Moving Myrsky's test wing from Museum Hall I to the Aviation Museum Society's sea container

Maanantai 15.6.2026 - Tuesday Club member

Suomeksi

The test wing built as part of the Myrsky project has been on display in Hall I of the Finnish Aviation Museum. The two-and-a-half-metre root section of the right wing half was built at the beginning of the Myrsky project. Later, a one-metre-long counterpart representing the root of the left wing half was built. We have referred to this wing entity as the test wing. Building the test wing helped us clarify contradictions in the original Myrsky drawings before we began constructing the actual Myrsky wing, to be assembled on the restored aircraft.

The test wing will become part of the Demo Myrsky currently under construction, which is intended to showcase the internal structures of the mixed-construction VL Myrsky II fighter. The Demo Myrsky will consist of the fuselage frame of Myrsky MY-5, including its tail section, and the test wing. Like the test wing, the fuselage of the Demo Myrsky will be partly covered with plexiglas so that its internal structures remain visible.

The test wing on display in Museum Hall I had to be moved out of the hall. This is related to the Finnish Aviation Museum’s forthcoming relocation, for which preparations concerning the exhibition halls are already under way. Aircraft that will not be included in the exhibition of the new museum, which is already under construction, will be moved into storage from the old museum’s halls. As a result, the test wing standing in front of the hall’s overhead door had to be moved out of the way so that it no longer blocked the passageway.

The test wing was destined to be stored in the Aviation Museum Society’s sea container in the museum yard. This sea container is well suited for the purpose because its entire side can be opened to move the test wing into the container. To make room for the test wing, a sufficient 4,5-metre space was cleared in the container. Some of the items in the container, such as the pilot’s seat and canopy of a MiG-21BIS, could be moved temporarily to the museum’s adjacent fabric-covered storage hall.

To move the test wing, which weighs about just under 200 kilograms, a transport cradle had to be built. The maximum dimensions of the cradle were determined by the 220 cm height of the container opening and the 200 cm maximum width of the test wing. The starting point for building the cradle was that the wing would be moved into the container by forklift and that no modifications would be made to the wing structures. Among other things, this meant that the cradle would be attached to the wing only at the wing’s existing attachment lugs, or brackets. The transport cradle was designed by adapting drawings made by the Finnish State Aircraft Factory for a Myrsky wing transport cradle, which used a similar attachment method.

Photo: Reijo Siirtola

The transport cradle is made of wood with metal supports. Its key component is the vertical post attached to the attachment lugs of the right wing, which will carry the full weight of the test wing. The vertical post is supported by three strong angle-iron braces running down to the base frame of the cradle. The structure of the transport cradle allows a forklift to lift it, together with the wing, onto its forks and carry it.

Photo: Reijo Siirtola

Sturdy 50 x 100, 50 x 125 and 50 x 150 mm timber was used to build the transport cradle. The metal support structures of the cradle were made from 30 x 30 x 3 mm angle iron, and the attachment lugs from 6 mm flat bar. Strong angle plates and standard 12 mm bolts were used to fasten the parts together. At the two critical attachment points between the wing and the cradle, where the lugs were joined, we used the best possible 12 mm extra-high-strength bolts and nuts of strength class 12,9 / DIN 918.

Construction proceeded according to the drawing. During construction, however, certain considerations emerged that led to minor changes in the plan. Once the transport cradle was complete, it was moved by forklift from the museum’s restoration area to Museum Hall I and attached to the two attachment lugs of the right wing of the test wing with two 12 mm extra-high-strength bolts. Temporary raising blocks had also been placed under the cradle so that the forklift forks could fit underneath it. Before the test wing was moved, the flap was removed from it. This shortened the test wing by just under half a metre.

Photos: Reijo Siirtola

Photo: Juha Veijalainen

When everything was ready, the test wing was lifted manually from the display stand and turned on the floor into an upright position on the cradle. The forklift could then be driven up to the transport cradle and secured with straps. The test wing and its transport cradle rose smoothly onto the forklift forks, and the journey began from Museum Hall I to the Aviation Museum Society’s sea container, waiting in the museum yard.

Photo: Juha Veijalainen

Photo: Reijo Siirtola

Everything went well, and on arrival the test wing, together with the transport cradle, was pushed on the forklift forks to the rear wall of the container. The test wing moving operation had been completed. Finally, the upper end of the vertical post of the transport cradle was secured with cargo straps to the brackets near the ceiling of the container.

Photo: Kari Lehtola

Photo Jouni Ripatti

The wing’s display stand was also moved from the hall into the container together with the test wing. Because the stand takes up a great deal of space when assembled, it was dismantled and its parts were stored in the container. The parts were also numbered in case the stand is ever reassembled. Once the test wing was in the container and the display stand had been dismantled, the MiG-21BIS pilot’s seat and canopy that had been temporarily stored in the fabric-covered hall, could be moved back into the Aviation Museum Society’s sea container. Thus the entire test wing moving operation, with all its stages, was brought to completion.

Photos: Lassi karivalo, unless otherwise mentioned

Translation to English: Erja Reinikainen

The construction of Demo Myrsky continues

Lauantai 21.2.2026 - Tuesday Club member

Suomeksi

The Tuesday Club began constructing the Demo Myrsky after the restoration work on the VL Myrsky II (MY-14) was completed. Demo Myrsky will be used to showcase the internal structures of the VL Myrsky II fighter, as it will not be fully covered. Demo Myrsky is built from the fuselage frame of the Myrsky MY-5 and the test wing, which was constructed at the start of the Myrsky restoration for testing the construction and assembly, and is now on display at the Finnish Aviation Museum.

