Help! I need to know the model of a plane!

[cneufeld]

Hi, I need to know the model of an Airplane for a contest at work, and I know nothing about planes. The Plane has a pointed nose, very square looking cockpit, with a rear facing gunman. There are stars on it, so I guess it is American. Please help! I will post the Picture tomorrow when I am at work.

[simon]

Actually the plane you've described sounds like either a Russian Ilyushin Il-2M or Il-10, both of which were known as the Stormovik (there are a number of variations on the spelling, since the translation from cyrillic to english leaves a bit of room for interpretation!).

If the stars on the plane are red this is almost certainly a soviet aircraft, although not necessarily Russian. Both the Il-2M and the Il-10 were single engined planes with an inline ("Pointed") engine, they have a lowset wing (the wing is based from the bottom of the fuselage). They had fully retractable main undercarriage legs, so if it is in flight you probably wont see any wheels sticking out from under the wings.

Also, both the Ilyushin planes had rear gun positions for defence, although the Il-10 had a number of aerodynamic improvements from its predecessor, including a more rounded canopy. So, and taking into account that I can't think of any US plane off hand that fully matches your description, for your work competition you could probably get away with calling it an Ilyushin Stormovik, although I think it's more likely to be an Il-2M.

If you get he chance, e-mail me the pic at Simon.ross@BBrail.com, and I'll try to confirm this!

[preb]

I agree with simon that it is the Stormovik
That is the way I have seen it spelt

Seeya
Rear gunner