Bit of a scoop for us all. Back in June, one of our followers … Nikolaos Sidiropoulos … found something rather special. A Ju-88 !
While diving in the Aegean with fellow diver Dr Kimon Papadimitriou, he came across the wreck of a Junkers Ju-88… untouched since the war!
What A Find
“As I dropped down through the blue, the shape of the Ju-88 appeared beneath me,” Nikolaos said.
“The fuselage was stretched out across the sand, the wings resting in patches of seagrass. Kimon and I realised we were the first people to see it up close in more than 80 years. It was a surreal feeling.”
The aircraft lies in just 25 metres of water off the island of Psara … remarkably intact for a wartime ditching.
The Story
During the Second World War, the Ju-88 was one of Germany’s most successful twin-engined aircraft, used as a bomber, night-fighter, reconnaissance platform and more. This particular machine, a Ju-88 A-4, had been flown by Leutnant Gert Winterfeld of Kampfgeschwader 1.
On the night of 13 December 1943, Winterfeld and his crew were part of a low-level attack on Bari harbour. The raid quickly descended into chaos. Two Ju-88s were shot down in the flak, and as the survivors turned for home, Winterfeld’s aircraft became lost in heavy cloud.
The wireless operator, Unteroffizier Erwin Kielhorn, reported total radio failure, leaving them with nothing but a failing compass. They were badly off course, running low on fuel, and nowhere near their base at Elefsina. With no options left, Winterfeld ditched the aircraft at sea.
The life-raft then failed to deploy.
In the darkness, two crewmen swam away from the island, unaware of the shoreline behind them, and drowned. Winterfeld and another crewman managed to struggle ashore.
Rumours
More than eight decades later, Nikolaos and Kimon … part of the Underwater Survey Team (UST), a volunteer group researching wrecks around Greece …heard old rumours of an aircraft lying somewhere off Psara.
Local fishermen spoke of nets snagging on something hard. With that hint in mind, they prepared a search dive… and found the wreck almost exactly where the fishermen described!
“The view into the fuselage was extraordinary,”
Nikolaos said.
“The structural ribs were covered in marine growth, but the interior was recognisable. We even found the spherical oxygen bottles still strapped in place … unusual for a Ju-88, which usually carried cylindrical tanks.”
Ghost Like
The open hatch to the rear bomb bay is visible, the bombs long since dropped over Italy.
The cockpit canopy has vanished, but the pilot’s seat remains, complete with its long protective ‘neck’ behind the headrest.
The crew positions are still identifiable, though much of the cockpit framework has collapsed with time. Theengines can also be clearly seen.
For an aircraft lost in wartime, lying in open water, it is in astonishing condition … eerie, quiet, and strangely graceful.
A huge thank-you to Nikolaos Sidiropoulos for sharing his dive, images, and story with us.
What a find.
