April 23, 2011 Ruined German fighter

The torso of the Focke-Wulf Fw 190, which crashed in August 1944, was discovered ten years ago near Deštná in the Jindřichův Hradec region. It was located under a layer of clay. According to historians, it was a unique find.

It is one of the best-preserved machines of its kind ever found in the Czech Republic after the war. The discovery was aided by student Jiří Šašek, who located the fighter. He came across the trail as he compared satellite and historical images. He managed to find out that there were debris at a depth of up to five meters.

Experts who worked there for twelve hours went to the site. They discovered a damaged cockpit, air machine guns and cannons. At the end of the war, the Germans immediately collected the debris and used it again at the end of the war. However, the remains of the plane remained in the field near Otín.

"This fighter crashed into the soft soil on the shore of the pond and broke through to a depth from which it could not be pulled out," explained Jaroslav Pikal, director of the Jindřichův Hradec Museum.

Photo gallery: "Ruined fighter"

According to him, the fighter found near Deštná is probably the largest aircraft that has survived from one of the largest air battles over the Czech Republic. The air battle in Jindřichův Hradec took place on August 24, 1944. At that time, the Americans wanted to destroy the refinery, the military airport in Pardubice and the chemical factory in Kolín. They also shot down Focke-Wulf with pilot Hubert Engst, who managed to jump out of the burning plane and save himself.

Historians hid the wreckage of the plane in a guarded building. "We found a landing gear leg, propellers, at a depth of seven meters then an engine block, a damaged cabin with a seat, air machine guns and cannons," Pikal said.

Experts carefully preserved the wreckage so that it would not rust. Then they were carefully sorted. Subsequently, the remains of the aircraft headed to the museum in Jindřichův Hradec.

According to experts, up to four thousand aircraft were shot down in the Czech Republic during the Second World War. There were tens to hundreds of focke-wulfs. In the past, we managed to find and pick up torsos of other German fighters. The Focke-Wulf Fw 190 was a single-seat single-engine fighter used in the Luftwaffe. Since 1941, about twenty thousand pieces have been produced.

Sources: www.lidovky.cz, www.idnes.cz