Great work Indiajuliet!
Looking forward to see other operators done by You (except Poland
)!
And now something different.
Note that these Il-18's were actually recently redrawn by me.
One of the most succesful Soviet passenger aircraft, Ilyushin Il-18, was first flown in 1957, initially with (short-lived) sobriquet "Moskva". After a series of trials it was accepted for production as Il-18A, of which some 20 were made. Several of these were later converted into specialized versions including:
-Il-18LL - a flying laboratory for the icing/de-icing research, equipped with a mock "wing" section installed vertically on top of fuselage and a sprinkler installed in front of it for de-icing equipment tests;
-Il-18SL - avionics testbed for Berkut radar of the Il-38 (also an Il-18 derivative, see below).
Next production model was Il-18B, recognizable by new "puffier" nose and 4 pairs of windows in forward passenger cabin. It was produced in series of around 65, including Il-18S VIP version (later models also had VIP versions, but they didn't had separate designations).
Third version, Il-18V, was also the most produced, with 334 being made. It was a basis for a wide variety of specialized variants, including (among others):
-Il-18USh - prototype of the navigator trainer, formally not accepted for series production, though apparently several aircraft were converted to that standard for Aeroflot's use;
-Il-18RT - telemetry retranslation aircraft used for trials of missiles and unmanned air vehicles;
-SL-18V - avionics testbed, used initially for development of Tu-160 strategic bomber, and from late 1980s also for ASW equipment (gaining a MAD detector in tail);
-SL-18I - avionics testbed for radar equipment (including Il-38's Berkut as well as Myech SLAR).
Il-18E was an interim version created due to delays in Il-18D's design, with only around 23 made, with around third of them in VIP version.
Additionaly, one of them was converted into meteorological research aircraft dubbed "Meteor".
Il-18D was an ultimate model of Il-18, upgraded for long-range flights and with higher passenger capacity. Among it's specialized variants were:
-Il-18 Retranslator - for government communications;
-Il-18DORR (
Dalny Okeansky Razvedchik Ryby - Long-Ranged Oceanic Fisheries Reconnaissance) - for support of Soviet fishing fleet;
-Il-18D Tsiklon - meteorological research aircraft.
Also some Il-18's were in later stages of their service life converted to cargo versions (usually dubbed Il-18Gr), and there was also a prototype of Il-18T transport version.
Some derivatives of Il-18 received separate designations.
Il-24 (Il-24N) was an ice reconnaissance aircraft with SLAR radar for use on the Soviet Union's far North.
Il-20 was a designation of two, quite different aircraft:
-Il-20M - a military ELINT version;
-Il-20RT - (prototype was designated Il-18SIP or Il-18RTL) a telemetry communications relay aircraft used in Soviet space programme.
Il-22 was (and still is) an airborne command post, designed by Myasishchev bureau and made in two versions: Il-22 Bizon (initial) and Il-22M Zebra.
Il-38, despite high designation number, was one of the earliest Il-18 derivatives, serving as an equivalent of Lockheed P-3 Orion in Soviet/Russian and Indian navies.