It was delightful to have the opportunity to shoot this superbly preserved VEB-built Il-14 in such nice conditions, well worth the 130km drive from Berlin. Once displayed in Interflug colours at the Halle ice stadium after being written off in a hard landing, it became derelict and was on the verge of being scrapped before being rescued by the Technik-Museum Hugo Junkers and restored in the colours of East Germany's Deutsche Lufthansa, the forerunner of Interflug

Last known to have been operational about 20 years previously and now immaculately preserved in commemoration of her role as The Great Leader's aircraft in the 1950s. Had to be THE find of 2012. Unfortunately soon after removed from the airport and installed in a purpose-built indoor display where no photography is allowed

Preserved at Landhotel "Waldperle", right on the edge of the Werdauer Wald. It arrived here in 1969, and 30 years later, on 8 November 1999, it was dismantled and transported to a car dealer near Reichenbach. It was still on display there (as DM-ZZB) by 2017.
This aircraft was delivered in 1956 as the first Ilyushin 14 built by VEB Flugzeugwerke Dresden. Its true identity is DM-SAZ. The displayed DDR- reg was painted on the aircraft after it arrived here, but it never flew as such. Interestingly, by 1995 the flag had been removed from the rudder.

Preserved in the "Kulturpark" near the Eissporthalle in Halle. It was put there after sustaining damage in an emergency landing at Leipzig in 1967. Shortly after this photo was made, this VEB-built Ilyushin was dismantled and transported to Pulspforde, followed by a move to the Hugo Junkers Museum in Dessau in 1999.