The Ilyushin IL-76 is a large, military transport plane, which is in the arsenal of the Russian Air Force. This heavy duty aircraft was designed by the Soviet Union in 1967, performing its first test flight in 1971. It entered service with the Soviet Air Force in 1974 and, since then, it has been produced in different variants, such as the Beriev A-50. With more than 570 aircraft being manufactured, it has been exported to Eastern European and African countries, where it is also used as commercial airliner and civilian freighter. It replaced the Antonov An-22 transport plane.
Below, an IL-76 about to touch down in the 1970s.
Technical Characteristics
The Ilyushin IL-76 is a four-engine monoplane aircraft, which is fitted with swept wings mounted high on top of the fuselage. It features two-section, triple-slotted flaps and five-section leading edge slats to ensure good field performance. The flap setting is 15° for take-off and 43° for landing. The radome of ground mapping radar protrudes below the lower fuselage contour to provide the radar with 360° coverage. It features hydraulically-actuated retractable, tricycle-type landing gear, with fat, low-pressure tires for rough runways.
The fuselage is all-metal, semi-monocoque, stressed-skin structure, with frames, longerons and stringers and it is made mainly of D16T duralumin (aluminum, copper, maganese, iron and silicon alloy). Structurally, it is made up of four sections; the forward, the center, the aft, and the rear fuselage. The wings are also all-metal, made of V93 aluminum alloy. The IL-76M and IL-76T is powered by four Solovyov D-30KP turbofans engines, delivering 12,000 kgp during take-off and 2,750 kgp in cruise speed at 11,000 m of altitude, with a speed of Mach 0.8. The aircraft features a SAU-1T-2BT automatic flight control system, a central digital navigation computer, and a duplex I-P-76 inertial navigation system.
Armament
One Gsh-23, double-barrel, 23-mm cannon, which is mounted in a tail turret. It has a rate of fire of 3,200 rounds per minute. Two small pylons under wings for carrying a 500-kg bomb or missile each.
Specifications
Type: four-engine, heavy military and commercial transport aircraft.
Length: 46.6 m (152 ft, 10 in)
Wingspan: 50.5 m (165 ft, 8 in)
Wing Area: 300 m² (3,229.2 sq ft)
Height: 14.76 m (48 ft, 5 in)
Range: 9,300 km
Load Capacity: 48,000 kg
Below, an Iluyshin Il-76M at a Soviet military airbase in the 1980s
A Soviet Il-76 military transport in flight in the mid-1980s
Below, the il-76 parked on an airbase tarmac in the late 1970s.
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