Il-2 Shturmovik
By Matt Bittner
Author: Viktor Povinsky
Publisher: Mushroom Model Publications
ISBN #: 9788363678371
Binding: Hardcover
Pages: 208
When it comes to The Great Patriotic War (GPW) and Voyenno-Vozdushnye Sily (VVS) aircraft, there hasn't been a lot published in English, which is highly unfortunate. There were a lot of great aircraft produced by the Russians to counter the Axis threat and to not have references for those types is a definite shame. Thankfully we now have an excellent publication on one of the most – if not THE most – produced combat aircraft of all time, the Ilyushin Il-2 Shturmovik. There were over 36,000 produced and unfortunately only a handful exist today and as far as I know, only one in flying condition.
The book can be broken out in two major sections, the first section dealing with the actual aircraft and all its subtypes while the second part of the book is used for discussions about camouflage, contains color profiles as well as plenty of photos of existing aircraft. Lots and lots of photos, not only of the aircraft overall but tons of detail shots as well. While the first section contains drawings (in both 1/72 and 1/48) of the aircraft subtypes, the back section could be considered the "modeler's dream" section. Almost anything you would want to know to build a model of the Shturmovik can be found within the back half. If there was anything missing it would be paint equivalents for each color; however, this is not just a book for the modeler so it's not a surprise it doesn't exist.
If you're a modeler and you have any interest at all in the Ilyushin Il-2 this book is a must. Be aware, though, one aspect it does not contain is any sort of operational squadron history, everything in the book is technical and a statement to the aircraft itself.
My thanks to Casemate for the review book.