with the aim of reducing the technical risks
during the development and testing. To
achieve this, he opted to use manually
operated control surfaces: rudder and
elevators. The fuselage was conventional,
with a single-aisle, all-metal, semi-
monocoque structure with 12ft 31/2in (3.75m)
width, while the wings had sweptback of
32.5° at quarter chord, with extended chord
leading-edge on the outer two-thirds of
each wing. The wings were provided with a
removable leading edge and three-section
manually operated ailerons, electrically
actuated slotted aps and two hydraulically
actuated spoiler sections forward of aps.TESTING
The construction of the rst Il-62 prototype
was completed in 1962 and performed
its maiden ight, wearing the registration
CCCP-06156, on January 2, 1963 from
Ramenskoye air eld, the home of the Soviet
Ministry of Aviation Industry’s ight-test
centre and the ight-test departments of all
major design bureaux.
The rst prototype was powered by the
Lyulka AL-7PB turbojets (borrowed from
the Beriev Be-10 amphibian, each rated at
73.55kN [16,535lb st]) due to the delayed
development of the standard Kuznetsov
NK-8 engines. Vladimir Kokkinaki, Ilyushin’s
chief test pilot was the aircraft commander,
with ve more crew members on board. The
rst ight lasted 34 minutes.The second prototype, CCCP-06153,
took to the air on April 24, 1964, powered
by the Kuznetsov NK-8-2 turbojets rated at
93.20kN (20,938lb st) and accommodated in
new-shape nacelles while the basic airframe
design remained unchanged.
The test programme was hampered
by the crash of the rst prototype at
Ramenskoye on February 25, 1964. The
accident was due to a double engine failure
with the aircraft at maximum weight – it
couldn’t get up enough speed during its
take-off run and impacted the ground at the
end of the runway. Ten out of 17 people
on board were killed. At the time it was
considered that a failure of two NK-8-2
engines on take-off would not lead to a
critical situation, due to the trust provided by
the other two powerplants. This assumption
was clearly wrong and so further changes
were needed
The third prototype, CCCP-06176, was
own on July 28, 1965, and featured a
plethora of design changes such as new-
shape engine nacelles with a 3° incidence,
while the fuselage structure was lightened
together with improvements in the wings’
mechanisation and ight control system.
The third prototype was the example
used for the state testing programme carried
out between March and July 1967. The
operational trials carried out by Aero ot
started in August that year. This testing
by the airline saw the use of four aircraft- the two prototypes and a pair of pre-
series examples, wearing the registrations
CCCP-06170 and CCCP-06300. The design
con guration of the latter two was identical
to the third prototype. The public debut of
the new airliner was made at Domodedovo
airshow on July 9, 1967, while the entry
into regular operation was approved on
September 5 that year.
IN PRODUCTION
Known simply as the Il-62, the baseline
version went into production at the Kazan
plant, with the initial examples rolled out
in February 1966. The rst revenue ight
was made on September 8, 1967 between
Sheremetyevo Airport in Moscow and Alma-
Ata, the capital city of what was then the
Kazakh Soviet Socialist Republic and now
the independent state of Kazakhstan.
After the 13th series aircraft, the design
saw some changes such as the introduction
of an alternative current electrical
system, re ned wing design to improve
aerodynamics and larger emergency exits
to meet the International Civil Aviation
Organization (ICAO) requirements. The
improved NK-8-4 engines boasted an
increased rating of 103kN (23,150lb st) and
were housed in revised-shape nacelles; the
outboard powerplants were also provided
with thrust reversers. The rst aircraft built to
the new standard, CCCP-86673, took to the
air for the rst time in May 1968.http://www.aviation-news.co.uk 37Left: A Russian Air Force Il-62M TM-3SUR departing Chkalovsky Air Base. AirTeamImages.com/
Alexander Mishin
Above: The rst Il-62 prototype, CCCP-06156, wore Aero ot colours from the very beginning.
Viktor Bakursky archive
Below: LOT Polish Airlines Il-62 SP-LAB during a visit to Heathrow in January 1977.
AirTeamImages.com/Carl Ford36-41_jetliners_il-62DC.mfDC.mf.indd 37 03/05/2018 10:11