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THE RELICS OF A SHUT DOWNED HENSCHEL 126 IN PLATAMON AREA
by JOHN TERNIOTIS ( previous posted in ΑΕΡΟΠΟΡΙΚΗ ΙΣΤΟΡΙΑ )
On 15th of April 1941 , nine days after the German invasion in Greece and following several great scale Luftwaffe air raids against airfields in the north region of the country, two Royal Hellenic Air Force PZL 24 fighters ( 23rd Squadron ) intercepted over Larissa area a German Hs 126 recon aircraft. Soon the one of the Greek fighters left the interception due to mechanical problems , but the other with pilot the staff sgt P. Koutroubas , after a long time exchanging fire with the rear gunner of the Henschel , finally shot down the German plane which crashed in the seaside of Platamon area , under Olympus mountain.
The crash site was in shallow water ( 8-9 meters deep only ), but the occupation forces during the war made no efforts to recover the plane pieces . Since the late 1980’s, Mr. A. Topaloglou ( an enthusiast and genius Greek engineer ) who was living in the area, informed the Hellenic Air Force for the relics presence of this ww2 plane there, but with out any response by. So about 25 years ago, he personally organized the recovery of the aircraft engine, which was already was detached from the rest broken fuselage structure and remained half buried by the sea bottom sand, the rear gunners MG 15 as and several other items. See below Photos of the recovered engine )
After a good preliminary cleaning and corrosion protection performed by Mr. Topaloglou, the Bramo 323 engine finally was donated to the HAF Museum and today is on exhibition in the museum hangar .