Il-36 (Ilyushin) high-altitude reconnaissance
Unfortunately, documents have not yet been found that shed light on the more complete flight technical and combat capabilities of this interesting machine and its further fate. It is said to have been a "high-altitude reconnaissance" aircraft, without specification as to whether it was to operate over land or at sea. Since a propeller driven aircraft would be unlikely to survive against land-based jet fighters, a maritime patrol missions seems more likely. After witnessing the war in the Pacific, by the late 1940s the Soviet leadership had become quite phobic about the American peripheral attack capabilities of aircraft carriers. To counter the aircraft carrier threat, first it would be neccessary to find the aircraft carriers, and maritime patrol aircraft might be a solution.
The United States, appreciating the qualities of an aircraft carrier as high versatility, mobility, maneuverability, combined with striking power, went to huge expenses in the interests of creating and developing this weapon of warfare. By the end of 1945, the Americans in their fleet had 141 aircraft carriers (there were 159 in the world). Even after the surrender of fascist Germany and militaristic Japan, the United States continued to build aircraft carrier ships with no less intensity. This is mainly due to two reasons. The first reason was that the United States had at that time a monopoly on nuclear weapons, which could be used most effectively by aircraft carrier aircraft. The second reason was that by the end of World War II, naval aviation became one of the main forces of armed struggle at sea.
After the end of the Great Patriotic War, a substantial part of the naval aviation fleet was the material part of domestic and foreign production with significantly expended motor resources. In the face of new threats, the government of the country carried out a number of important measures aimed at ensuring the security of the state. One of them was the wide involvement of research institutions and design bureaus in solving the serious problems of the further development of naval aviation that had arisen, bearing in mind its rearmament with jet technology, the creation of new types of aviation - anti-submarine, missile and ship.
Due to the increase in the number of attack aircraft carriers in the fleets of various countries, a significant increase in their air defense, bomb and torpedo air strikes against aircraft carrier attack groups have become ineffective. To successfully combat aircraft carrier strike groups (AUGs), marine missile carrier aircraft (MRA) were created. The period of formation of MRA units began in 1954. By 1959, the fleet’s aviation mainly completed rearmament with new aviation equipment.
In 1947, on the instructions of I.V.Stalin the Ministry of Aviation Industry [MAP] developed a proposal to create and launch into serial production of new reconnaissance aircraft. At the same time, it was supposed to convert some of the bombers, built according to the pilot construction plan for 1947-1948, into reconnaissance.
In the summer of the 1949, the development of a new machine was interrupted by another government decree on the beginning of the design and construction of the IL-30 front-line bomber with the same engines. In the summer of 1949, the construction of the IL-30 aircraft was completed. Its high flight characteristics, obtained in preliminary calculations, predetermined the creation of other more effective front-line bombers on its basis. The location of the wing in the middle part of the fuselage section, which is more aerodynamically advantageous, made it necessary to abandon the placement of engines on pylons and install them in nacelles, which were pressed against the lower wing skin. The two main supports of the bicycle-type chassis, first used on a domestic bomber, were installed in the fuselage, and the side support legs in the cowl fairings of the engines. The crew, consisting of a pilot, navigator, radio operator gunner and a gunner, was housed in two pressurized cockpits.
Simultaneously with the work on the IL-30 aircraft, in the summer of 1949, S.V.Ilyushin, on initiative without direction from the Ministry, proposed a project for the long-range high-altitude reconnaissance aircraft Il-36 with two TV-2 turboprop engines. Its design used some of the solutions found in the design of the IL-30. In particular, the aerodynamic and structural layout of the wing was almost completely borrowed. A straight wing, with significant elongation, allowed the aircraft to conduct reconnaissance from high altitudes.
OKB G.M.Beriev occupies a special place in the development of naval aviation. The only experimental-design bureau of the marine aircraft industry in our country since 1934 created seaplanes for the Navy. In the early 1950s, the Design Bureau developed the Be-6 flying boat, which had better qualities than previous aircraft. The design of the prototype machine was so successful that it could be immediately launched into series.
The situation was soon resolved by another government decree on the need to begin development of the IL-38 long-range anti-submarine defense aircraft with the Berkut radio-acoustic system based on the Il-18 aircraft. The deadline for transferring the vehicle to state tests was set in the 2nd quarter of 1962. The aircraft was designed to search for and destroy enemy submarines, set minefields, conduct naval reconnaissance and conduct rescue operations. The design bureau began work on assessing the possibilities of its creation. The first flight of the IL-38 was performed on September 28, 1960.
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