The Ilyushin Il-2 Was Known as the “Flying Tank”

A rare World War II airplane undergoes a magnificent restoration.

During World War II, German forces fighting on the Eastern Front learned to fear the Ilyushin Il-2 Shturmovik. The Soviet Union manufactured between 31,000 to 36,000 of the armored ground-attack airplanes, making it the second-most produced aircraft ever, exceeded only by the Cessna 172. Today, however, merely a handful remain—one of which has been restored to its original splendor by a team at the Smithsonian’s National Air and Space Museum, where the Il-2 will later go on exhibit at the refurbished World War II gallery at the Museum in Washington, D.C.

During the war, the Il-2’s adversaries had many nicknames for the aircraft, including the “concrete plane.” But, back in 1938, when aircraft designer Sergei Ilyushin approached Joseph Stalin with his concept, he called it the “Flying Tank.” The ll-2 was designed to meet the Soviet military’s need for a low-flying, ground-attack airplane with armor-piercing guns and racks for bombs and rockets. The Il-2 was also built to sustain massive anti-aircraft fire. While other warplanes had been encased in armor after they were built, Ilyushin opted to build part of the fuselage out of steel.

The Museum’s ll-2 traveled a journey that spanned 4,000 miles and 80 years. Shot down by the Germans near the town of Pustoshka in the western Soviet Union, the warplane crash-landed on a frozen lake, where it later sank to the bottom. It was recovered in the 1990s and brought to St. Petersburg, where an initial restoration effort was undertaken by a Russian team, who combined parts from three or four Il-2s to create a single whole one. In 1995, the Museum acquired the aircraft, which was then kept in storage for 26 years.

The recent renovation of the World War II gallery provided the opportunity to finally restore the Il-2. While the front of the fuselage was forged from steel, the back part had been made of wood. Museum specialist Jay Flanagan rebuilt the rear fuselage just as the Russians had built it 80 years prior, relying on original blueprints and using 1,700 pieces of wood. 

Visitors will be able to see Flanagan’s craftsmanship up close when the Jay I. Kislak World War II in the Air gallery reopens in 2026.

A Slice of Ice

“I have access to a freezer kept at -95 degrees centigrade (-140 F),” says NASA astronaut Don Pettit, who is stationed aboard the International Space Station. “What would you do with such a freezer in space? I decided to grow thin wafers of water ice for no more reason than I’m in space and I can.” The result was stunning pieces of icy art. “Science, or should I say Nature, has a way of presenting surprising beauty if one is willing to look,” says Pettit.

Water, Water, Everywhere?

NASA enters the age of ocean world exploration.

On October 14, 2024, NASA’s Europa Clipper launched from the Kennedy Space Center on a mission to explore one of Jupiter’s moons. When it arrives in 2030, the spacecraft will use its suite of nine science instruments to study Europa, including the vast ocean that lies deep beneath its icy surface. 

Europa’s ocean is more than a geological curiosity. The presence of liquid water is regarded by scientists as an essential precursor for life, since it is a universal solvent. As such, scientists are eager to study oceans on alien worlds and learn more about their origins and how common they are in our solar system and possibly beyond. 

For the 2025 Exploring Space Lecture Series, the National Air and Space Museum will explore this topic, kicking off in March with a discussion of Europa and other moons in the outer solar system—such as Saturn’s moon Enceladus—that have salty, subterranean oceans, as well as the current and future missions to explore them. Subsequent lectures through June will consider the origins of Earth’s oceans, explore the fate of oceans that once were on Mars, and question whether Earth’s twin, Venus, could have ever been cool enough to support liquid water.

Watch past Exploring Space lectures and register for upcoming lectures. 

The Exploring Space Lecture Series is sponsored by Aerojet Rocketdyne, an L3Harris Technologies company, and United Launch Alliance.

This article, originally titled “Return of the Flying Tank,” is from the Winter 2025 issue of Air & Space Quarterly, the National Air and Space Museum's signature magazine that explores topics in aviation and space, from the earliest moments of flight to today. Explore the full issue.

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