Bf109

Paul

Likewise – bit on 1983.

24.01.42
5./JG5 Bf109 E 1983 ‘Rote ?’ Titowka 100%
Emergency landing Jagerbeschuss. No personal injury

First loss for 5./JG77 in Northern Russia.

Been trying to ID the pilot and number.

Very similar to 3523 now in Chino.

Seen a photo or two of her in the tundra – somewhere.

Though I am not saying that the one in the photo is 1983!:)

Mark

Who’s this Andy – 1979?

http://news.bbc.co.uk/local/kent/hi/front_page/newsid_9020000/9020481.stm

Bit more

http://www.raf.mod.uk/news/archive.cfm?storyid=F07DE30A-5056-A318-A88198C4C5F55935

A year later

Tim

I was thinking last night it would be nice for one Hurricane in the UK – or even the IIB with the BBMF to be painted in the colours of a Hurricane of 81/134 Sqn, 15 Wing.

Next year is the 70th Anniverary of that little episode as well and would be nice to see a RAF/Russian number combination.

Have a great day. Weather should be lovely.

regards

Mark

P47

started to sound like an interesting story – upto the pilot where the pilot ‘ejected’ from his P47.

Il-2 article from 1993!!

Jeepman

Correct – published in WW and now on display in Kirkenes? Though I was wrong with he date – 1993!! Found my text.

Also in the text – envisaged life of 10 hours!!!!!

regards

Mark

RECOVERY IN NORWAY OF A IL2 STURMOVIK.

The Discovery and Recovery.
The discovery and recovery of any aircraft can come about in the most mysterious of ways. Like the Loch Ness Wellington, which was found during the search for the ‘Loch Ness Monster’, this IL2 was discovered in a similar way during a fishing trip.
In the summer of 1984 three Norwegian friends were fishing on Lake Sennegress in Finnmark, at the most North Easterly point of the beautiful country of Norway, fishing for spoon bait. Whilst fishing in clear shallow water, they spotted below the surface, the remains of an aircraft wreck on the bottom, and what is more, the aircraft seemed to be remarkably whole and complete.
On returning home, they reported their discovery to a group of aircraft enthusiasts at Sør-Varanger, a military base. It was here that the idea of recovering the aircraft was formed and to get it restored to flying condition. The first thing was to establish what type of aircraft it was, and this was done during one of the later visits to the lake. It turned out to be an Ilyushin Il2 Sturmovik ground attack aircraft, operated by the Russians in great numbers during WWII.
After much planning, the aircraft recovery began during the long northern summer of 1988. The team was headed by Terje Danielsen and Major Nils Olsen from Sør-Varanger. Using inflatable pontoons, the team recovered the aircraft from the lake bottom and brought it ashore. The recovery went well; with the aircraft being raised in two pieces. The first half consisted of the wings, forward fuselage and engine in one piece and the second being the rear fuselage which had unfortunately broken away during the lifting.
The rear fuselage had separated from the main body because it had lost its structural integrity due to the plywood skinning on the aluminium and wooden frames, which had rotted. The fracture occurred because the remaining frames could not sustained the weight of the tail.
Besides the separation, the aircraft was remarkably complete and in excellent condition. Even the plywood skins on the wings, although sodden and partly rotten, were in a very good condition considering the length of time underwater.
When the aircraft was back to shore, the extent of preservation could at last be seen. Due mainly to the extreme cold water and the silt that had deposited on the aircraft, the airframe was incredibly uncorroded.
Once ashore, the team managed to get the help of a military helicopter, which transported the two sections to Sør-Varanger, near Kirkenes, a distance of approximately 60 miles (100km). After actually getting it there, they had to decide the next course of action. The original idea was to restore the undamaged but waterlogged airframe back to flying standard, which would involve a large amount of time, money and expertise. One of the main problems was that the aircraft was Soviet and information that Western Countries could obtain about it was thought to be limited. As this information at the time was practically non existent and parts were scarce, it was impossible to start the rebuild without some information. Due to this, it was decided an approach to the Russian Authorities was necessary. Here the team received a lot of help. Not only were the authorities going to help the project, but they offered to rebuild the airframe free of charge. The decision was made to rebuild the engine in Norway, and the airframe would be sent across the border to Russia. So in December of 1988 the airframe was transported through the Storskog Checkpoint and on to Revda, 120miles (200 km) SE of Murmansk. The airframe arrived at the factory, which had, in fact, just completed another restoration, that of a Lend lease Hawker Hurricane IIc. This had been restored and dedicated in Revda as a memorial to Allied co-operation during WWII. (To be featured in a forthcoming edition of WW).
The airframe was then taken to the Lovozero Mining Factory and the manager Igor Musatov was there to see it arrive. It was he and the company that were ordered to undertake the rebuild. The restoration programme was non-commercial and the team members were only paid the usual factory wages, and so the restoration began in the spring of 1989.

