Many photos of downed Il-2s show some planes having unusual characteristics in common:
-camo improved by mottling with at least one lighter color, possibly light brown AMT-1 or similar;
-wooden rear fuselage reinforced with external stiffeners that appear unpainted, or painted with a different color of the background;
-a white oblique band on the tail, or remains of a white oblique band obliterated with paint:
- a red (?) number with white outline on the tail.
Although the place and date of these photos of German origin are unknown, we cannote the resemblance of those planes to ?Za Otradnova? (?For Otradnov?), ?yellow 3? Pilot A.V.Chuvikov,
of 606 ShAP of 214 ShAD.
Thanks to Aleksandr Ruchkosky for photos and informations
The rear fuselage is clearly mottled with light (brown?) paint, but highlighting the tail, we can see that appears mottled with a color that is darker than that of the fuselage mottles, but slightly lighter than the green. a band of such color appears overposed to the previous green/black camo on the right wingroot. Being very similar in darkness to the previous green, to obtain a camo effect it has to be different in hue, and this suggests the use of a darker brown, possibly AMT-1 mixed with some black or green.
On the left side of the tail we see a sort of triangle that could be a remain of an obliterated white oblique band; on the right side of the tail, only a small rectangle of such light color is visible, it seems to have been masked by the presence of a lock for the rudder when the tail was repainted.
The type of wing is uncertain: the remains of green/black camo seem to suggest the style of Z.18, and the damage of the bended tip suggests a metallic wing; on the other hand we don't see the balances at the wingtips, but they could have been broken during the crash landing.
The shape of the ammo hatches suggest the wing of late 1941 equipped with VYa-23 guns, but the typical fairing on the leading edge is not visible; it could have been lost during the crash, or maybe the plane was armed with 20 mm ShVAK although in the wing tipically used for the other weapon.
Any comments?
Jason, this drawing must replace one that I had already sent long ago. I'll send it in higher resolution as soon as I read the comments and eventual corrections.
Regards
Massimo