Lake Balaton -Hungaria -IL-2 Crash

[HGabor]

No! Capt. Nuhalov and Lezhava did not crash in Lake Balaton, they went down near Úrhida.
IL-2m3 from Lake Balaton (now in the Szolnok Museum) belonged to the ml.l-t Timofeev - Udalov crew, hit by flak, but also reported by Joachim Worlitzsch.

IL-2 service record of Timofeev's plane:

Ilyushin IL-2m3 Sturmovik, S/N: 11551 (built on April 12, 1944 at Zavod 1.)
Engine S/N: 259059 (built on April 25, 1944 at Zavod 24, installed very soon on July 15, 1944 as the 1st replacement engine.)
The correct unit: 17 VA, 136 ShAD, 715 ShAP, 3rd (yellow spinner-tip) Squadron.
Installed weapons:
Vya-23: S/N: ПP290 & AЗ188 (Note: this is Cyrillic "AZ188", not A-3188!)
12.7 mm S/N: ДЕ140
7.62 mm S/N: КЖ172
Some stamps on the unused 23 mm ammo in the wings: "606-44", "606-42", "513-44". (606: Kemerovo ammo factory, 513: Omsk ammo factory, CCCP plus the year of make)

Recovered from the lake in 1999 at Balatonkenese, now it is on display in the Szolnok Aircraft Museum, Hungary:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HbYT4_UYJ-A

Crew left the ditched plane, cockpit was open and empty, but they disappeared in the freezing cold water - forever. R.I.P.

2 x 9 IL-2s of 715 ShAP took off from Szabadszállás. 9 IL-2s (Katkov, Berg, Godyaiev, Kurtsidze, Larin, Timofeev, etc.), led by Capt. Katkov (Yellow, 3rd Sq.), attacked German vechicles on the shore of lake Balaton at Balatonkenese, while 9 IL-2s (Nuhalov, Anisimov, Burlutskii, Dolgov, Lebedev, Melnikov, Shashkin, etc.), led by Capt. Nuhalov (Red, 2nd Sq.) attacked a German convoy near Szabadbattyán. During this mission the 715 ShAP lost six IL-2s: Berg and Timofeev in Balatonkenese area, Nuhalov, Burlutskii, Shashkin in Úrhida area, while Dolgov crash-landed at his base. Timofeev ditched Lake Balaton, Berg fell on the lakeshore at Sárhegy ("Mud-hill" at Balatonkenese-NW).

Fighter escort (Six La-5s of 17 VA, 295 IAD, 116 IAP, led by Capt. Pantelkin) lost one La-5FN (1st Squadron, S/N: 39211276, engine: 829063, Lt. Leonid Nikolaevich Sokolov (KIA) to Hungarian Bf 109G pilot: Horváth György hdgy., 102/1. Sq.

The lost six 17 VA, 136 ShAD, 715 ShAP IL-2s and their installed AM-38F engines on December 14, 1944 in Hungary:
(See attachment for 715 ShAP markings. Tactical numbers of lost planes are unknown, as 715 ShAP started to record them only by February, 1945.)

18862106, engine: 259964
11429, engine: 259766
11550, engine: 258945
11551, engine: 259059 - Timofeev-Udalov crew, sank in Lake Balaton, - replacement engine.
11565, engine: 259706
11553, engine: Unknown, probably because later it was repaired and re-used, not recorded as permanent loss. Dolgov crew (badly shot-up in dogfight and crash-landed at Szabadszállás after the mission.)


(Dogfight with German JG 52, JG 53 and Hungarian 101st FG Bf 109s plus ground AAA defence.)

Gabor
(volunteer researcher of the Szolnok Aircraft Museum)