Strange fighter airplane parts washing ashore in Norway

Lately airplane parts have been washing ashore in Lofoten, Norway. This is not a passenger-plane, but it looks like it's parts of a fighter-jet. It looks like the airplane is Russian. Although this is just an assumption. The article is in Norwegian, but you'll find plenty of pictures and it has a crude translation by Google translate.

I bet there are plenty of people that knows a lot about airplanes reading this. Perhaps some of you can identify what you see? The assumption that the airplane is a russian jet is just a guess based on general military activity along the Norwegian coast during the cold war. The Norwegian authorities does not know what plane this is. It could be a helicopter as well. The reason for the headline is that nobody will confuse this case with another missing airplane.

translate.google.com... text=&act=url

originally posted by: nidstav
Lately airplane parts have been washing ashore in Lofoten, Norway. This is not a passenger-plane, but it looks like it's parts of a fighter-jet. It looks like the airplane is Russian. Although this is just an assumption. The article is in Norwegian, but you'll find plenty of pictures and it has a crude translation by Google translate.

I bet there are plenty of people that knows a lot about airplanes reading this. Perhaps some of you can identify what you see? The assumption that the airplane is a russian jet is just a guess based on general military activity along the Norwegian coast during the cold war. The Norwegian authorities does not know what plane this is. It could be a helicopter as well. The reason for the headline is that nobody will confuse this case with another missing airplane.

translate.google.com... text=&act=url

Granted it looks airframe-ish but it looks too clean for a crash. Doubt an aircraft would unrivet like this if it were shot down or crashed.

Do you think its parts that are being dumped or whole aircraft that are coming down?

a reply to: nidstav

It could be parts from a rocket. There were parts of a rocket that washed ashore in that area last year. You'd need a lot more than just those pieces to even begin to say conclusively that it's from a plane, or what type it is.

If it was an aircraft could it be one that had gone over board from a carrier ?

a reply to: nidstav
The ocean floor off Norway is littered with sunken ships carrying planes and other equipment to Russia during the second world war. As ships hulls decay and collapse, cargo becomes more exposed to the elements. Items with rubber or wood gaskets, will float free, like those in the pictures. The war was a long time ago, but the mess was extensive, and the ocean has a way of reminding us of what we have done.

AX
FTNWO

originally posted by: Zaphod58
a reply to: nidstav

It could be parts from a rocket. There were parts of a rocket that washed ashore in that area last year. You'd need a lot more than just those pieces to even begin to say conclusively that it's from a plane, or what type it is.

The long aluminium structure is reminiscent of a fore and aft wing beam structure, or part thereof. The odd thing though would be just that singular spar with a bit of cladding, but not much sign of a wing's skin.

a reply to: smurfy

That curve doesn't look right for part of a wing. Spars are usually perfectly straight, not curved like that.

originally posted by: Zaphod58
a reply to: smurfy

That curve doesn't look right for part of a wing. Spars are usually perfectly straight, not curved like that.

I know, but then that's part of the oddity, definitely a strength cast part of whatever structure.

a reply to: smurfy

That's why I say it might be part of a rocket. Nothing in a plane that I've ever seen is curved like that.

originally posted by: Zaphod58
a reply to: smurfy

That curve doesn't look right for part of a wing. Spars are usually perfectly straight, not curved like that.

That's right. The curved piece looks like an engine pylon fairing from an Ilyushin-78M, the Russian tanker version of the venerable IL-76.

originally posted by: Zaphod58
a reply to: smurfy

That's why I say it might be part of a rocket. Nothing in a plane that I've ever seen is curved like that.

Just looking back I did say fore and aft, not leaning toward a spar, more a strut. But to go with the rocket idea, maybe something like a hat truss, not sure of why there be should the cladding though.

originally posted by: F4guy

originally posted by: Zaphod58
a reply to: smurfy

That curve doesn't look right for part of a wing. Spars are usually perfectly straight, not curved like that.

That's right. The curved piece looks like an engine pylon fairing from an Ilyushin-78M, the Russian tanker version of the venerable IL-76.

I don't know what the fairing looks like, but it has to be something of great strength.

Scrap aluminum goes for fifty cents a pound here.

a reply to: F4guy

The fairings on the -78 look fairly straight from the outside.

upload.wikimedia.org...

A TU16 crashed in the Norwegian sea in 1968 see the you tube video in the link below
www.youtube.com...

don’t know how close this crash was to where this wreckage was found but the curve on the section in the photos looks a bit like the tu16 engine fairing that green primer paint looks very 1960s soviet to me too.

a reply to: brianporter

I spent some time looking over the manifests of ships lost in the second world war, and of the aircraft transported, none of them have frame members that resemble that wreckage. The TU 16 is a better fit. There is also signs of crash stress. It is hard to tell with that calibre of imagery.

AX
FTNWO

Thanks. Looks like you guys know your stuff. Many great posts here.

originally posted by: Zaphod58
a reply to: F4guy

The fairings on the -78 look fairly straight from the outside.

upload.wikimedia.org...[M/quote]

The aft end is curved to clear the reverser assembly (at least on the M model.)