Nikitiii Shevcheiiko IS-2

Purpose: Improved version of IS-1 Design Bureau: OKB-30, chief designer V V Shevchenko

The initial funding allocated to Shevchenko’s project actually paid for two prototypes. Though construction of both began in parallel it was soon decided to incorporate improve­ments in the dubler (second aircraft). Desig­nated IS-2, and also known as the I-220t>/s, this emerged from GAZ No 156 in early 1941. Surviving documents differ. One account states that the IS-2 ‘was ready in January 1941…the War broke out and only four test flights were carried out.’ Three other ac­counts, in Russian, French and English, state that the aircraft was completed in April 1941 but had not flown when the Germans invad­ed. Shavrov is non-committal, but notes that all performance figures are estimates. The
walk-round outdoor photos were all taken with snow on the ground.

The IS-2 was a refined derivative of the IS-1. The engine was an M-88 14-cylinder radial rated at l,100hp, neatly installed in a long – chord cowl with a prominent oil-cooler duct underneath and driving a VISh-23 propeller with a large spinner, but retaining Hucks starter dogs. According to Podol’nyi, the fuse­lage cross-section was reduced (which is certainly correct) and, while wing spans re­mained the same, chord was reduced in order to increase aspect ratio and reduce area. Shavrov and a French author state that the wings of the IS-1 and IS-2 were geometri­cally identical. What certainly was altered was that the landing-gear retraction system was replaced by simply connecting the main legs to the wing linkage, so that a single cock­pit lever and a single pneumatic jack folded
the lower wings and the main landing gears in a single movement. It is widely believed that the IS-2 was not intended to fly in combat as a biplane, the benefits being restricted to take-off and landing. In the IS-1 documenta­tion the idea that the aircraft might be operat­ed as a biplane is never mentioned. Ifit were, then what was the point of the folding lower wing? Further modifications in the IS-2 were that the tail was redesigned, the tailwheel could retract and the two inboard ShKAS were replaced by heavy 12.7mm Beresin BS guns.

By the time this aircraft appeared, even though it looked more modern than its pre­decessor, the WS was fast re-equipping with simple monoplane fighters. These unques­tionably stood more chance against the Luft­waffe than the IS-2 would have done.