Finnish mystery aircraft at Vaanta aircraft museum

January 16, 2016 · in Aviation · · 20 · 1.7K

At the Finnish aviation museum near Vaanta airport, just outside Helsinki, Finland, you may find all sorts of aircraft. Lots of Soviet bloc stuff like MiG fighters, Mil helicopters, beautiful biplanes, smooth gliders and relics from the WW 2. There is even a beautifully restored Convair Metropolitan airliner in the main hangar. And a Polikarpov I-16 UTI two seat trainer, what a gem! Out of around 70-80 aircraft you would probably be able to tell most of their names, or at least have an idea of origin or so. Piece of cake. And then there is this contraption... When I saw it I was totally struck by its appearance, like it was from another solar system...or not. Now, can the brains of iModeler come up with some reasonable, ehem, explanation of what it is!? No clue from web page though http://ilmailumuseo.fi/en/

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20 responses

  1. Not a clue, my friend...not even 100 percent sure it IS aviation-related.

  2. It's clearly ductwork for the museum central heating system.

  3. My guess is it's part of a Yak 15 or 23

  4. P.S. it's upside down, I think.

  5. It looks like it may have been a semi scale "aircraft" to be used as a parade float. Maybe a movie prop?

  6. I am also thinking parade vehicle. A seat. with a smoke generator.(hence the bottle). and a fan to blow the smoke out the back. Steering wheel. and the steering cables. I think the give away as a non aircraft was the steel rivets rusting away..I would sure like to see the front part.
    It is cool.
    California Steve

  7. Thanks for your comment, Steve. Interesting detective work on your part. Rivets might be a lead but I´ve been exposed to too many MiGs to really react when seeing rusty rivets. Sorry about no photos of the front part or full machine. Think I found it just before we were about to leave and got a bit rushed.

  8. Its... a... water heater ?

  9. I'm with Steve - thinking it was a boy scout's entry in the soap box derby, engineered by a father trying to impress the other dads...

  10. A ducted fan (well, a fan inside a tube that looks like a duct), a rudimentary "cockpit" with a seat and some control wires, a curved and sturdy-looking plexiglass (I guess) windscreen, a retractable wheel and a bizarre shape that's not traditional in any way...

    hm. My guess would be either an experimental ground effect craft/ "ekranoplan" or an aerosan built for speed records.

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