In March 2019, a group of search engines of the Center for Contemporary History conducted a visit to the Rodomanovo village, Gagarinsky district, Smolensk region, to the crash site of an unknown Soviet aircraft. It is possible to get to the overgrown lowland in the impassable reed swamp thickets only in winter through the snow. For several years we had to wait for winter with low snowfall and unfrozen water to conduct exploration. Large fragments of the aircraft were taken out by scrap metal collectors. Only a detailed systematic search and inspection of small fragments led to the desired result – the factory number of the aircraft found. Based on everything found, it is concluded that a single-seat Il-2 attack aircraft No. 1873805, produced in the spring of 1942, crashed here. The methodical collection and analysis of archival data of the formations of the 1st Air Army allowed us to assume that the found aircraft belonged to one of the assault air divisions that suffered significant losses during the Pogorelo-Gorodishchenskaya offensive operation in August 1942. The circumstances of the combat loss are yet to be clarified.

After conducting an additional study of the data from Russian and foreign archives, the collected materials will complement the data bank of the “Homeland sky” Project, which accumulates information on the found places of aircraft crashes and the fate of pilots.