Russian trainer L-29 tail section found in junk yard today

[carlisle1926]

I found this L-29 Delphin tail section today in a metal crushing yard. I ended up with about 8ft of fuselage that is not in these pictures. The remains are a corroded mess, but I thought it was just too neat to crush and it looked so sad laying there, so I took the pile home with me. Someone had butchered it pretty badly with a cut-off wheel. When I first saw it, I thought it was a MIG until further inspection popped that bubble. I know this isn't the usual warbird you see on here, but I thought some of you would get a kick out of ithttp://s1122.photobucket.com/albums/l523/cjasonbarnett/L-29%20Delphin%20Aero%20vodochody/

Last edited by carlisle1926 on Tue Jul 19, 2011 5:59 pm, edited 2 times in total.

[gary1954]

Cool Find, Very Cool

[The Inspector]

The horizontal will make a neat patio bartop maybe even remount it on a somewhat shortened vertical-interesting save!

[carlisle1926]

I was pondering trying to butcher it here and there and making it look like a Mig15. If I hang it up high enough it would be hard to tell.

[WallyB]

L-29 and junk. Hmm... I know there's a punchline somewhere there. Can't quite put my finger on it.

[carlisle1926]

Yeah, I know it is a piece of junk- probably from the factory that way, but turning junk into something less of a pile of junk is what I love to do. I've seen them crush so much stuff out at the yard and I couldn't let this one make it into the dumpster. Some friends of mine work at the yard and they call me anytime something odd comes across the scales that I might like. I've seen WWII aircraft plane parts, the majority of a WWII Stewart tank, steam locomotive parts and all sorts of antiquities that you would think would never get scrapped, go across the scales. They should make a cable T.V. show about metal scrap yards. It becomes addicting quickly.

[51fixer]

Yeah, I know it is a piece of junk- probably from the factory that way, but turning junk into something less of a pile of junk is what I love to do. I've seen them crush so much stuff out at the yard and I couldn't let this one make it into the dumpster. Some friends of mine work at the yard and they call me anytime something odd comes across the scales that I might like. I've seen WWII aircraft plane parts, the majority of a WWII Stewart tank, steam locomotive parts and all sorts of antiquities that you would think would never get scrapped, go across the scales. They should make a cable T.V. show about metal scrap yards. It becomes addicting quickly.

It does have an N number showing on the tail section.
N10747

[The Inspector]

WALLYB,
You just need to clear your mind a bit. Go drive the VEGA Wagon around for a while and relax. If you're very quiet, you can actually hear it rust!

[carlisle1926]

Yeah, I know it is a piece of junk- probably from the factory that way, but turning junk into something less of a pile of junk is what I love to do. I've seen them crush so much stuff out at the yard and I couldn't let this one make it into the dumpster. Some friends of mine work at the yard and they call me anytime something odd comes across the scales that I might like. I've seen WWII aircraft plane parts, the majority of a WWII Stewart tank, steam locomotive parts and all sorts of antiquities that you would think would never get scrapped, go across the scales. They should make a cable T.V. show about metal scrap yards. It becomes addicting quickly.

It does have an N number showing on the tail section.
N10747

The N number is actually N1074V- something brushed against the V and smeared it. Up close you can see it is a V.

[Chris Brame]

Here it is as it looked in 2006:

http://www1.airliners.net/photo/Aero-L- ... ee6d4841fa

[Shay]

According to the N Number search N1074V is still currently registered to a Red Star Aero LLC, out of Tipp City Ohio.

Very weird as I work in Tipp City The only airfields I'm aware of nearby to Tipp are Waco (museum) up in Troy and Andy Barnhardt memorial in New Carlisle and of course DAY Intl.

BTW love your recovery vehicle.

Shay
____________
Semper Fortis

[TAdan]

Excellent find. Nothing that interesting ever turns up in the junkyards near me.

[bluehawk15]

Does anyone know what happened to it that caused it to end up being scrap?

[carlisle1926]

Here it is as it looked in 2006:

http://www1.airliners.net/photo/Aero-L- ... ee6d4841fa

Wow! I can't believe you found a picture of it! Amazing.

[carlisle1926]

My theory so far as to why it was scrapped---- every part of this plane is severely corroded. I could see that before it was scrapped some of the castings had been cut out of it. I'm not sure if they were trying to remove the cast pieces because they thought that they could reuse them on an aircraft that they are restoring, or if the cast pieces were made of steel and that they were trying to remove all forms of steel to get a better price for the aluminum scrap. I think there is a club or something not terribly far from me in Galveston, TX that flies/has L-29s. Maybe this was a parts bucket for them?