The Examination and Restoration.
During the examination, it could be seen that the aircraft was at least a post 1942 model as it had a rear gunners position. The original early models were only single seaters with no rear gunner and carried 23mm cannons. This model also carried heavy 37mm cannons, which were also carried on later models.
During the examination of the cockpit, the work number, 3560 was discovered painted on the instrument panel. This main panel consisted of six basic instruments and was extremely sparse compared to Allied and Axis aircraft of this time. From this evidence it can be seen that the Soviets during WWII went for simplicity during the manufacture of their aircraft, relying instead on the vast quantities produced, rather than the detail. As the average life of each aircraft was around 10 hours there was no need for the complications or extra ‘luxury’ parts. The instruments on this main panel consisted of the fuel guage, magnetic compass, rate of climb/decent, and the second row, altimeter, turning slip and artificial horizon, all of which were in a remarkable condition.
The engine, which was being restored in Norway, on examination, was found to be undamaged and uncorroded. It was a Mikulin AM-38F 12 Cylinder Vee of 1720 hp which was unsupercharged. The ejector stacks had only superficial rust damage and the engine was also equipped with a Hucks type starter dog to the spinner.
The fuselage and engine covers were heavily armoured, which to the Luftwaffe, made the Il2 one of the most difficult to shoot down. There was 13mm of armour protection for the gunner and the same for the pilot’s backplate. The canopy side panels were 8mm and the front windscreen 55mm thick. The engine cowling armour was 6mm, as were the cockpit side panels. This was enough to protect it against machine gun fire, and so in order to bring it down, either you had to be an exception shot at the cockpit or cannons generally had to be used.
The Il2 Sturmovik had been partly disassembled for transportation to Revda, with the outer wings being removed from the mid fuselage wing section, just outside the undercarriage fairing bay. When the centre fuselage was removed from the lorry, it was decided to lower the undercarriage to support it temporarily. At this point it was noticed the alloy undercarriage legs were slightly corroded and twisted and would need replacing, however the low pressure tyres were still inflated.
During the dismantling and examination, it was noted that the aircraft had suffered flak damage to the underside. There were a number of small jagged holed to the underside, holes to the wings and a damaged filter intake to the wing root on the starboard side. There was also damage to the tailplane spar and also to the intermediate frame zones and probably helping to cause the break in the fuselage during recovery. Besides the damage found, what actually caused the loss of the aircraft cannot as yet be confirmed.
The upper fuselage and wings had no camouflage markings remaining, but looking at the rear fuselage and underside it was evident that the aircraft had carried Green-Grey and Brown camouflage to the top sides and light blue to the underside which was common to Russian aircraft at this time.
Found in places on the aircraft was evidence of the Soviet red stars. These were found on the underside of the wings and on the tail fin and rudder, overlapping both. Although there was no evidence of stars on the fuselage because of the plywood rotting, it was common that they were applied in this position with an unit number on the fin. Otherwise the star on the fuselage was deleted and only a Cyrilic number was applied. Red stars were usually not applied to the top surface of the wings except on British and American Lend-lease aircraft.
It was nice to discover that on the port side of the fuselage under the canopy, were the remains of six red stars indicating that the usual pilot of the plane was an ‘ace’, with more than five ‘kills’. Whereas the Allied pilots painted crosses or swastika’s to represent their ‘kills’, the Soviets usually opted to add red stars symbols instead.
They had also hoped for an exciting find when the gun camera was discovered. It was in such a complete condition that they sent it away, hoping to see if the film could be developed. Unfortunately this was not to be as the water had, over the years, penetrated the case and rotted the film within, which was a shame, but not entirely unexpected.
Many other items also survived the 40 years of submersion, including the delicate VV-1 external front site for the pilot, the pitot tube to the starboard wing tip and many other small internal items. This was thankfully due to the remoteness of the lake, so no fishing nets or anchors to cause damage.
This Il2 was one of the more unusual variants, classed as a 1102 Type 3M as it carried two 37mm Nudelman-Suranov NS-11-P-37 (NSK-OKB-16). These weapons were used against heavily armoured vehicles and troop concentrations. These weapons were fitted in replace of the usual two 23mm Volkov-Yartsev VYa-23 cannons and two Shpital’ny Komaritsky ShKAS 7.62 mm machine guns. The radio operator still had a 12.7mm Berezin UBT machine gun, all the armament was slightly corroded, but otherwise in an excellent condition.

