__________________
"A good fighter pilot, like a good boxer, should have a knockout punch..... You will find one attack you prefer to all others. Work on it till you can do it to perfection... then use it whenever possible." - Captain Reade Tilley, USAAF 7 Victories, WW-II -
For fifty years Trzebuń Lake (West Pomorski District) has kept buried the wreck of German fighter Messerschmitt 109 G6. The plane, which landed there only 18 days after it had left the factory, is now rejuvenating thanks to “Polskie Orły” Foundation.
On May 11th, 1944 Messerschmitt Werke factory in Regensburg released Masserschmitt Bf 109 G6, No 163306 equipped with Daimler – Benz Db 605 A-1 TP engine. The machine was received by the fighter training operational unit Jagdgruppe West based on French-Spanish border. Several days later the base was moved to the surroundings of Kalisz Pomorksi (nowadays territory of “drawski” firing range). On the unfortunate May 28th, 1944 young twenty-four years old sergeant Ernst Pleines got behind fighter’s controls. Ernst, called to duty in Luftwaffe in November 1938 was about to conduct the training flights from the landing place in Jaworze. From the letter of captain commodore Hans Bosch, to Ernst’s father: “Yesterday, on May 28th 1944, before noon your son Ernst was practicing the take-offs and landing in the fighter Me 109. During the maneuvers, at 8.31, the unfortunate error caused the plane turn 90 degrees left soon after the take-off (…) sergeant Ernst Pleines has always been an excellent pilot. He and all the other students have undergone constant and thorough training. However, he must have inaccurately used the controls” To save himself and the machine, the pilot decided to land on the nearby Trzebuń Lake. His body was pulled out of the lake after two days and buried in Jaworze village (then Gabbert). Captain mentioned the pilot’s mistake, however the other explanation of the crash, which arose when lose screws in engine were found, was sabotage. The wreck was to wait 55 years for being pulled out.
Since its beginnings, “Polskie Orły” Foundation has been set on finding and restoring Polish antique plane. In the course of our endeavors we encountered a group of searchers and received a numerous messages concerning many treasures. We have heard of Łoś, Karaś and PZL 11C but most of the tracks were misleading. By chance one of the news turned true – on German Messerschmitt fighter. The discovery was truly sensational and having obtained all necessary permissions, a decision on lifting the wreck from the bottom of the lake was made.
We invited Scuba Diving Club “Rekin” from Gdańsk to cooperate during extraction of the plane. Its chairman, an experienced diver Jerzy Janczukowicz confirmed after the preliminary examination that the plane resting in Trzebuń Lake is actually a Messerschmitt: “Technique to be used for pulling the plane was fairly easy: we needed any kind of container that would be pumped with air so that the aerodynamic lift could pull particular parts of plane up. Having tumbled into water, the plane broke in two places. The standard one where all the falling Me – 109 used to break, was right behind the cockpit. The weight of engine hitting water at 150-180 kilometers per hour caused a break of frame fastening the engine – the second place of damage. As a result of the collapse many smaller elements got flung away. It was the aim of the two proceeding search expeditions to collect them.”
All the elements were transported to the airport in Góraszka where two mechanics: Zbigniew Korneluk and Marek Głusiec commenced the reconstruction process and were later joined by Henryk Wicki. Zbigniew Niemczycki, chairman of “Polskie Orły” Foundation used to say “they’re not just handymen, they’re magicians”. It is their engagement that most substantially contributed to the outcome of the restoration. Zbigniew Korneluk described the works as arduous but extremely satisfactory: “parts of the plane, besides their historical value, were looking rather lousy. Considering their over 50 years long presence in water, their were quite well preserved but required cleaning and protection against rapidly spreading rust, as well as further sorting and filing. Missing elements were produced by us or ordered in a friendly workshop close to Lublin. Engine covers were incomplete, airscrew blades twisted by 45 degrees during the catastrophe. As we had no construction plans of the plane, it was most difficult to rebuild the cockpit and to reconstruct the broken wing.” It came as a surprise to everybody that the armament was in working order despite 50 years of lying on the bottom of the lake: two machine-guns caliber 13.1 mm and a deck cannon of 20 mm. Even the light indicator of the gun sight turned on when connected to the battery!
source: “Polish Eagles” Aviation Foundation
__________________
"A good fighter pilot, like a good boxer, should have a knockout punch..... You will find one attack you prefer to all others. Work on it till you can do it to perfection... then use it whenever possible." - Captain Reade Tilley, USAAF 7 Victories, WW-II -
__________________
"A good fighter pilot, like a good boxer, should have a knockout punch..... You will find one attack you prefer to all others. Work on it till you can do it to perfection... then use it whenever possible." - Captain Reade Tilley, USAAF 7 Victories, WW-II -
__________________
"A good fighter pilot, like a good boxer, should have a knockout punch..... You will find one attack you prefer to all others. Work on it till you can do it to perfection... then use it whenever possible." - Captain Reade Tilley, USAAF 7 Victories, WW-II -
__________________
"A good fighter pilot, like a good boxer, should have a knockout punch..... You will find one attack you prefer to all others. Work on it till you can do it to perfection... then use it whenever possible." - Captain Reade Tilley, USAAF 7 Victories, WW-II -
__________________
"A good fighter pilot, like a good boxer, should have a knockout punch..... You will find one attack you prefer to all others. Work on it till you can do it to perfection... then use it whenever possible." - Captain Reade Tilley, USAAF 7 Victories, WW-II -
__________________
"A good fighter pilot, like a good boxer, should have a knockout punch..... You will find one attack you prefer to all others. Work on it till you can do it to perfection... then use it whenever possible." - Captain Reade Tilley, USAAF 7 Victories, WW-II -
?
-
Linear Mode