With a growing fascination for the Technical Museum and the few – but fine – aviation exhibits within, today I was back there yet again, camera ready to cover anything I had missed in my previous report :). A definite case of I-need-a-life-ism, but my research for the first post on the topic had revealed that the Museum had definitely traded quantity for quality (or rather rarity), so I was naturally keen to see what else was I missing out on…
This odd-looking little thing is an ex-Yu UTVA BC-3, popularly known as the "Trojka" ("Three"). Developed shortly after WW2 by Boris Cijan - hence BC - for Ikarus as the model 251, and later produced by UTVA, only 80-ish of these this fabric-covered trainer/tourers were ever madeWhile not the most beautiful aircraft ever designed, the BC-3 did apparently provide excellent visibility from the cockpit. Weighing only 600 kg, a 65 HP Walter Mikron engine provided sufficient powerOddly suitable against all the wood, YU-30-15 (also referred to as YU-3015) is an ex-Yu UTVA Jastreb ("Hawk") glider. Couldn't find out much about it except that it had been operated by AK Ljubljana in SloveniaFor those who don't find open cockpits exciting enough, we have the UTVA Čavka ("Jackdraw") :). Designed by Ivan Šoštarić back in 1939, gliders of this type were in use all the way to till the 70s, proving easy to fly (contrary to the way they look) and easy to maintain (precisely the way they look)Pretty much the only aircraft in contemporary Croatian colors in the Museum, this Albatros AE-209 ultralight is also the newest - and feels decidedly out of place among the biplanes and early gliders 🙂Something a little bit different now :). The tail section of what my friends in the know say is a Hurricane. The donor was probably one of the Hurricane Mk.IVs operated by the YuAF in the years following WW2 (being passed down from either the Partisan Air Force or the RAF's Balkan Air Force)The previously featured YU-HAL from a more flattering perspective :). I'm not sure it will be visible, but this helicopter has the entire control panel moved to the side of the cockpit, rather than in front of the pilot. Don't know if this is a standard feature on the whole type though... note also the exposed tail rotor pitch control mechanism running on top of the tail boomAn artsy difference in size :). The DAR-9's 160 HP 7-cyl radial against the Thunderbolt's monstrous 2500 HP twin row 18 cylinder volcanoA small, noisy engine, an open cockpit and a view full of wing and bracing wires... I must admit I envy the people who get to fly my two favorite German biplanes 🙂Biplanes galore! Too bad they're just museum pieces...
Suck, Squeeze, Bang, Blow:
Having said in the original post that I had only photographed the engines I thought interesting – and given my post-visit realization that EVERYTHING in the Museum is interesting 😀 – I decided to go back there and properly finish the job. And I’m glad I did, because quite a few gems had managed to sneak by me that first time…
First up is the Italian Alfa Romeo 115-I. Produced in 1937 (when the design - based on the de Havilland Gypsy Six - was just a year old), this specific engine produced 195 HP out of six inverted inline cylinders. It's rather diminutive size and power meant it was suitable for training, liaison and reconnassance aircraftAlso from Italy is the Alfa Romeo 126-RC-34 of 1935. Based on the British Bristol Pegasus, this 9 cyl 750 HP engine saw use on a number of famous Italian aircraft - such as the Savoia-Marchetti SM.81 Pipistrelo transport and the curvy SM.79 Sparviero three-engine medium bomber - as well as some Junkers Ju-52 transportsOut back. With 11,000 built, the 125/126/128 family powered virtually all Italian three-engined aircraft (the different sub-types being based on different versions of either the mentioned Bristol Pegasus or the company's Jupiter engine)A legend I cannot believe I had missed - the Wright GR-1820 Cyclone 9, here in its 760 HP F-56 variant. One of the great radial engines of WW2, in all variants it had powered dozens of aircraft, including the B-17 Flying Fortress, the original DC-2 and -3, the legendary Douglas Dauntless divebomber, the FM-2 Wildcat (a Grumman F4F produced under licence by General Motors), the Grumman HU-16 Albatross amphibian and the Lockheed