RECOVERY IL-2 SHTURMOVIK
24 FLYPAST December 2018
shore. Usually in this environment,
there is some part of the lake deep
enough to bring the subject to shore
before lifting the airframe clear, but
Krivoe’s boulder-strewn and shallow
shoreline provided a challenge. In
the end it was decided to construct
a timber frame to act as a skid, onto
which the airframe was pulled with
the protection of old tyres. The hulk
and timber frame were then pulled
ashore to enable the disassembly
process to begin.
The serial number was clearly
stencilled on the undercarriage pivot
point shroud, as well as the wing itself
by the aileron. Wing and tailplane
camouflage were still visible, and a
red star was obvious on the removal
and inverting of the port wing, along
with four rocket rails.
A gun camera was located, as were
undistributed propaganda fliers
and maps in the cockpit. Engine
covers, the propeller and hub were
then removed before the engine
was lifted out. Finally, the starboard
wing was taken off and all elements
were loaded onto a metal sledge
and pulled away by bulldozer to the
nearest road, for loading and onward
transportation to Novosibirsk.
Clearly visible was 20mm cannon
strike damage to the empennage,
and by the port wing undercarriage
pivot point. The main ‘blow’,
though, was to the armoured
engine cowling on the starboard
side, which penetrated the valve
cover and camshaft. Even with thisdestruction, the
Shturmovik was
able to fly the 43
miles (69km) to its
own lines before it
finally force-landed
on the lake.
The airframe has
now been received
by Aviarestoration
and will be brought to flying
condition with financing by Boris
Osetinsky – who has been recovering
warbirds for more than 25 years –
and the Wings of Victory Fund.
On completion of this project, an
example of each main Shturmovik
sub-type will be airworthy: this
single-seater, the straight-winged
two-seater currently with Vadim
Zadorozhny in Moscow, and
the swept-wing ‘arrow’ with the
Flying Heritage & Combat Armor
Museum in Seattle.AIRCRAFT hISTORY
In June 1942, Shturmovik
1870930 was completed at Zavod
18 (State Aircraft Factory 18) at
Kuibyshev (now Samara), part of a
‘small’ batch thought to comprise
around 3,300 examples of Il-2s
that had the original straight wing
with 5% sweep.
All of Zavod 18’s Shturmoviks
were completed with the outer wing
sections manufactured in duralumin.
The fuselage and fin were made of
timber, built in halves of high-quality
Siberian pine veneer. Cross-layeredand glued with epoxy resin, the
halves were then plugged and glued
to the fuselage ribs. The final stage
was to cover the shell in fabric, which
was then doped and painted.
The construction number 1870930
can be broken down as 18 (factory),
7 (model), 09 (aircraft number) and
30 (series number). Therefore, this
Il-2 was constructed at factory 18,
model 7 (attack Il-2) and was the 9th
aircraft of the 30th series. It seems,
therefore, to be in the same block as
the two-seater (1872452), recovered
in 2005 and now flying in Russia;
albeit the earlier 22 series. Assuming
there were 75 aircraft in each range,
there would have been approximately
1,650 aircraft between them.
Shturmovik 1870930 was fitted
with the standard armament of a
Shpital’ny Komaritsky (ShKAS)
7.62mm machine gun in the wing
root, alongside a Volkov-Yartsev
VYa 23mm cannon in each wing.
Internal and external weapons
comprised 880lb (400kg) of bombs,
eight RS-82 rockets or four RS-132
rockets. This example was also
fitted with a VV-1 external aiming“A gun camera was located, as were undistributed propaganda iers
and maps in the co pit.”shore. Usually in this environment,
there is some part of the lake deep
enough to bring the subject to shoredestruction, the
Shturmovik was
able to fly the 43Above and right
Soggy but legible Soviet
propaganda fl iers printed
in German, found in the
cockpit, basically asking
German troops
to surrender.