Ilyushin Il-46

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The Ilyushin Il-46 was a jet-engined bomber produced in the USSR during 1951-2, as the result of a directive to redesign the Il-42 project. The revised specification was for an aircraft with twice the range and 1 1/2 times the bomb load, with a prototype ready to be submitted for state acceptance trials in July 1952. The Ilyushin design bureau set about designing two versions of the same aircraft, the straight-wing (Il-46) and the swept-wing (Il-46S), with as much as possible common to both aircraft. To meet the schedule for state acceptance trials Ilyushin built only the straight-wing version, fearing that the design, manufacture and flying characteristics of the swept-wing aircraft might cause delays.