VL Myrsky

1941

Back to the Virtual Aircraft Museum
  FIGHTERVirtual Aircraft Museum / Finland / VL  

VL Myrsky

On 8 June 1939, the VL (Valtion Lentokonetehdas) received a contract from the Ministry of Defence to design a new single-seat fighter. Chief designer was Dipl Ing A Ylinen, who was assisted by T Verkkola and M Vainio, and, within nine months of receiving the definitive prototype contract on 20 December 1940, the prototype of the Myrsky (Storm) was in final assembly. A conventional low-wing cantilever monoplane, the Myrsky had a plywood-skinned two-spar wooden wing and a welded steel-tube fuselage covered by dural panels forward and fabric aft. Power was provided by a Pratt & Whitney R-1830-SC3-G Twin Wasp 14-cylinder radial rated at 1115hp for take-off. The prototype was flown on 23 December 1941, but immediately encountered the first of what were to be many teething troubles.

On 30 May 1942, the VL received a contract for three development aircraft which were to embody numerous detail structural and other changes, these including an increase in wing area of 1.3m2 and a change in armament from two 12.7mm and four 7.7mm guns to three (in first and second) or four (in third aircraft) of the larger-calibre weapons. The first of these was completed on 30 April 1943, but crashed a week later, and the second suffered a wheels-up landing three months later, and broke up in the air shortly after resuming flight test. The third was evaluated in service, and, on 17 March 1944, lost both wings in a dive.

In the meantime, VL had initiated production of the first series model which was referred to as the Myrsky II Series. All the progressive changes that had been introduced in the pre-series aircraft were incorporated, armament was standardised on four 12.7mm LKK/42 guns, and by the end of July 1944 the VL had completed 14 of the II Series aircraft, a further 16 having been delivered by the truce of 4 September. Production continued after the truce and the last five of the 47 built were delivered straight to the Air Force Depot on 30 December 1944 without flight testing. The Myrsky II series was assigned to a tactical reconnaissance squadron (TLeLv 12) which received its first aircraft on 23 July 1944, 20 being delivered to the squadron before the Armistice, and a second squadron (TLeLv 16) initiating conversion to the Myrsky meanwhile. The Myrsky was flown operationally over Lapland against the Wehrmacht under the terms of the Finnish-Soviet agreement, but Ilmavoimat flew this fighter only to a limited extent, and the service's doubts as to its durability and sturdiness, despite continuous reinforcement of various components, finally came to a head on 9 May 1947 when a Myrsky broke up in a dive, all aircraft of this type then being grounded.

VL Myrsky

Specification 
 WEIGHTS
  Take-off weight3213 kg7083 lb
  Empty weight2337 kg5152 lb
 DIMENSIONS
  Wingspan11.00 m36 ft 1 in
  Length8.35 m27 ft 5 in
  Height3.00 m10 ft 10 in
  Wing area18.00 m2193.75 sq ft
 PERFORMANCE
  Max. speed535 km/h332 mph
  Range500 km311 miles

3-View 
VL MyrskyA three-view drawing (1637 x 1217)

Comments
Ron, e-mail, 11.07.2014 06:14

The Finnish copy of the 12.7mm (.50 Cal) Browning HMG was the early war LKk /42. It had a higher rate of fire of 1100 rpm unsynchronized. This beats even the Soviet UB 1050 rpm! Only the US M3 of 1945 did better with 1200 rpm (twice the 600 rpm rate of the US M2 in 1940. All Browning derived HMGs when synchronized, had only around half their normal rate. The Myrsky packed 4 in the upper cowl. The center pair had 220 rpg and the outer 2 had 260 rpg.
Often, these guns were installed in the wings of some of their imported foriegn-made fighters since the original guns were slower or less effective.

reply

Penjoy, e-mail, 16.04.2013 10:44

Last Myrsky II fighter was stripped down as late as 1960 (My-16).

But there are good news. According latest news on March 2013, The Aviation Museum Society of Finland will lead a new project to build one Myrsky II fighter during years 2014-2019. The goal is to get the fighter ready on July 2019. There are still a lot of components available in different Finnish museums, for example some fuselages, original radial engines, gauges, fuel tanks etc.

reply

lucy, 20.06.2011 10:06

despite continuous reinforcement of various components, finally came to a head on 9 May 1947 when a Myrsky broke up in a dive, all aircraft of this type then being grounded.

reply

SVaaka, e-mail, 21.02.2010 01:43

Myrsky II+s were moore or less used, perhaps better to say remained in FA inventory till 1947. Planes were death-trpas to pilots. They had nasty dendecy to brake in to pieces even in modest dives or aerobatical moves. FA had moore than enough Messerschmitt 109 G-planes to operate after the WW II.

reply

William T Luther Jr, e-mail, 04.10.2007 19:45

Does anyone know if any examples of these aircraft survived their post WW2 Ilmavoimat service?

reply

Do you have any comments?

Name    E-mail


COMPANY
PROFILE


All the World's Rotorcraft


All rhe World's Rotorcraft AVIATION TOP 100 - www.avitop.com Avitop.com