Myrsky rear fuselage covering

Suomeksi

The VL Myrsky is a fighter plane having mixed construction. The wings are made of wood and the fuselage consists of a tubular steel frame covered with a covering structure that gives the aircraft its shape. The rear fuselage covering consists of wooden upper, lower and side skin panels which are attached to the steel tube frame construction. The covering consists of wooden arc-shaped formers and wooden stringers and the skin is made of 1.2 mm plywood.

Photo: Finnish Aviation Museum photo archive

In the first Myrsky serial production individuals the lower, side and upper coverings of the rear fuselage were built directly onto the tubular steel frame. Later the lower and upper coverings were pre-built on an assembly jig and attached onto the frame in one piece. The sides, however, were still built directly onto the frame of the plane.

The upper skin plywood panel in the rear fuselage of Myrsky doesn’t meet the upper edge of the side skin panel in a butt joint but slightly overlaps the side panel. In a similar way the side skin plywood panel’s lower edge overlaps the upper edge of the lower panel’s upper edge. This is how the rear fuselage covering has a lap joint structure.

The Tuesday Club built tubular steel frame assembly jigs for assembling the upper and lower coverings of the Myrsky. The jig dimensions match accurately the dimensions of the Myrsky steel frame construction. This ensures that the upper and lower coverings which are completed on the jig will fit precisely the Myrsky tubular frame.

The assembly of the rear fuselage upper covering was started in the Tuesday club by attaching the formers on the jig. The wooden formers have been made in the youth workshop operated by the city of Vantaa. The jig frame has brackets for attaching the roots of the formers in the correct position. Corresponding brackets exist on the Myrsky steel frame.

When all the formers for the upper covering were in place, the wooden stringers connecting and supporting the formers were attached and modelled to their final shape.

When the formers and stringers had been glued together, the upper covering skin plywood could be preliminarily installed. The skin on the upper and lower covering will be finished later.

The upper and lower coverings without the plywood skin have already been preliminarily assembled on the Myrsky MY-14 fuselage at the Finnish Air Force Museum.

Photo: Finnish Air Force Museum

The Tuesday Club has made two rear fuselage coverings for the Myrsky. Why two? One covering belongs to the Myrsky MY-14 which is under restoration. But what about the other one? It will be assembled on the less famous Myrsky MY-5 steel frame. The MY-5 frame is one of the four existing but damaged Myrsky tubular steel frames.

The MY-5 steel frame has been reserved for the model wing which has been built in the Myrsky restoration project. The model wing is the 2,5 m long root part of the right wing. When the model wing is completed, it will be attached to the MY-5 frame. The MY-5 frame will also have another model wing: the root part of the left wing, about 1 m long which will be built in the restoration project. The other rear fuselage upper covering which was made now will be assembled on this frame. Maybe the Tuesday Club will have the energy to build also the lower and side coverings for the MY-5...

The Myrsky MY-5 frame with its short model wings and upper coverings will eventually be placed on display at the Finnish Aviation Museum. At the moment the MY-5 tubular steel frame lies unrestored at the Finnish Air Force Museum in Tikkakoski.

Photos: Unless separately mentioned: Lassi Karivalo.