Ilyushin Il-18 variant
Ilyushin Il-18 Il-18A
First production batch, nearly identical to the prototype except for the cabin layout, which raised capacity from 75 to 89 passengers. About twenty were built before production switched to the Il-18B.
- 20
- Units built
- 75
- Passengers
History
The Il-18A was the first version off the line at Plant No. 30 in Khodynka, Moscow, which through 1957 wound down Il-14 output to make room for the new four-engined airliner. Compared with the prototype only minor details changed: the work went into the passenger cabin, rearranged to seat 89 instead of the 75 originally planned.
Its weak point was the powerplant. Early aircraft carried Kuznetsov NK-4 turboprops, which proved troublesome; in July 1958 the Soviet Council of Ministers ruled that all production from that November would use the Ivchenko AI-20 and that aircraft already delivered would be re-engined. Only around twenty Il-18As were completed before the improved Il-18B took over. Several later served as testbeds: one became the Il-18LL flying laboratory for anti-icing trials and another, construction number 188000401, became the Il-18RTL, forerunner of the Il-20RT.