Though I have not read the other books, this is the third of the OKB books produced by Midland. This one covers Ilyushin from its beginnings in 1934 until today.

Unlike many of the other OKBs, Ilyushin has designed a number of interesting and varied aircraft. Starting off, it put its efforts into ground attack aircraft and produced tens of thousands of IL-2 and IL-10 Sturmoviks during the Great Patriotic War. These aircraft were continually modified until they were the epitome of single engine, piston-powered ground attack aircraft produced by the Soviet Union. These aircraft lasted into the early 1960s with several air arms around the world.

After that, they went into bomber production with the very successful IL-28 Beagle. Again, an aircraft that was used for decades by Soviet forces and client states. During this time, Ilyushin worked on the most successful IL-12/14 twin engine airliner. This was developed as a DC-3 replacement and again, saw much use in the Soviet Bloc.

This led to Ilyushin concentrating most of its work on airliners and there followed a succession of popular aircraft such as the turboprop powered IL-18, the four turbfan powered IL-62 long haul airliner, the IL-76 cargo aircraft (a sort of combination C-130 and C-141), and the current IL-86 wide body airliner. The company is also delving into light aircraft with the IL-103.

It is all here, detailed specs, a listing of variants and the development of all the various types, prototypes and planned aircraft. All in one volume. For the Russian aircraft enthusiast and general aviation fan, this is THE book to have on Ilyushin aircraft.

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