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sale completed
MESSERSCHMITT BF109 E1/7

Aircraft Type:
Messerschmitt BF109 E1/7
Werke No: 3523
Unit Code: 5./JG5
Built: September 1939 by Arado GmbH at Warnemunde as an E1 variant, but later upgraded to an E-7 standard in 1942.

Last Mission: Shot down by a Hurricane whilst on an escort mission 04th April 1942, this aircraft was flown by highly decorated German Pilot Wulf-Dietrich Widowitz.
Purchased and recovered by Jim Pearce, Northern Russia, August 2003.

Status: SOLD to collector in UK

Messerschmitt BF109 E1/7 W/N: 3523 Airframe:
BF109, Werke No: 3523 Significantly complete.

Engine: Original Daimler-Benz DB601A inverted V-12 engine recovered with the aircraft.

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History: This aircraft was known to have flown in the Battle of France and the Battle of Britain as an E-1. Records show during August 1940 this aircraft was upgraded to an E-7. During mid 1941 records show that the aircraft underwent it’s mandatory 1500 hr overhaul. In early March 1942 this aircraft was delivered to the Eastern Front by Arthur Mendl whereupon it was flown by Widowitz.

On 04th April 1942, at 0905 hr, four BF109’s of 5./JG5 escorted a BF110 over the Front. At the same time four Hawker Hurricanes of 2 GIAP V-VS SF, flown by Soviet pilots S/Lts Pokrovskiy, Mozerov, Orlov and Leshenko, were patrolling SU-Quadrant 5880-5882 when they observed four BF109’s and one BF110. In the ensuing combat Pokrovskiy attacked a BF109E and observed hits to its engine. He recorded that the BF109 made a forced landing in SU-Qu 4276. This BF109 was 3523.

The aircraft had made a near perfect wheels-up landing on the ice of the frozen lake, whereupon sometime following, the aircraft sank through the ice and came to rest on the lakebed. The aircraft remained untouched until the recovery of August 2003.