Following the spring thaw in 1945, the aircraft sank to the bottom, ending up standing vertically with her nose and wing leading edges buried in the soft mud. During the winter of 1944, this Messerschmitt was damaged significantly in combat, and the pilot was forced to belly the fighter in on a frozen lake. From Luostari, Luftwaffe aircraft could attack Allied shipping supplying the Soviets at nearby Murmansk, so it was a key strategic location for the Germans. She then moved on to an airfield at Luostari (part of Finland at that time, but now known as Pechenga following Russia’s annexation of the region after WWII). The identity for this particular aircraft has not been publicly released so far, but from the information we have, she began frontline service on the Eastern Front near Leningrad during 1942. Some remarkable photographs emerged today of the recovery of a well preserved Messerschmitt Bf 109G-2 from a lake in Russia this past June.
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