During last year, the Demo Myrsky construction work gradually shifted from the Finnish Aviation Museum to the workshop rented by Aviation Museum Society on Puusepäntie. In this workshop, the Tuesday Club will continue its activities until the Finnish Aviation Museum has moved and begins operations in its new museum building. At Puusepäntie, the Demo Myrsky's horizontal stabilizer, elevator, and fuselage formers are under construction, and the damaged aluminum elevator is being repaired.

A jig was built for assembling the Demo Myrsky's horizontal stabilizer, and the assembly is now underway. The ribs have been attached to the front and rear spars in the jig. The stabilizer is already taking shape, awaiting the covering to be started.

Construction of the wooden rudder has begun, starting with the plywood ribs of the rudder. The construction of the formers, which are to be attached to the sides of the fuselage, has been completed and their installation onto the fuselage frame is about to commence.

It should be noted that the plywood blanks for the ribs were cut to shape, including the lightening holes, using a laser. The laser-cut plywood rib blanks were attached to a plate-like construction jig on the table, where the edge strips and vertical strips were glued onto the blanks. The finished ribs were coated for protection with nitrocellulose lacquer tinted with iron oxide.

The original but broken aluminium elevator we received has been repaired. As the elevator will be fitted to a static exhibit item, it is not being repaired to the standards required for an airworthy aircraft.

The fuselage frame from MY-5, which will be used in Demo Myrsky, was repaired and supplemented with missing parts at the Finnish Aviation Museum. Once the repair and supplementation work was completed, the fuselage frame was brought to Puusepäntie. There, the previously constructed vertical stabilizer and the wooden, plywood-covered upper covering, which fits between the cockpit and tail, were assembled. Both items have been covered only on one side, so their internal structure remains visible. Numerous metal clamps to be attached to the fuselage have been manufactured. These were painted with grey Isotrol paint. Bearing mounts were made for the rudder bearings, enabling the bearings to be fitted into place.

Photos: Lassi Karivalo

Translation to English: Erja Reinikainen

Constructing the Demo-Myrsky

Maanantai 2.12.2024 - Tuesday Club member

Suomeksi

When the VL Myrsky ll (MY-14) restoration project had come to an end, at the beginning of autumn, as far as the Tuesday Club Members freed from the restoration were concerned, they chose not to stay put twiddling their thumbs. So the idea of building a Demo-Myrsky was dug out.

Our purpose is to build an entity from the Myrsky test wing, currently on show at the Finnish Aviation Museum exhibition, and the Myrsky MY-5 fuselage frame, to demonstrate coherently the structure and equipment of the mixed construction Myrsky-fighter, designed and built by State Aircraft Factory. The inner construction and technique of the MY-14 fighter that we had restored, are hidden inside the plywood covered fuselage and wings. In the Demo-Myrsky they would be exposed.

The test wing, on display in the Finnish Aviation Museum, was built at the beginning of the Myrsky restoration project. By building the test wing it was found out how the Myrsky wing, particularly the root with all its equipment, was constructed at its time. Our ambiguity was mainly caused by the fact that the blueprints at our disposal were partly contradictory. The main reason for the controversy was the ongoing development during the serial production, causing changes to structural solutions. By building the test wing we managed to get our ambiguity to dissolve.

After the test wing was finished, the building of the actual Myrsky wing began. Already at that stage the idea was born to utilize the test wing later to demonstrate the wing structure and the equipment fitted in it. Therefore the test wing was covered with transparent plexiglass instead of plywood and was placed on display in number l Hall in the Finnish Aviation Museum.

After the Myrsky wing was completed, we utilized the MY-5 fuselage frame in testing how to join the wing to the fuselage, including the assembly of the wing root fairings. This led to the idea of utilizing the MY-5 fuselage frame, together with the test wing, for demonstrating the mixed structure of the Myrsky by joining the test wing and the uncovered fuselage frame.

In this task the rear part of the MY-5 fuselage frame is under work, because the rear section of the fuselage frame needs repairing and refurbishing. The rear fuselage will also get a rudder and elevators of wooden construction.

The rear fuselage has been repaired by welding and the tail wheel mounting, made of steel tubes according to blueprints, has been fastened to it. The Myrsky wooden vertical stabilizer has been under construction in a specially made jig. The vertical stabilizer frame is about to be ready. The left and right-hand horizontal stabilizer ribs and the blanks of the wing spars are ready to be assembled. The vertical and horizontal stabilizers will remain uncovered, at least on one side.

How far the Demo-Myrsky MY-5 fuselage frame will be completed, is still an open question. It could be advanced, even if it were on display for the public. Well, a place to show the Demo-Myrsky won’t be available in the near future, at least not in the Finnish Aviation Museum, which is preparing to move to new premises. That’s why the construction of the Demo-Myrsky at the Finnish Aviation Museum will come to an end by the end of this year, even though it won’t be ready. From the beginning of 2025, the restoration workshop at the Finnish Aviation Museum will be reserved for servicing the museum artefacts before moving them to the new Aviation Museum in a couple of years. The Aviation Museum Society is presently looking for temporary premises where the restoration work could be continued next year.

Photos by Lassi Karivalo.

Translation to English by Matti Liuskallio.