FlyPast 12.2018

W

hen it comes to superlatives,
Ilyushin’s Il-2 wins hands
down. It holds the record
of being the most widely built
combat aircraft; more than 36,000
airframes were produced between
the beginning of June 1941
and October 1945. With such
phenomenal numbers – 2,300
constructed in eight months of
1944 alone – it’s staggering there
are just 12 complete airframes
within museums today (although
several others have been recovered
over the last 20 years).
Recently, another example
was added to the list. A single-
seat Il-2 has been successfully
recovered from a lake in the
Murmansk region of Russia by the
Moscow-based Wings of Victory
Foundation. Retrieved from the
water in early August, it has been
cleaned and transported by road to
Boris Osetinsky’s Aviarestoration
company in
Novosibirsk
where it
will

hopefully be returned to the air.

While the company is no stranger

to Shturmovik restorations, the

new arrival will be the first single-

seat, short-canopy variant to receive

its attention.

UNDERWATER TREASURE

During the research into the

recovery of pilot Valentin

Skopintsev’s Shturmovik (in 2015

from Lake Krivoe, Russia), the

loss of a rarer single-seater became

known and turned into its own

retrieval project.

The search began in 2013 with

two research teams, FROM and

IKAR, involved. In the original loss

report, the pilot listed Lake Arno as

his force-landing site. Arno is a very

large body of water and up to 197ft

(60m) deep, but after numerous

expeditions it was clear Shturmovik

1870930 was not there.

After this failure, the teams began

searching adjacent lakes and in

2017 were lucky enough to find the

aircraft in Lake Krivoe following a

sonar scan. Krivoe is to the east of

Murmansk and was just 5-7 miles

from Veanga-2 airfield, from

where the aircraft had begun

its last mission nearly 75

years earlier.

The Shturmovik was at

a depth of 36ft, settled

in a 650ft diameter

depression in a

lake almost two miles

long and half-a-mile

across at its widest

point. Most of the lake

is not much deeper than

6ft and is littered with large

boulders at its southern end.

Had this Shturmovik landed on

most other parts of the lake, it

would not have survived in such

a complete condition due to the

geology and thickness of the

winter ice.

Underwater video showed the

airframe was complete, but the

canopy was closed, causing fears

that human remains might be

within. It was checked and found

to be empty, and it is assumed

the canopy slid shut during its

descent to the lake bed. The rear

timber fuselage had degraded

and collapsed due to 75 years of

submersion, though the duralumin

tailplane and rudder survived.

Recovery started on August 9

of this year. The aerial, tailplane,

tailwheel and rudder were the first

items to be collected, and a red

star was still visible on the

fabric. The remaining

main centre section

was lifted with

inflation

bags and

pulled

towards

the

is not much deeper than

6ft and is littered with large

December 2018 FLYPAST 23

Far left

Captain A I Kalichev in his

Shturmovik ‘offi ce’. ALL

BORIS OSETINSKY

UNLESS STATED

Below

Disassembly of the

Shturmovik began

once it rested safely on

the frame. The whole

engine and the aircraft’s

centre section was built

from steel to provide

protection.