The island of Crete, the "graveyard of the nazi fallschirmjagers", a title earned because of the horrific casualties the German elite paratroopers suffered during the invasion of the island in May 1941, is a battlefield that still yields relics related to the fierce battles fought on the ground, as well as at sea and in the air.
One such relic, at a depth of just 8 metres, located at a distance of 150 to 200 metres from the shores of Crete is a shot down Messerschmitt Bf 109 German fighter aircraft, which still awaits to be positively identified.
During the Battle of Crete, the Germans had full air superiority and their only opponents were Allied antiaircraft guns, as the last RAF aircraft withdrew to Egypt on the eve of the invasion, leaving the skies at the mercy of the nazis.
The aircraft remains are upside down at the sea bottom and sea currents usually cover them with sand. Occasionally, the aircraft "reappears", only to be covered again by a protective layer of sand.
Divers from Crete George Tsampas and Stelios Tripalitakis seized the opportunity and shot pics of the downed aircraft on some of the occasions it "appeared" on the seabed and shared them with aviationarchaeology.gr
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