The Restoration.
Once the aircraft was taken to Revda the restoration began. The aircraft had to be dismantled to remove the silt and other debris and also to treat it all for corrosion. The items that were in good condition were cleaned and were basically ready for re-assembling. It is not known to what extent the restoration was undertaken and to what standard anti-corrosion treatment was used. The main steel parts that had been exposed in the water, had corroded, with the worse being the armoured seats and so it was hoped that these items could be replaced.
The first area to near completion was the fuselage. They had rejoined to the front and rear sections and were starting to replace the intermediate timber frames and plywood skinning.
It was during this time that disaster nearly struck. One of the garages storing many of the large sections caught fire. Luckily the outer wings, three bladed AV-57-158 propeller, canopy and armament were all removed in time. The biggest loss was some new replacement wooden sections, although luckily these were quite easy to replace.
After the fire the restoration began again, with help coming from other museums and restoration groups. Monino Air Force Museum near Moscow, donated new armoured seats and undercarriage legs, as well as new instruments for the cockpit panel.
The Northern Soviet Navy Museum at Safonovo were also a great help, supplying a new 55mm armoured windscreen and some smaller internal parts that were required.
The Montchegorsk ‘Severonikel’ plant also helped by supplying a large quantity of good quality plywood and carpenters to help with the skinning of the fuselage and wing panels. Two Soviet Air Force Regiments in the area supplied fitters when there was time.
The Revda part of the rebuild was completed at the end of October 1989, after only 10 months restoration during which time Revda being in the Arctic Circle had experienced four months of total darkness during the winter months.
The Il2 Sturmovik was then ready to hand over to the Norwegian Authorities who were getting ready to celebrate the 45th Anniversary of the Liberation of the Soviet and Norwegian Polar lands, which occurred at the end of October 1944. The aircraft was loaded up ready for transporting back to Kirkenes, ironically, on the day 45 years after the aircraft had been reported lost.
Here the restoration was completed and the finished aircraft is now on display at the Sør-Varanger Museum at Kirkenes, which during WWII was a major German Airbase and from which it is thought Jim Pearces Bf110 (See WW22) operated from.

