With jet technology rapidly progressing in the post war period, jet bombers were becoming increasingly more popular and viable. One of these early models came from the Soviet Union in the form of the Ilyushin Il-28, and given the NATO reporting name "Beagle," and over 6,600 of the all types were produced, and an additional 319 were made in China as the Harbin H-5.

Basic variants consisted of a crew of 3, a pilot, navigator/bombardier, situated in the glazed nose compartment, and gunner, situated at the tail. The aircraft was very popular, being exported and/or produced in more than 20 nations and used on the front line as late as the 1980s, though most nations had retired the aircraft to second line duties by the 1960s. Interestingly, though perhaps unsurprisingly, the aircraft is still in use in North Korea alongside the MiG-15.