10 Facts About Vladimir Ilyushin

Vladimir Sergeyevich Ilyushin was a Soviet general and test pilot, and the son of aerospace engineer Sergey Ilyushin.

Vladimir Ilyushin spent most of his career as a test pilot for the Sukhoi OKB.

In 1961, Vladimir Ilyushin was the subject of a conspiracy theory that he, rather than Yuri Gagarin, was the first cosmonaut in space.

Vladimir Ilyushin was a test pilot and lieutenant general in the Soviet Air Forces.

Vladimir Ilyushin demonstrated his outstanding piloting skills as a test pilot of the Sukhoi Su-24.

Vladimir Ilyushin flew a course so precisely that he caused a software crash in the aircraft instrumentation.

Vladimir Ilyushin died two days after Russia secured its place in the 2011 Rugby World Cup, the country's first appearance ever in that competition.

In February 2013, Vladimir Ilyushin was inducted into the IRB Hall of Fame, now known as the World Rugby Hall of Fame, during the pool allocation draw for the 2013 Rugby World Cup Sevens in Moscow.

Two days before Gagarin's launch on 12 April 1961, Dennis Ogden wrote in the Western Communist newspaper the Daily Worker that the Soviet Union's announcement that Vladimir Ilyushin had been involved in a serious car crash was really a cover story for a 7 April 1961 orbital spaceflight gone wrong.

The 1999 film The Cosmonaut Cover-Up takes the position that Vladimir Ilyushin was the first man in space and discusses the alleged cover-up in detail.