(Image: Library of Congress; abandoned Messerschmitt Bf 109 in North Africa)
This wartime photograph from the Library of Congress shows a wretched lineup of derelict Messerschmitt Bf 109 fighters destroyed during the North Africa Campaign. Once the pride of the German Luftwaffe during World War Two, their ruined hulks like abandoned and thoroughly wrecked on a desolate airfield in Libya.
The German aircraft are believed to have been photographed in 1942 after the end of the 241-day Siege of Tobruk, which culminated in an Allied victory on November 27, 1941. According to the photo caption, the battered Bf 109 fuselage nearest the camera wears the markings of III. Gruppe (Group), and is understood to have been on charge with Jagdgeschwader 27 in support of the German army’s formidable Afrika Korps.
Today, the Messerschmitt Bf 109 is well represented in museums across the world. But considering that almost 34,000 airframes were built, the number of survivors is relatively small. Wrecks like these were commonplace across the battle theaters of the Second World War. But today, they would have collectors scrambling.
(Image: Vincent Pommeyrol; downed Bf 109 in the Mediterranean)
One ex-JG 27 machine that can be visited (so long as you’re an experienced diver), however, lies at the bottom of the Mediterranean. The unit is also represented by preserved machines in Germany, South Africa and the USA.
Related: Remarkably Preserved Messerschmitt Bf 109 was Recovered from a Russian Lake
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