History: Ilyushin Il-76

The Ilyushin Il-76 known under the NATO reporting name Candid is a 4-engined, multi-purpose strategic airlifter designed by Ilyusin and built by Tashkent Aviation Production Association.

The plane was first planned as a commercial freighter back in 1967 to replace the aging An-12. It is able to lift and carry heavy machinery to remote, unpaved airfields. It can also be used as a refueling tanker or as an airborne command center.

In civilian use the Ilyushin Il-76 excels as a commercial freighter for outsized and special heavy items and also as an emergency response transport for disaster relief / humanitarian transport. Over the years several other versions were developed and produced. There is a water carrying version (for fire-fighting) and also an aircraft for zero-G training.

Development

Background

During the 1960's the Soviet Union needed a new heavy freighter to replace the aging Antonov An-12. In 1967 the Ilyushin design bureau was tasked to design a strategic airlifter able to carry a payload in excess of 40 tons (88,000 lb) over a range of more then 5,000 km (3,100 mi) in less then six hours. Also the freighter had to be able to operate in extreme conditions like the arctic weather in Siberia and northern Russia and had to be capable to land and take-off from short and unprepared airstrips.

Initially a double decked 250-passenger airliner was also intended but the project was cancelled.

The Ilyushin Il-76 first flew on 25 March 1971.

Production

The aircraft's production was allocated to the Tashkent Aviation Production Association in Tashkent, Uzbekistan. Back in that period Uzbekistan was a republic of the Soviet Union and as such was part of the production chain of the former communist bloc.

During the years around 860 basic variants were produced with some modernized larger variants (MF, TF) being introduced in the 1990's. However only a small quantity of these improved versions were manufactured due to the financial difficulties of the Russian Air Force during the last decade of the 20th century. One such improved version was the Ilyushin Il-76MF - this performed its maiden flight on 1 August 1995 but only a few years later production was halted due to lack of funds.

Other developments

Il-476 (Il-76-MD-90A)

Operational Service

Variants

Prototypes and experimental aircraft

Military variants

Civilian variants

Foreign variants

Operators

Accidents

Specifications

Further reading

Strategic airlift
Russian Air Force