Soviet Tug-O-War ...

[Mark Allen M]

Any idea what these guys were up to? Looks strange ...

[ffuries]

Manually towing/moving an aircraft from out of the weeds.....?

[AG pilot]

Bungee cord starting?

[Dan K]

http://gobinkley.com/hostedpictures/bungee-starting.pdf

[mike furline]

[Chris Brame]

Always wondered why that wasn't the "plan B" in Flight of the Phoenix - guess it would have ruined the suspense...

[Stephan Wilkinson]

Why overcomplicate this? They are simply pulling the airplane out of the mud and weeds. As the old expression goes, when you hear hoofbeats, don't immediately think of zebras.

It's in fact part of Soviet aircraft operation: that odd hole in the middle of a MiG-15's intake splitter is a big grommet through which a rope can be passed, if necessary to tug the airplane with a team of oxen...or to pull it out of the mud and weeds.

[Jim MacDonald]

That's what some people in Maryland used to think until five Zebras went running by.

If they were simply pulling it out of the mud and weeds, why would they attach two ropes to a prop blade and not one rope to each of the landing gear?

Mac

[DaveM2]

Why overcomplicate this? They are simply pulling the airplane out of the mud and weeds. As the old expression goes, when you hear hoofbeats, don't immediately think of zebras.

It's in fact part of Soviet aircraft operation: that odd hole in the middle of a MiG-15's intake splitter is a big grommet through which a rope can be passed, if necessary to tug the airplane with a team of oxen...or to pull it out of the mud and weeds.

The hole in the spinner of the MiG-3 is for the hucks starter IIRC

[Mark Allen M]

I initially thought it was a starting sequence as well, but the fact it was being performed in tall grass / weeds and without a pilot or crew member in the cockpit made me think otherwise. Of course it’s the Russians and during wartime anything is possible.

[avenger2504]

Definitley "Hand" start of the engine.

[goaly]

Sure looks like they are bungee starting it to me. Unless they thought it would be a good idea to pull it out of the weeds sideways… By attaching the rope to a single blade of the propeller… And having two guys hold onto another blade of the prop to keep it from spinning.