IVL K.1 Kurki revisited

You might remember back in 2015 when I visited Vesivehmaa aviation museum? I did get great pictures of many interesting planes. One which was in appaling condition was so ugly that I got interested into it and when I heard that Ilmailumuseo finished restoring it I immediately decided to visit it.

Here it is… This is truly an sight only mother of the plane would love. But still, it is in much better condition than last time I saw it. Took some pics for your viewing pleasure.

See also previous photo gallery. That was bad then. It really is in much better state. But still this plane is ugly.

Eklund TE-1 @ Ilmailumuseo

Here is an nifty and nice small waterplane. It was originally built as ambifious plane but due weight considerations wheels were removed. For further info see here.

Kessel 12A 13 @ Ilmailumuseo

Here are couple old pics of Kessel 12A (id 13) which was waiting for it’s restoration. Plane completed restoration and is currently hanging from ceiling of main hall. For short article of plane see here.

VL Sääski

VL Sääski is one of my all-time-favourite Finnish biplanes. It has simple, yet sleek lines and it looks rather light. Name Sääski comes from finnish, meaning mosquito. This post contains pics from three sources listed below and it is extremely long. It is not really walk-around, it is 3x walk-arounds. Great.

VL Sääski was designed in 1928 (see Wiki here). You can see original sales- & information material at finnish national digital archives. It was originally built in float, ski and wheel variants. Only surviving examples are float ones and to mu knowledge there are no plans around for wheel version.

To the actual VL Sääskis. One should note that there is an VL Sääski at Nors Luftfartsmuseum @  Bodø, Norway. It’s replica and the story behind (and it’s owner) is intriguing.

First, you should visit Maritime Centre Vellamo @ Kotka. It ia incredibly nice maritime history museum containing among other things seaplanes. They have VL Sääski in maritime customs livery hanging from ceiling, id LK-1. This is so nice…

Second, you should Aviation Museum @ Vantaa.

They have VL Sääski at display, bearing identification SÄ-122.

Last, but not least

Some years ago, I was visiting Vesivehmaa Aviation museum, obviously @ Vesivehmaa. They had some VL Sääski wings in rather derelict mode in one corner of museum.

 

 

VL Tuisku @ Ilmailumuseo

Here is an classic Finnish biplane. It is an  Finnish trainer aircraft designed and built in 1930’s.  Approx 31 was built and this example is nicely preserved in Ilmailumuseo at Vantaa.  For more planes at Ilmailumuseo check corresponding tags on right pane (–>). Walk-around pics of original, for model aeroplane plan see below.

For extremely rare vintage plan of this plane see here (51mb file). Preview below.

Bonus!

I went through old pics in my archives and stumbled on pics of separate Tuisku wing which was hanging on Ilmailumuseo wall. It is partially covered so you can see internals of wing.

Adaridi AD3

Calling this plane military plane is rather overstatement, but still it is supposed to be classified as such. It was designed around 1924 by Boris Adaridi and it shares several similarities with Gluhareff S.22. See this for my blog posts regarding B. Adaridi & Gluhareff. Also wiki page.

As always, I have plenty more pics so if interested, pls. contact me. Also visit Finnish aviation museum where this plane is located.

HK-1 Keltiäinen OH-HKA

This is really wonderful small plane. It is the only Finnish-designed plane which has flown around the globe and it held world record of longest non-stop flight. Route was Madrid, Spain – Turku, Finland, 2844km, 17 hours and 1 minute. Three of these were built and operated between 1954 – 1978. It makes you wonder..

 

Finnish Aviation Museum

I visited Finnish Aviation museum to take photos of their collection of VL planes, ie. planes which have been manufactured by Finnish state aviation factory. I really like this museum and I strongly advise everyone to go there and check their collections. Well worth visit. And nowadays it is really easy to get there due new railway line. It is approx 2 mins from Helsinki-Vantaa airport via taxi or railway. approx 30mins from Helsinki.

I will be posting walkarounds of planes with tag Finnish Aviation Museum. See right pane.