are sharply painted over an earlier camouflage (black-green?).

(Photo from 4+ Publications-Ilyushin Il-2 Shturmovik)

An UIL-2 always photographed in Prague in July 1945, showing that AMT-12 or A-33m blue-grey was crudely overpainted to light brown.

Although being relatively dark, it's thought that often blue-grey appears similar or even lighter of light brown on bw photos.

(Photo from 4+ Publications-Ilyushin Il-2 Shturmovik)

This UIL-2 in a military school in Leningrad, 1948, seems to have been repainted overall green.

Some veterans report the use of overall green liveries on Il-2s in wartime, but the photographic evidence available doesn't seem to confirm this, at least not before the war's end.