Finnish MS 406 found: news report

[DavidIsby]

PETROZAVODSK. Aug 9 (Interfax) - A Karelian search team has found the Finnish fighter Morane-Saulnier MS-406 of the World War II era in Karelia's Pryazhnisky District.

It has been determined that the plane was brought down by antiaircraft fire near Syamozero Lake on July 4, 1944, the Relay of Generations search expedition told Interfax.

"Local residents told us about the plane. It is 7.5 km walk to it by foot. A local huntsman took its engine in 1989. The rear is broken, apparently, someone tried to take it away with a tractor," the expedition said.

Rusted frame and some metal parts is all that remains of the fighter, the expedition said. This Morane-Saulnier aircraft has been modernized in Finland: a Soviet trophy engine has been installed and the so-called spike on the rear has been substituted with a wheel.

The remains of the pilot were not found in the plane, the search team said. "The fighter did not sustain serious damage, he landed it, which means, he survived. One version is that the Finnish pilot No. 314 went missing, the other, that he died, possibly, in captivity," the team said. The team said it would try to determine the fate of the pilot with the help of its Finnish colleagues.