FW 190 found in a forest
 

Does anyone know what the story is behind this FW 190 which was apparently found intact somewhere in a russian (?) forest?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NUwF2...eature=related

Yes it was restored in the UK by JME aviation and now resides in USA. It is somewhere on the eastern seaboard and has been there for just on a year.

this is correct, heres an article i found on the smithsoneon website, it gives the history of this AC.

JME Aviation is restoring the collection's Fw 190 as well as its Me 262. Fw 190s were the best of the Axis propeller fighters, and are rare today; about two dozen airframes, or portions of them, are known. No flying example of reasonable authenticity exists.

The collection's Fw 190 came from Russia, where it had lain for decades, upright and relatively undamaged, in a remote forest east of Leningrad (St. Petersburg today). What was an airplane doing deep in a forest? The answer, deduced from the damage to the leading edges of the wings, was that it had crashed among poplar saplings only a few feet tall. The forest had grown up around it.

Flash back to July 19, 1943. Two Fw 190s were attacking a Russian supply train bound for Leningrad when the engine of one quit. The pilot, Sergeant Paul Rätz, glided to a safe landing. He left his flying cap on the seat but took the airplane's panel clock with him. Trying to make his way back to German lines, he was captured a few miles away and remained imprisoned in Russia for 16 years before finally returning to Germany. In 1988, a collector found the Focke-Wulf where Rätz had left it, his helmet still resting on the seat. Rätz died in 1989, never having learned that his airplane had been recovered. But his family did—and, it turns out, they still have the clock.

A Vintage Wings technician dismantling the 190's BMW 801 engine found a clod of dirt in an oil line downstream from the oil filter. This had evidently been the reason for the forced landing: Lack of lubrication had caused an internal shaft to overheat and fail, disabling the fuel and oil pumps. But how had the dirt—not engine dirt, but soil, earth—gotten there? Says Jeff Thomas, "BMW's policy on major engine maintenance was to insist that the whole 'power egg'—the engine and all of its plumbing and equipment and mounting hardware—just be taken off and sent back to the factory rather than repaired in the field." As a result, all engine assembly was done in Germany, some of it by slave laborers. The theory is that one of those laborers had packed dirt into the oil line to sabotage the engine, the engine had then been shipped to Russia and installed on the airplane at the front, and within a few minutes after takeoff the defiant act of the distant and anonymous captive had done its work.

Very interesting story behind the landing

I don't know what to believe! My grandfather was taken prisoner in the Eastern Front, and came back with a plane clock... I'll post later some pics of that clock. If his family has it, it might not be the same but I'll try to dig some history.

I've read several stories of pilots taking the clock when they diched, I believe there was a shortage of clocks in the luftwaffe for some time and it was standard procedure to grab the clock if there was time.(no pun intended)

Also iirc that aircraft is restored and flyable now.

Hi..:grin:

From Flying Heritage Collections website..

The planes within the Flying Heritage Collection..
Currently Under Restoration...

Messerschmitt Bf 109E-3 "Emil"
Hawker Mk.XIIb "Hurricane"
Mitsubishi A6M3-22 "Zero-Sen" (two-seat field modification)
Focke Wulf FW 190A-5 "Butcherbird"...:shock:
Republic P-47D "Thunderbolt"
Goodyear FG-1D "Corsair"
North American B-25J "Mitchell"
Boeing B-17E "Flying Fortress"
Messerschmitt Me 262A-1a "Schwalbe"
V-2
Ilyushin IL-2M-3 "Shturmovik"...:rolleyes:
P-38J "Lightning"

Good to know, thank you!

flyable? :D

I saw one in the "German Technik Museum", also one of those guided air-to-air missiles we have now in IL2. They are pretty big. They also have models showing development of US and russian rockets with relative size starting from V-2. Oh man, the Saturn V was unbelievable big.

QuietMan

Incredible pictures! imagine just walking in a forrest and bumping into that:!:

LOL! :grin:

That IS an interesting story.

Historical Preservation
 

What is the state of Russian and Ukraine law on export of war relics? I saw other videos on youtube that depict persons digging up battlefields, war dead, and other material (including vast amounts of land mines and unexploded shells). I saw one video where someone was using heavy construction cranes and large earth movers. This is not something that is typically used to carefully excavate any historical artifacts (at least not by professionals). In fact they probably destroyed or broke any artifacts they dug up.

Is there any effort to preserve these historic artifacts within the country or has capitalist greed made exporting history the "new" economy? Also, is there any discussions to preserve battlefields from these private ventures? Are there legal battles in various courts over these issues?

I would be interested to hear thoughts from those in Russia as well as any of the other former Soviet Republics.

Interesting story - reminds me of my granddad. He was captured in 1943 IIRC and imprisoned in a camp near Kiev. He managed to escape, together with a bunch of comrades and walked (!!!) all the way back to the German lines.

Thank you for sharing!

S!

Last I heard JME is no more, which is sad as it was an Aladdins Cave of amazing aircraft.

Apparently the 190 was sabotaged, they found blue material stuffed in the fuel system when they dismantled it.

I was lucky enough to sit in that 190, it looked amazing, like it just rolled off the production lines. Mind you it was still in primer, but climbing into that cockpit and rolling the canopy shut really got my heart racing.

Yeah JME closed, they were restoring the 190 for some corporate high flyer from Microsoft.

Last I heard it was being shipped backed to Seattle.

Probably made on a daily basis, depending on the exchange rate of the US$. ;)

[QUOTE=BadAim;38524]I've read several stories of pilots taking the clock when they diched, I believe there was a shortage of clocks in the luftwaffe for some time and it was standard procedure to grab the clock if there was time.(no pun intended)

Take the clock ? I would take the compass !

I remember I've read that Soviet pilots were also instructed to take the clock after crash land.