A note on the wings of a an Il-2M

[Massimo Tessitori]

Hi,
I received this from Istvan Vadasz

Look at this interesting thing.

One of my club mate called my attention that the wood part of the IL-2 which was taken out from the lake Balaton starts after the 23 mm arm and not from the centroplan part .

This wreck is now standing in Szolnok in the aircraft Museum.

 

http://www.repulomuzeum.hu/Leltar/Leltarfotok/IL-2.htm

The photo report of the wreck in the museum is excellent, and shows clearly that the part of the wing with the bays for the armament is metallic, while the part outside and behind it  (absent on this wreck) was wooden. For what I remember, this is not the way how the scale drawings, in general, show the division between metallic and wooden part of the wings.

Regards
Massimo

[John Thompson]

Oh, Jason - come in, Jason - do you copy?  

John


Link to REPÜLŐMÚZEUM  SZOLNOK Archive entry for Il-2 showing images of the recovery activities:

http://www.repulomuzeum.hu/ARCHFOTO/IL-2/IL-2.htm

[learstang]

This one is an odd one. I've noticed the apparently non-standard covering and how the metal extends further out than it normally did on 'wooden'-winged Il-2s. To be honest, I don't know what to make of this aircraft. It's possible that some (a few) late straight-winged two-seaters featured more metal-covering as aluminium became more plentiful. I don't recall seeing photographs of wartime Il-2s which match the wing covering of this Lake Balaton aircraft. It is a bit of a puzzle, to be honest. If I ever put out a second edition of my Il-2 book, I plan on mentioning this particular aircraft, but only to point out that it has an unusual wing-covering. How unusual, I don't know. Probably not the cut-and-dried answer you were looking for, but there it is.

Best Regards,

Jason

[Ohotnyik]

Hi,

I have got the answer from my friend who works for the Museum.
The type is: IL-2M3

Serial number 11551, Motor number 259059.

István

[learstang]

So it is an arrow. That still doesn't explain the non-standard wing covering. Normally, the metal covering stopped at the strap that covered up the connection between the centre-section and the outer wing panels. In this aircraft, the metal extends some distance beyond that, to just outside the 23-mm cannon fairings. Strange...

Regards,

Jason

[Massimo Tessitori]

So it should be of Zavod 1, built in early 1944 before the transition to all metal wings on that factory, around April.
Regards
Massimo

[learstang]

Istvan, you might convey Massimo's information to the Museum, although they may already have all this information. They probably at least have the zavod, from the serial number. They may not have the period when it was probably constructed, however.

Best Regards,

Jason

[Massimo Tessitori]

There should be an article with photos of damaged Ils somewhere. I think that we could see there if all the arrows with wooden wings were made in the same way.
Regards
Massimo