Su-6 (AM-42)

Description

The Su-6 was a project by Sukhoi with the objective of creating an attack aircraft capable of surpassing the Il-2. The Su-6 AM-42 was the name given to its last version. Compared to previous prototypes, it featured the same rear gunner as the third prototype, Su-6 (M-71F), but now with a liquid-cooled inline engine instead of a radial engine, the Mikulin AM-42. While this engine was less powerful than the M-71F, it proved to be more reliable. The Su-6 AM-42 was tested against the Il-10 in 1944, but the tests favoured the design from Ilyushin and the Su-6 never went into serial production.

It was introduced in Update 1.71 "New E.R.A.". The Su-6 is a ground attack aircraft made with a bit of the IL-2 mindset, but with some improvements regarding manoeuvrability and speed, while lacking protection. Despite the improvements, it is still not recommended to go for enemy planes as, unless it is a head-on, you will lose energy quickly and perish. The gunner can help deal with some opponents that stick to your tail, but with only 24° of horizontal guidance, it won't be able to help in most cases. The armour is good at the back, but it won't stop much more than a 12.7 mm bullet. Everything is compensated by the wide array of payload options, even allowing you to change the 37 mm NS-37 cannons for weaker but higher capacity and easier to aim 23 mm VYa-23 cannons, which can still take out pillboxes and light tanks.

General info

Flight performance

Details

Survivability and armour

• 4 mm steel surrounding the engine
• 4 mm steel on both sides of gunner
• 6 mm steel behind propeller spinner
• 4 mm steel behind wing oil cooling systems
• 4 mm steel beneath engine, fuel tank, and gunner
• 2 mm steel on both sides of fuel tank
• 6 mm steel on both sides of pilot
• 4 mm steel on both sides of gunner
• 6 mm steel directly in front of windshield
• 4 mm steel above windshield
• 12 mm steel between pilot and gunner
• 8 to 12 mm steel in front of gunner*
• 12 mm steel in front of gunner*
• 55 mm (55°) and 50 mm (24°) bulletproof glass in front of pilot (centre/sides)
• 60 mm (35°) bulletproof glass in front of gunner*
• Self-sealing fuel tank with neutral gas pressurization system underneath pilot

* (Note: the gunner is rear-facing)

Modifications and economy

Armaments

Offensive armament

The Su-6 (AM-42) is armed with:

• 2 x 7.62 mm ShKAS machine guns, wing-mounted (750 rpg = 1,500 total)

Suspended armament

The Su-6 (AM-42) can be outfitted with the following ordnance:

	1	2	3	4	5	6	7
23 mm VYa-23 cannons (120 rpg)			1		1
37 mm NS-37 cannons (45 rpg)			1*		1*
25 kg AO-25M-1 bombs				16
50 kg FAB-50sv bombs		1		4		1
100 kg FAB-100sv bombs		1*		4		1*
250 kg FAB-250sv bombs		1*				1*
M-8 rockets	5						5
M-13UK rockets	5						5
RBS-82 rockets	5						5
RBS-132 rockets	5						5
Maximum permissible loadout weight: 670 kg Maximum permissible wing load: 335 kg Maximum permissible weight imbalance: 280 kg
* When equipping 2 x 37 mm NS-37 cannons on hardpoints 3/5, it is not possible to carry 100 kg FAB-100sv bombs and 250 kg FAB-250sv bombs on hardpoints 2/6, respectively.

Defensive armament

The Su-6 (AM-42) is defended by:

• 1 x 12.7 mm Berezin UB machine gun, dorsal turret (196 rpg)

Usage in battles

The Su-6, like the previous Ilyushin attackers, is a tough aircraft that excels at taking out enemy ground targets. The Su-6 comes equipped with two 37 mm cannons as standard armament, which can be swapped out for 23 mm cannons. With the 37 mm cannons, the aircraft can take out most ground targets with ease: even heavy tanks don't stand a chance with well-aimed shots to the sides or rear. As they rapidly lose accuracy in full-auto fire, controlled semi-auto fire is required to make the most out of the 37 mm cannons. It may be easier to take out most ground targets with the 23 mm cannons (given they're far more accurate than the 37 mm cannons in full-auto). With either choice of cannon armament, the Su-6 can even be a lethal foe for enemy attackers who aren't too careful, though the 23 mm cannons are better suited to anti-air attacks compared to the 37 mm. Apart from the higher BR and different cannon options compared to previous Soviet attackers, the Su-6 plays much like the Il-2s that precede it.

Manual Engine Control

Pros and cons

Pros:

• Well armoured
• Powerful, multi-purpose cannons to attack ground and air targets
• Good short term manoeuvrability at moderate speeds
• Gunner & pilot are very well protected
• Good payload options, including 10 x RS/RBS-132 rockets

Cons:

• Rear gunner has restrictive firing angles
• Defensive armament doesn't keep up with the offensive armament of opposing aircraft
• Bad sustained turn rate
• Bad climb-rate compared to fighters
• Uncontrollable at high speeds and bad redline speeds
• Engine overheats easily

History

Describe the history of the creation and combat usage of the aircraft in more detail than in the introduction. If the historical reference turns out to be too long, take it to a separate article, taking a link to the article about the vehicle and adding a block "/History" (example: https://wiki.warthunder.com/(Vehicle-name)/History) and add a link to it here using the main template. Be sure to reference text and sources by using <ref></ref>, as well as adding them at the end of the article with <references />. This section may also include the vehicle's dev blog entry (if applicable) and the in-game encyclopedia description (under === In-game description ===, also if applicable).

Media

Skins

• Skins and camouflages for the Su-6 (AM-42) from live.warthunder.com.

Videos

See also

Links to the articles on the War Thunder Wiki that you think will be useful for the reader, for example:

• reference to the series of the aircraft;
• links to approximate analogues of other nations and research trees.

External links

• Official data sheet - more details about the performance