The legendary "Ilya Muromets". The first heavy bomber

The aircraft denied the myth of the "technical lag of Russia". This aircraft industry committed a real revolution in military affairs - before its appearance, experts believed that the combat use of aviation would be limited to air intelligence, and the role of bombing was assigned to the airships of the “ceremonies”. "Ilya Muromets" became the first multi -engine bomber in the world - the Germans managed to create something similar only two years later, and our allies in the Entente - only at the end of the war. A huge aircraft (the mechanics in flight right on the wing reached the engines, and on one of the photos they simply stand on the fuselage, as if on the deck of the walking steamer), the Muromets justified his heroic name, and during the First World War, rising to the defense of the fatherland. The air ships reduced to the squadron, these aircraft solved important tasks of intelligence and bombing, being formidable opponents not only for the ground forces, but also for enemy pilots, during the combat operations of the Russian bombers, more than a dozen enemy aircraft, while their own combat military aircraft, while their own military The losses throughout the war were only four "Muromets".
This book of the leading historian of the Patriotic Aviation of the First World War is, of course, the best study of the history of the creation, improvement and combat use of the legendary aircraft. The publication is richly illustrated by hundreds of archival drawings and photographs