Brewster Buffalos in the German and Finnish AF

[Mangrove]

Maailman ainut Brewster-hävittäjä visiitille Suomeen
Ilmavoimien Esikunta tiedottaa: Maailman ainut Brewster-hävittäjä visiitille Suomeen

Vapaa julkaistavaksi 6.3.2008 09:00

Maailman ainut Brewster-hävittäjä visiitille Suomeen

Suomen ilmavoimien täyttäessä 90 vuotta Yhdysvaltain Floridassa toimiva National Naval Aviation Museum lainaa maailman ainoan Brewster-hävittäjän Keski-Suomen Ilmailumuseon kokoelmiin useammaksi vuodeksi. Kone saapui Suomeen viime viikolla, ja se esitellään tiedotusvälineiden edustajille Ilmavoimien vuosipäivänä torstaina 6. maaliskuuta. Lisätietoja asiasta annetaan vasta tiedotustilaisuuden jälkeen.

Kyseinen BW-372 -koneyksilö on yksi Suomelle talvisodan aikana hankituista hävittäjistä. Jatkosodan aikana Brewsterit muodostivat Suomen ilmavoimien hävittäjäkaluston rungon, ja niillä saavutettiin lähes viisisataa ilmavoittoa. Hävittäjälentäjä Lauri Pekuri teki nyt Suomessa nähtävällä koneella pakkolaskun nykyisen Venäjän puolelle vuonna 1942. Kone hankittiin Pensacolan kokoelmiin vuonna 2004.

The World's only Brewster's visit to Finland
The HQ of the Air Force notifies: The World's only Brewster's visit to Finland

Free to be released on 9 o'clock 6th March 2008.

The World's only Brewster's visit to Finland

As the Finnish Air Force is now 90 years old the National Naval Aviation Museum has loaned the World's only Brewster to Aviation Museum of Central Finland for several years. The plane arrived to Finland in previous week and it will be introduced to the preess at the Finnish Air Force Day on Tuesday 6th of March.[...]

 

[Mangrove]

Ajankohtaista

 

[Juha]

Great news!!
Thanks a lot, Mangrove

 

[Mangrove]

Pienoismallit.net | BW-372

 

[Juha]

Wow!
Excellent pictures!!
Thanks a lot for the link, Mangrove!

Juha

 

[kool kitty89]

So if they want it displayed as it was just after crash landing that would mean preserving what they can and repairing all damage and corrosion/weathering that took place since then, and touching up the paint. Though they'll probably preserve as much of the original paint as they can. (which is in remarkably good condition) All battle damage would remain but all decaying components and fabric control surfaces should be restored to display condition.

But I'm not sure what the actual plans are, though it is supposed to be displayed as it was just after bing shot down.


And as for flying condition this doesn't seem likely in this case but some other Buffalo wrecks seem to be surfacing so there's still a chance.
And just because a plane is the last of its kind doesn't mean it they won't fly it, look at Planes of Fame, they have the only authentic P-26 and its still flying and there's also the only fully authentic A6M still flying with original Sake engine!

 

[Mangrove]

But I'm not sure what the actual plans are, though it is supposed to be displayed as it was just after bing shot down.

The BW-372 will be "restored" to the state it was after raising the plane from the lake. So no new paint jobs, canvas or anything like that. Just repairing the damage made to the fuselage (it's in two parts now) etc.

 

[Elvis]

Ajankohtaista

I'M MOVIN' TO FINLAND!

...screw the plane, I just wanna party with the blonde!

(just kidding)

Seriously, nice piece of research Mangrove (and I mean the plane!).
Thanks for posting that.




Elvis

 

[kool kitty89]

The plane's currently residing in Florida:

The aircraft was recovered from the lake in 1998, and after extensive negotiations with Russian officials, it was finally transported to the United States. The Brewster fighter finally reached the Naval Aviation Museum in Pensacola, Florida, on 18 August 2004. After discovering the historic nature of the aircraft, original plans to restore and display it as an F2A from the Battle of Midway were quickly dispensed with. The museum plans to reassemble the Brewster and display it exactly as it came from the lake in Russia. Damage caused by enemy fire and subsequent crash landing will not be disturbed. As near as possible, it will be fully authentic and original and instantly recognizable as a Finnish Air Force B-239 at a point in time when it made its last flight in hostile skies and settled to the bottom of the lake.

 

[Mangrove]

The plane's currently residing in Florida:

That is incorrect. As you can see the plane is in Finland.

 

[Elvis]

Looks to me like it was over here in 2004, but was recently shipped to Finland.

Elvis

 

[kool kitty89]

Never mind...

 

[Njaco]

Some more stuff on the Buffalo from this site with pics and links to the story about it.

Military Photos . net

 

[kool kitty89]

Gotta love that Finnish camo scheme!

 

[comiso90]

AWESOME!

Reminds me of this:


WWII Russian T34 Tank Rescue.

Update On Recovered T-34 Tank With German Markings


.

 

[Elvis]

Muddy bogs and the bottoms of cold fresh water lakes have actually been found to be great preservers.
That's probably why both the plane and the tank (anyone notice the German Panzer markings on the turret?!) survived as well as they did.
I remember a story from around here where an elderly couple went for a drive in 1924 and were never seen again.
70+ years later their car was found at the bottom of Lake Washington.
The bodies were so many bones by that time, but the car was still remarkably intact.
Probably the same process that petrifies fallen trees found in lake bottoms, apply here (maybe).

-------------------------

NJaco,

Great drawing of that plane (top pic).
Looks like one from a website I used to frequent that dealt with different WWII airplanes, all catagorized by country.



Elvis

 

[comiso90]

anaerobic environments!

warships from the American revolution have been found remarkably intact in the great lakes..

 

[Njaco]

Elvis, thats from that forum website. It is pretty different from most profiles you see.

And I too noticed the German marking. Funny I just read where when the T-34 first appaered that German crews would sometimes use captured examples. The marking looks early 1940 though.

 

[Elvis]

NJaco,

That pic is from somewhere else, too.
If I ever find the site again (it may not exist anymore), I'll let ya know.

Re: T-34.
The Germans gained great respect from that tank very quickly, as nothing in the German arsenal, short of the Pak42 75mm gun fired at close range, could penetrate the T-34's armour.
The German commanders were VERY surprised by the performance of this tank, especially considering that they thought of the average Russian's mentality as being quite "simple" and thus, they could have never designed such a fine piece of battlefield armour.
The T-34 was a landmark fighting vehicle. That's for sure.




Elvis

 

[kool kitty89]

Some deserts preserve things remakably well too as long as sand isn't too prevelant. The California Mojave desert can be a bit harder on iron/steel though due (realitively) higher humidity, but there hve been some remakably well presered cars and such found in Navada deserts (lower humidity) well over 50 years later.