THE LAST COMBAT Messerschmitt Bf 109E-3 Wk. Nr. 1342

In 1988, a Frenchman walking on the beach near Cap BlancNez near Calais, France, discovered a piece of metal sticking out of the sand. There had been a storm and, as sometimes happens, the sand on the beach had shifted, revealing something that had been buried for almost 50 years. It was the wingtip of a crashed World War II fighter aircraft. As the tides ebbed and flowed, most of the wreck of a relatively intact German Messerschmitt Bf 109 fighter was revealed, with both wings, the landing gear, and parts of the fuselage.

- CLIVE ROWLEY, MBE RAF RET

The airframe was recovered from the beach and briefly displayed in France. Then later that year, having been acquired by New Zealand warbird operator and pilot Sir Tim Wallis, it was transported to the United Kingdom for restoration by Craig Charleston of Charleston Aviation Services, based in Essex. It was during this restoration that the aircraft’s identity was discovered when the Bayerische FlugzeugWerk (Bf) Werk Nummer 1342 was found stamped on part of the undercarriage assembly.

During the painstaking restoration to authentic and airworthy condition, the 109’s airframe was mated with a restored original Daimler-Benz DB 601 Aa engine overhauled by Mike Nixon of Vintage V-12s Inc. of Tehachapi, California. The aircraft burst into life again in 2005 when it underwent engine and taxi trials at Wattisham, Suffolk, England. The Bf 109 had by now been acquired by Paul G. Allen, the billionaire co-founder of Microsoft. It was shipped to the U.S. to become part of the Flying Heritage and Combat Armor Museum (now owned by the Wartime History Museum) at Paine Field, Everett, Washington.

In March 2008, in the safe hands of renowned warbird pilot Steve Hinton, Bf 109E-3 1342 flew again for the first time since July 29, 1940, when it had been damaged in combat and crashed on its way home. The details of that last deadly combat can now be revealed in a story that highlights the ferocity, scale, and lethality of the fighting during the Battle of Britain.

Messerschmitt Bf 109 The Messerschmitt Bf 109, generally known by both sides at the time as the “Me 109,” was a Luftwaffe single-seat fighter designed by Willy Messerschmitt and manufactured by