The remains of this Russian bomber had been lying scattered on the ground for decades before being discovered following painstaking detective work 70 years after it vanished midflight during a storm.
The wreck was found after two years of fieldwork by the AviaPoisk search association and representatives of the Russian Ministry of Defence, which resulted in them locating the crash site on Russia’s largest island Sakhalin, the northernmost island of the Japanese archipelago and administered as part of Sakhalin Oblast.
The AviaPoisk search group, founded in 2007, is an association of people interested in the military history of Primorsky Territory and in particular of aviation history, and they have now shared details of the discovery on Instagram after finding the wreckage of the Tu-2 twin-engine front-line bomber.
According to archive information, the plane crashed on 26th September 1950 and was part of the 327th Bomber Aviation Regiment of the Third Air Force of Long-Range Aviation.
A bomber missing in the 50s was found on Sakhalin,Russia. 
A bomber missing in the 50s was found on Sakhalin,Russia.
The crew consisted of pilot Lieutenant Ivan Vakulovich Komlichenko, navigator Lieutenant Anatoly Vasilievich Chmyrev, air gunner-radio operator Sergeant Vladimir Semyonovich Kursalin, and air gunner-radio operator Sergeant Morzhukhin Andrey Dmitrievich.
The crew went into thick storm clouds at around 11.53am, the last time a message was received from the team, and communication was then lost.
Field reconnaissance teams said the plane broke up in midair probably as a result of severe turbulence as evidenced by the parts lying at great distances from each other and traces of deformation.
The fuselage, tail, and both engines ended up in a swamp while the front cockpit was embedded in the soft ground.
The local authorities are organising for the fuselage to be lifted from the swamp and have set up a field camp as work gets underway.
Pilot Lieutenant Ivan Vakulovich Komlichenko who died in the crash of the Tu-2 twin-engine front-line bomber in Sakhalin, Russia. 
Anatoly Vasilievich Chmyrev, navigator Lieutenant who died in the crash of the Tu-2 twin-engine front-line bomber in Sakhalin, Russia.
To find out more about the author, editor or agency that supplied this story – please click below.
Story By: Feza Uzay, Sub-Editor: James King, Agency: Newsflash
The Ananova page is created by and dedicated to professional, independent freelance journalists. It is a place for us to showcase our work. When our news is sold to our media partners, we will include the link here.
