The flight of a German Messerschmitt Bf-109 fighter that was missing for 51 years

Tested in the Spanish Civil War, the Messerschmitt Bf-109 is by far the most famous German fighter of World War II.

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Nearly 34,000 Bf-109s were built until Germany was defeated. There are only a few original airworthy Bf-109s left today, but this select club was recently expanded by one more aircraft: 12 Red, bearing the German civil registration D-FEML. This aircraft was built in 1939 with the serial number 1983. It was originally a Bf-109E-4, but was later upgraded to the E-7 version. This aircraft flew with the 5th Squadron of the Luftwaffe’s Jagdgeschwader 5, a fighter unit that was deployed in Norway and northern Finland.

On 24 January 1942 this aircraft was shot down at Titovka, near Murmansk, USSR, in a combat against Soviet Hawker Hurricane fighters. The Red 12 was missing for 51 years, until its remains were found in 1993, and purchased by the German collector Eberhard Thiesen. The aircraft was restored in England by Charleston Aviation Services, being provisionally registered with the British civil registration G-EMIL. Its fuselage was once again complete in December 2012 in its initial design as a Bf-109E-4.

Finally, after many delays, 12Red flew again on June 19, 2023, piloted by British pilot Charlie Brown, taking off from Bonn-Hangelar Airport in Germany. You can watch here a video of its Daimler-Benz DB 601 engine being started, with the panels removed, published today by the HeliTech channel:

A week ago, the same channel published this video recorded this month showing Red 12 making a flight:

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Main image: HeliTech.