Warbird Information Exchange

Via my Russian connections on Facebook, we now have two Il-2's flying in the world!

Still awaiting video/photos from the test flight, but here it is, completed, prior to takeoff:



According to those involved, the aircraft is painted in its original markings, as it was when last flown by pilot Valentin Skopintsev and gunner Vladimir Humenniy. It was forced down following action with Luftwaffe fighters in November 1943, with the aircraft belly-landing on the frozen Lake Krivoye. The original pilot, Skopintsev, died in 1996, but members of his family, who originally initiated the search for the aircraft, were on hand to watch the aircraft recovered from the lake in 2012 (and may certainly have been present now to see it fly). Note that, while the FHCAM Il-2 operates with a left-turning Allison, to mimic the direction of rotation of the original Mikulin engine, this second Il-2 operates with a conventional right-turning Allison (looking from the pilot's perspective).

That is a wonderful achievement! Great looking restoration.

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Share your story: Rutgers Oral History Archive http://oralhistory.rutgers.edu/

Absolutely fantastic news! Thank you so much John and John's contact!

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Zac in NZ
#avgeek, modelbuilder, photographer, writer. Callsign: "HANDBAG".
https://linktr.ee/zacyates

"It's his plane, he spent the money to restore it, he can do with it what he wants. I will never understand what's hard to comprehend about this." - kalamazookid, 20/08/2013
"The more time you spend around warbirds the sooner you learn nothing, is simple." - JohnB, 24/02/22

The aircraft is scheduled to be displayed at some events in Russia this summer, including flying at the MAKS-2017 airshow in July.

What is that apparatus on the right wing root?

Pilots helmet hanging on gun barrel.

C2j

It is an air filter, introduced around the summer of 1942 and onward, to block dust/dirt from entering the carburetor intake in the wing leading edge - fairly darn similar to the "tropical" filters the Germans had on some of their Bf-109F's and G's, with cupped doors that can be opened/closed at the front of the unit.

Encyclopedia Terrell

Awesome, another rare type returned to the skies!

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He bowls overhand...He is the most interesting man in the world.
"In Peace Japan Breeds War", Eckstein, Harper and Bros., 3rd ed. 1943(1927, 1928,1942)
"Leave it to ol' Slim. I got ideas...and they're all vile, baby." South Dakota Slim
"Ahh..."The Deuce", 28,000 pounds of motherly love." quote from some Mojave Grunt
DBF

I've wondered about that after seeing some detailed photos of a MiG-3 under restoration. It may not have been photos of the FHC aircraft, but if the details are consistant of other -3's, or if they were the FHC bird, it may have something to do with it. The steel tubing of the center section had some very mud-daubery welds. They were most apparent before the outer skin was applied, but some were visible looking down into the cockpit in the seat area. This is not a comment on Boris' restoration team, but on wartime workmanship irregularities....making a case for re-manufacture rather than originality of aircraft returning to flight. If Yagen's bird has those type of welds, they may be choosing caution as their guide? If ya'll ever get close enough to that bird to check it out it'd be interesting to hear what you find.

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He bowls overhand...He is the most interesting man in the world.
"In Peace Japan Breeds War", Eckstein, Harper and Bros., 3rd ed. 1943(1927, 1928,1942)
"Leave it to ol' Slim. I got ideas...and they're all vile, baby." South Dakota Slim
"Ahh..."The Deuce", 28,000 pounds of motherly love." quote from some Mojave Grunt
DBF

Small bit of my recovery article.

This aircraft belonged to the 46th Shtourmovoi Aviatsionny Polk (46thShAP Shturmovik Assault Regiment) who were the only Soviet Navy unit to operate the Il-2 in the Arctic North. The 46thShAP were formed in the Black Sea area in 1942 flying the UTI-16 as a night bomber and saw little action before being re-equipped with the Il-2 and transferred to the Arctic Circle in the spring of 1943. In the spring of 1943, Il-2, 1872452 was completed at Zavod 18 at Kuibyshev (now Samara) and was part of a small batch (thought to be around 3300 examples!) of Il-2s that had the original straight wing with 5% sweep and with the outer sections manufactured in duralumin. Later examples, as with the Il-2 at the Flying Heritage Collection have a 15 degree swept wing and this later model is often referred to as the ‘Arrow’. The construction number 1872452 can be broken down as 18 (factory), 7 (model), 24 (aircraft number) and 52 (series number). Therefore this Il-2 was constructed at factory 18, model 7 (attack Il-2) and the 24th aircraft of the 52nd series. This example was fitted with an upgraded Mikulin AM-38F engine and armed with a 7.62mm ShKAS machine gun in the wing root alongside a Volkov-Yartsev VYa 23mm cannon, both one per wing. The gunner had a 12.7mm Berezin UBT machine gun. The internal and external weapon stores were a combination of 400kg of bombs, eight RS-82 rockets or four RS-132 rockets. Camouflage was still black/green but in the newer colours of AMT-4 Green, AMT-6 black and AMT-7 light blue. Red stars with white outline followed by a thinner red one were located on the fuselage, fin and under wing surfaces only. It is unclear when this Il-2 was issued to 46thShAP. It could have been when the unit was transferred to the far north or as a replacement. Little is known of its service except that it did carry a number of repair patches and was marked up as ‘red 19’. What is known is the date of its loss, Thursday 25th November 1943 that was to become a black day for 46thShAP as well as for other Soviet units based in the Arctic Circle at that time.

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'Coups De Foudre'
(511FS, 405FG watering hole), St Dizier, France 1944/45

double - deleted

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'Coups De Foudre'
(511FS, 405FG watering hole), St Dizier, France 1944/45

Thank you Mark for your very detailed information about the history and recovery of this aircraft! (I've always greatly enjoyed reading your reports/articles.) When comparing photos of the two flying Il-2's, the difference in wing design/sweep is very evident!

First off, this is an astonishing achievement... recovered from the bottom of a lake in 2012 (and I well remember the photos of the aircraft being lifted!), and back in the skies a mere five years later? By modern standards, where some restorations have gone on for over a decade, that's blazing fast, particularly considering what they started with.

Second, it looks absolutely fantastic- I am thrilled to see another Sturmovik back in the air, it is an incredibly important type and having one with a clearly identified wartime history like this is just wonderful.

And third, Mark, thank you for the detailed explanation on the serial breakdown... that's the first time I've ever seen anyone make any sense out of the seemingly random serials of these aircraft, and I genuinely appreciate all you do to shine a light on such esoteric information.

So I wonder when Jerry is going to get an Il-2 for the MAM?

Lynn

Great to have another one flying!

I'd never noticed before how much the Il-2's main landing gear resembles that of the Beech 18 series.

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Dean Hemphill, K5DH
Port Charlotte, Florida