"Fliegerbucht" last postion of BV-238V1

Germany / Schleswig-Holstein / Seedorf /
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This little bay north of the Priestersee - then called "airplane bay" by the nearby population - seemed to be ideally suited to accommodate the BV 238 in summer of 1944 when this giant flying boat was moored right here.
According to german sources - partly testified by inhabitants of the nearby villages and Blohm&Voß employees - the BV 238 was discovered 10 days before the surrender of Hamburg to the British (3.May 1945) by the RAF (that is 23.4.).
One of the rumours is that it was suspected Hitler could come to the Lake and use the enormous range of the boat to escape to South America.
Therefore the Attack happened at the next day (24.4.) performed by six Hawker Typhoons (other sources speak of Hawker Tempest) from the north via the village of Dargow.
The straffing set the oil in the motors aflame. The Boat burnt and the forepart sunk into 6m deep water - only part of a wing was still surfaced.
British Sources have a slighly different version.
The Attack happened on May 4th 1945. During the straffing the back of the boat broke and the forward plane sunk in the water.
Curiously the Allies don't took much interest in the wreckage (the British only interrogated chief pilot Rodig).
This lack of interest results to some canibalization in the following month when the population try to dismantle things of worth and to sell it at the afterwar black markets.
The rest of this mighty plane was scrapped in 1947/48 by a special company.
But it was in July 1983 when a diver team headed by Prof.Dr.-Ing. Elmar Wilczek, a well known expert for flying boats, recovered some additionally parts from the bottom of that bay...
I've got the permission to reveal the last position of BV 238 by courtesy of Prof. Dr. Wilczek!
So it was no USAAF Mustangs in autumn 1944 but RAF Typhoons, or respectively Tempest, which strafe the Flying Boat BV 238 days before the end of WW II!
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Coordinates:   53°36'58"N   10°53'15"E
This article was last modified 15 years ago