Messerschmitt Bf 109G-2.... MT-208
The aircraft was built at the Messerschmitt AG’s works in Wiener-Neustadt in Austria in 1943. The construction number is W.Nr. 14743 and the aircraft was coded RJ+SM for the ferry flight to Finland. The aircraft first suffered severe damage on 16 April 1943, when Sergeant A. Lehtiö took off for his type flight on the MT. During take-off the aircraft swung out of the runway and the left undercarriage and the wings were damaged. By this time the aircraft had logged 12 hours 40 minutes. During the repair at the aircraft factory the plane was fitted with the wings from MT-218. These were bulged wings at MT-218 had tires of a thicker type. The repair was completed at the end of June in 1944 and the aircraft was handed over to fighter squadron HLeLv 28, where it scored four aerial victories.
During aerial target practice on 1 August 1946 the targeting bag towed by a lead plane wound itself around the propeller and also choked the air intake of the super charger. This resulted in engine overheating and a forced landing into the sea outside the town of Pori. The pilot, Lieutenant V. Pokela survived unharmed. Immediately after the landing The Air Force recovered the aircraft.
The attempt to tow the wreckage to Pori failed and the plane sank again. The aircraft was written off on 10 September 1946 and had logged 119 hours 5 minutes. Timo Nyman, from Orimattila, started the research for MT-208 in 1983 and sports divers from Pori discovered the aircraft at the end of the decade. The diving team of the Finnish Aviation Museum raised the plane on 23-24 August 1999.
Messerschmitt Bf 109G-2.... MT-208
The aircraft was built at the Messerschmitt AG’s works in Wiener-Neustadt in Austria in 1943. The construction number is W.Nr. 14743 and the aircraft was coded RJ+SM for the ferry flight to Finland. The aircraft first suffered severe damage on 16 April 1943, when Sergeant A. Lehtiö took off for his type flight on the MT. During take-off the aircraft swung out of the runway and the left undercarriage and the wings were damaged. By this time the aircraft had logged 12 hours 40 minutes. During the repair at the aircraft factory the plane was fitted with the wings from MT-218. These were bulged wings at MT-218 had tires of a thicker type. The repair was completed at the end of June in 1944 and the aircraft was handed over to fighter squadron HLeLv 28, where it scored four aerial victories.
During aerial target practice on 1 August 1946 the targeting bag towed by a lead plane wound itself around the propeller and also choked the air intake of the super charger. This resulted in engine overheating and a forced landing into the sea outside the town of Pori. The pilot, Lieutenant V. Pokela survived unharmed. Immediately after the landing The Air Force recovered the aircraft.
The attempt to tow the wreckage to Pori failed and the plane sank again. The aircraft was written off on 10 September 1946 and had logged 119 hours 5 minutes. Timo Nyman, from Orimattila, started the research for MT-208 in 1983 and sports divers from Pori discovered the aircraft at the end of the decade. The diving team of the Finnish Aviation Museum raised the plane on 23-24 August 1999.