Il-2m3 "25" Mstitel

[KL]

Hi Misos,
Few years ago I posted this photo either on this forum or maybe on now non-existing Pilawskii's forum.    There is also a photo-montage with "Mstitel" flying in front of the same building.



The building still exists, it's known as Ullsteinhaus and it is located in Tempelhof (not center of Berlin).



Cheers,
KL   

[66misos]

Hi KL,
photos with Il-2 Mstitel remind me children game "Find 10 differences". Compare:

Photo #1:

- Mstitel has white dot bellow arrow/cockpit,
- Mstitel has white tip on the front of the main wheel gondola, while other planes do not have,
- all planes have white circle/dot on the tail, right from the star,
- all planes have antenna mast on the cockpit

Photo #2:

- white dot on the Mstitel bellow arrow/cockpit is missing,
- Mstitel has white tip on the front of the main wheel gondola, while other planes do not have,
- all planes have white circle/dot on the tail, right from the star,
- all planes have antenna mast on the cockpit

Photo #3:

- white dot on the Mstitel bellow arrow/cockpit is missing - Mstitel itself is added here via retouch, see its propeller,
- all planes seems to have white tip on the front of the main wheel gondola,
- all planes have white circle/dot on the tail, right from the star,
- antenna mast on the cockpit is missing on all planes,

Photo #4:

- Mstitel is missing,
- Il-2 on the foreground does not have white circle on the tail, right from the star (retouched),
- antenna mast on the cockpit is missing on all planes,

Well, trust them... 

Regards,
   66misos

[KL]

Hi Misos,
you should have included other photos from the series in your "Find 10 differences" game for a more complete conclusions.  Still the results of your post are interesting:

1.  the photo-correspondent (Redkin) routinely retouched his photos - most of the published photos are retouched!
2.  there was no consistency - various elements were deleted or added (including entire planes)

Both are easy to explain (or one helps to explain the other):  Redkin was a professional art photographer and he was taking photos for propaganda purposes (he was TASS photo-correspondent).  Retouch was also done for aesthetic and propaganda purposes.  Consider this case:



white dot was deleted to put accent on the red star, not to conceal regimental markings!  This exercise proves that there was no official ban on publishing regimental and tactical markings - surprising considering Soviets' obsession with secrecy.

Regards,
KL