The plane performed the forced landing on the ice of Krivoye lake in November, 25th, 1943. The pilot and the wounded shooter survived, but the ice didn’t bear the weight of the plane and it the Il-2 sank on the bottom of the lake.
Now it’s going to be sent to Novosibirsk for restorarion.
via blogger51
Always like finds like these.
I’d be more than a little concerned about handling the live ammo like the guy in pic #6, but good luck to the restoration.
Its likely that after being submerged for 60 years in water, the gunpowder is no longer potent. But, the real issue is that the powder is wet. Which makes it almost impossible to ignite. Of course, the primer would needed to be struck in order to light the powder. And who knows how long the primers are good for. There is probably greater chance of the ammunition just falling apart, then exploding.
The ammunitions being handled are from the 23mm cannon, and at least some are very likely to have high explosive fragmentation projectiles. While the propellant (powder) should not be cause for the concern, the projectile contains a detonator and RDX high explosive filler and could be very dangerous.
Its Russia, nobody cares. If it kill someone – thats life, deal with it.
Hmmm… handling 60 year old ammunition. Not something I would want to do.
Aww, go ahead. I’ll watch you from down the street, yelling encouragement.
Restore it? Why? it’s a piece of crap. Why do Russians love to restore junk, like the put together cars that are total junk we have seen here before and this too.
I hate to make a stupid comment, and totally unrelated, but I wish I could get paint in that color, to paint my army truck. The greens and browns and patterns on the plane would be the best camouflage ever. I apologize again, I do not know much about Russian warplanes, but it is a beauty
You can see real color paint of this aircraft on one photo – with wing`s cannon. Its dark-green.
Great story.Abb its history nut.
Its only first part of aircraft – heavily armored, made of metal. Second part – tail – was made of wood (!!!). Armored plane – and one half made of wood. No suprise that tail broke of when hit by simple light machine gun fire…. Thats why tail is not here – wood and fabric. And that shooter is called gunner.
Stupid comment.
IL-2 earned nickname “flying tank”. Its very hard to be taken out, it can attack heavilly AA defended nazy positions and make out alive.
They only fear fighters, but they killing enemy tanks well.
This plane was heavily damaged after hard air fight, but its completed its objective.
On way back to base, near to base, its damaded engine finally stopped working. IL-2 landed on the surface of the river`s ice, pilots get out, and ice broke. IL-2 submerged till now.
One of IL-2 pilots wounded, but survived.
This aircraft have its story, so they have reason in restoring it.
Although it may not be the case of the aircraft salvaged, the comment above is not stupid at all. Early Il-2 were, indeed, chainsawed by dozens because of this design failure. Early models also had to do without rear gunner protection. Being a rear gunner in Il-2 was a penal duty as their losses vere incomparably higher than those of the pilots.
BTW, gunner was injured in this combat.
Restorators found no ammo in gunner`s machineguns, only empty shells around.
Why restore that? Seems like a TON of work and a total waste of money. Not like its a very rare war plane anyway. Some people have way too much time on their hands.
“But, the real issue is that the powder is wet.” There is bigger chance that powder is fine than it is wet because bullet case are closed and made from brass. I read many times that bombs from WW2 exploded.
The IL-2 “Shturmovik” holds a special place in Russian WWII history. A total of 42,330 were built, making it the single most produced military aircraft design in all of aviation history.
I’m not surprised at all that restoration is seen as a logical enterprise!