The Il2 Sturmovik 3560 History and Loss.
The Il2 has the record of being the most widely built aircraft ever produced; 36,136 were built between the beginning of June 1941, when large scale production was implemented and until production switched to the Il10 in August 1944. With such phenomenal numbers; 2,300 being built in each of the 8 months of 1944, it is staggering that there are only 8 restored examples that survive in Museums today (although there are a number of other wrecked airframes in the Far North of Russia).
It is even harder to comprehend that the British answer to the need for a low level daytime bomber, the Fairy Battle and the Russian answer for ground attack aircraft, the Il2, were both designed under similar specifications. However the Fairy Battle was shot down in droves at the beginning of WWII and withdrawn from front line service, the Sturmovik went on to sustained the lowest casualty percentage of any Soviet aircraft during WWII. The difference between the two aircraft was that the Fairy Battle was lightly armoured whereas the Il2 Sturmovik was and is often referred to as a flying tank, with the Il2-M3, this model, carrying over 950kg (2094 Ibs) of armour.
Originally the aircraft was designed as a single seater but loses were severe at the beginning. It was totally impractical to add further armour to protect it from the rear, so something else had to be devised. In fact the front line units flying the Il2 were taking this problem seriously and solved it by fitting a rear gunner in the cockpit, usually a ground crew member! This came back to the Ilyushin, and with Stalin’s reluctance to sanction any further modifications, it was surprising any changes occurred at all. Eventually prototypes were built in March 1942, with the gunners position being fitted, armed with a 12.7mm Berezin machine gun. This model was sanctioned and received the designation Ilyushin Sturmovik Il2-M3.
Besides the heavy armament carried, the M3 could also carry 6 No 100kg (220Ibs) bombs, of which four are carried internally. Other possible armament sometimes carried, were 4 No RS-82 rocket projectiles, two under each wing.
The 37mm cannons and high velocity ammunition carried by this aircraft was developed to counteract the armour of the newer German armour types, principally the Panther and Tiger tanks, and was able to penetrate all armour except for a frontal attack. (In fact these weapons were so successful that they are still carried by some of the older Russia aircraft today, in the Sukoi Su-7 attack aircraft).

Ilyushin Il2 M3M, No 303560.
This Il2 was one of thousands produced at Plant No24 near Voronezh (Southern Russia), which was one of the three main plants manufacturing the Il2 and the only one not to be evacuated during the German advances of 1941. Aircraft 3560 also had an extremely long service career of 18 months, which were more than the 10 hours originally envisaged.
Originally the restoration team contacted Ilyushin at this factory, which today produces the Il76 and Il86 airliners; unfortunately they could not help very much, but they did manage to identify the plate and gave information about when it was tested and the test pilot.
Il2-M3, 3560 left the production line on 23rd April 1943. It was test flown by Semjon Remyzov of No24 Plant, twice on 2nd May 1943 and once more on 2nd June 1943, before being handed over to the Red Army Air Fleet. It was then issued to the 214 Storm Regiment of the Karelian Front of the Red Army Air Force. Its first base was in Kandalaksha and it operated over Alukurti against the Finnish troops who were at ‘war’ with the Soviets at the time. In June of 1944 the unit moved onto the Vaenga airfield near the Soviet Poljarnoe Naval Base in the Kola Peninsula.
There were two regiments operating the Il2 in this area, with a total of 85 aircraft available. These regiments were the 214 and 72 Storm Regiments of the Soviet Air Force, and were used to attack the retreating German army, German airfields, as well as attacking Finnish targets. In September of 1944 Finland met with the Soviets to arrange a ceasefire, and this was finally agreed in October 1944 . After this operations continued solely against the German army who were being forced back from Russia and Finland towards the Norwegian border.
The aircraft belonged to Capt Alexander Tchechulin, who was a very experienced pilot and his radio operator-gunner Sgt Nikolaj Maksimenko. On the 22nd October 1944 they took off to attack German troop movements near the Petchenga-Kirkenes roads. It was whilst attacking the troops and vehicles that they were hit by light AA flak. Tchechulin was losing control and height and ordered Maksimenko to parachute to safety. This he duly attempted but his parachute got caught around the fuselage and tail and he was unfortunately killed. Still loosing height Tchechulin decided to stay with his aircraft and seeing a frozen lake below opted for an emergency landing. The aircraft made a typical wheels up landing on ice, sustaining only a little damage. The pilot was wounded however, receiving small splinter wounds from the Flak hits that they had just taken. He also got extremely wet and cold leaving the aircraft in a hurry as the heavy aircraft started cracking the ice, letting the water through. He traveled a few hours across the lake and through dense forest before reaching a Soviet Army Unit. After the Liberation of Finnmark at the end of October 1944, 214 and 72 Regiments continued to pursue the retreating German armies. The units moved to the II Belorussian Front and ended the war in Germany. The pilot Capt Tchechulin survived the war and was heavily decorated and lives today in the Ukraine.
Mark Sheppard WW and Igor Eframov.