Remotorized 1940s Ilyushin Il-18?

[Default Setting]

So the first Ilyushin airliner to receive the Il-18 name flew in 1946, but issues with the reliability and availability of its intended Shvetsov ASh-73TK led to the cancellation of the project in 1948. Another, different Il-18 would eventually fly a decade later and enjoy a successful civilian career.

Now when Khrushchev attended the July 1955 Geneva summit, he was reportedly mortified that Eisenhower's plane, a Super Constellation, was larger than his own twin-engined Il-14, and gave instructions for a long-range four-engine airliner to be developed as soon as possible. Because none existed, the solution was to convert the Tu-95 bomber, and the result was the Tu-114.

But what if, instead of scrapping the initial Il-18, Soviet authorities had simply put the project on the back burner until such time as a suitable engine was available, possibly upgrading the design in the meantime as aeronautical technology progressed, and dusted it off in time for Khrushchev's takeover? How would it have been motorized, and could it have been a satisfactory stopgap until the development of the next generation of airliners was completed?

[Tophe]

Would you change the number of engines (this is always fun) or just modify one type of engine into another one? (this is interesting realists mainly, not me)...

[sideshowbob9]

For a homegrown option, I can only think of the Dobrynin VD-3TK as an alternative, see: https://oldmachinepress.com/2015/05/28/dobrynin-m-250-vd-3tk-and-vd-4k-aircraft-engines/

For a bit of a left-field option, what if Rolls-Royce provides data on the Eagle as part of the Derwent/Nene sale to the Soviet Union in '47? That's a fair bit of extra power over the ASh-73. While we're on the subject of Wyvern powerplants, perhaps even a few Clydes could have been handed over?

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rolls-Royce_Eagle_(1944)
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rolls-Royce_Clyde

[PR19_Kit]

For a homegrown option, I can only think of the Dobrynin VD-3TK as an alternative, see: https://oldmachinepress.com/2015/05/28/dobrynin-m-250-vd-3tk-and-vd-4k-aircraft-engines/

That thing's getting to the same complexity level as the Napier Nomad I! 

[Default Setting]

Would you change the number of engines (this is always fun) or just modify one type of engine into another one? (this is interesting realists mainly, not me)...

I'm more interested in a realistic option, to be honest.

Now, if you want to have some fun, you can always imagine that fitting two extra engines on the Il-18 and developing a militarized version would result in that imaginary plane that Buck Danny thought was a Tupolev...

[Tophe]

Thanks for this piece of fun