~ Monthly Profile ~
June 2007
~ Monthly Profile ~
June 2007
Il-2 AM-38F
566 ShAP
Summer 1944
Leningrad Font
pilot unknown
This somewhat famous Il-2 was photographed in service with the 566 ShAP along the Leningrad Front during 1944. A fine example of this photograph is also found in Geust''s Red Stars Vol.1 on page 102. This profile is a bit older, but it does convey the scheme on this aircraft reasonably well.
"White 07" was the subject of considerable repainting, as was often the case in longer lived examples of the Shturmovik (theirs was not an easy life, after all). The original finish was an AII Green/Brown application seen in the 1943-44 time frame. However, the rear fuselage shows much reworking. There was what appears to have been a wide coloured band, or similar device, painted on the rear fuselage which was subsequently painted over somewhat opaquely. The original colour might have been dark (like a red shade); it does not give the impression of having been white. Amounts of fresh appearing AII Green paint were applied over this area, and also over the fin in a strangely rectangular fashion. The rudder gives the impression of having been a replacement unit, having a dissimilar shade of green to the fuselage, and what looks to be an incongruent original camouflage scheme.
The Za Leningrad artwork looks to have been in place for some time, and is not at all as fresh as on the Il-2 in Mykhlik's photo (see same page). However, the inscriptipn on the rear fuselage ("Mest' za Khristenko") looks to be rather freshly applied, as do the white border stars on the fuselage and fin/rudder. A fresh looking red stripe was also applied to the fin, terminating at the bottom of the rudder. The spinner looks to have had a red base and a white tip, as shown.