Hudson, one of the first American contemporary aircraft to see combat in WW2Something from Austria for a change :). One of the oldest engines on display, this 214 HP six-cyl was produced in Vienna in 1912! A search on the net gives indication that this could be a Hiero 6 or a Hiero E, designed by Otto Hieronimus, used on a number of WW1 reconnassance aircraftLabeled simply as a "Jupiter" and produced in Belgrade in 1935 (in the then Kingdom of Yugoslavia), I believe this 500 HP engine is a licence-built version of the British Bristol Jupiter. Produced widely under licence in more than a dozen countries worldwide, the original Jupiter - one of the most reliable radials of all time - had naturally evolved into a number of different designs; some of the more interesting ones are the Bramo 323 Fafnir - powering (ironically) Germany's Focke-Wulf Fw.200 martime patrol aircraft and the superlative Dornier Do-17 light bomber (as well as the experimental Focke-Angelis Fa.223 helicopter!) - the Alfa Romeo 126-RC-35 (a close relation of the -34 featured several photos up), as well as the Soviet Union's Shvetsov M-22, powering the famous Polikarpov I-16 fighterAnd now, an oddity... a inline 6-cyl labelled as the French Lorraine-Dietrich 12Eb. However, all sources on the net state that the 12Eb was a W12 - of similar configuration to the Benz Bz.DV featured in the previous post - so I've no idea what to make of this. The plaque says the engine was built in 1928 and produced 450 KS, which sounds a bit much for a 6-cyl...More Lorraine-Dietrich confusion (it's becoming obvious they're French, no? :D) with the LD13. A V12 from 1924 (according to the plaque), this engine produces 400 HP - but I couldn't find any trace of it on the net, so it too is left open to interpretation 🙂Another - less controversial - legend: the Bristol Mercury :). During its rather long lifetime, it had powered a number of notable designs including the Blenheim light bomber and the Gloster Gladiator - one of the world's last biplane fighters - as well as the relatively successful Polish PZL.11 fighter and Sweden's SAAB 17 fighter-bomber. This specific engine was produced in 1935 and developed 850 HPAn interesting little structural tidbit - the Mercury's reduction gearbox :). This permitted the engine to run at a high number of RPM, while keeping the prop at a lower number to keep its tips below the speed of soundAnother small, unobtrusive, but very interesting gem :). The plaque identifies this as a "Salmson", produced by GAZ in Russia in 1918. Salmson, a French engineering company, is noted - not widely unfortunately - for being one of the first companies to make purpose-built aircraft engines. This engine, stated as producing 120 HP, is I believe a Salmson 9, though my internet search noted that that model used to produce significantly more power...And to finish this report off, a very rarely seen part of the aircraft engine - the crankshaft :). This particular one is from an Alfa Romeo engine, but it didn't say which one - a 6 cyl (probably inline) by the looks of it...
2 thoughts on “Post Update 2 – Technical Museum Aircraft (Again)”
You have a picture of an ultralight you call the “Albatros AE-209”. However, I cannot find any other pictures on the Internet that look like the plane you have posted. I have found many “Albatros AE-209” pictures but all are of a completely different airplane. Is the picture titled correctly? I am very interested in this ultralight and would like to learn more about the plane.
Thank you for posting all the other pictures, I really liked viewing your page and enjoying all the great pictures.
Achtung, Skyhawk! 
You have a picture of an ultralight you call the “Albatros AE-209”. However, I cannot find any other pictures on the Internet that look like the plane you have posted. I have found many “Albatros AE-209” pictures but all are of a completely different airplane. Is the picture titled correctly? I am very interested in this ultralight and would like to learn more about the plane.
Thank you for posting all the other pictures, I really liked viewing your page and enjoying all the great pictures.
Thanks!
Ken
Ken,
I believe that’s what it said on an info board in the museum. Unfortunately, the ultralight carries no reg so I can’t check in the register…
Cheers,
Boran