Divers exploring Italian coast discover WWII plane wreck — then reconstruct mission
On March 2, 1943, a German plane took off from Catania, Sicily, and flew south toward the port of Tripoli in Libya.
Armed with bombs as part of the Axis forces, the plane would never make it.
Now, divers off the coast of Sicily’s southern tip have discovered its broken remains almost 170 feet below the surface, according to a Nov. 22 Facebook post from Italy’s Superintendent of the Sea.
The Syracuse team of the Capo Murro Diving Center hit the water in Capo Passero, officials said, and discovered the heavily damaged aircraft.
The plane is a Junker 88, considered one of the Luftwaffe’s (German air force) most versatile planes, officials said.
Junker 88s were first used as bombers before later transitioning to night fighters, reconnaissance planes, and eventually as an anti-shipping bomber used to destroy ships and ports.
Between July 10 and July 17 of 1943, these planes played a major role in Operation Husky, the Allied invasion of Sicily, officials said. A large number of them were shot down as Allied troops landed a major amphibious assault on Sicily’s southern coast as the Junker 88s tried to hold off thousands of ships, troops and aircraft.
While the plane was heavily damaged, divers were able to identify the aircraft serial number, meaning historians could put together this plane’s exact mission, officials said.
The plane was a KG 54 (Kampfgeschwader, meaning German air force bomber unit), and it took off from Sicily months before the Allied forces would attack the coast, according to officials. On its way to bomb the Libyan port, it was shot down.
The serial number also told historians who was manning the plane.
Two servicemen, the pilot Lt. Hans Bergé and radio-telegraphist Lt. Hans Treffkorn, were injured in the crash, officials said. The other two passengers, observer Unteroffizier Werner Paetow and machine gunner Unteroffizier Albert Burging, died and were buried at Motta S. Anastasia in central Sicily, according to officials.
A total of six Junker 88 planes have been found off the coast of Syracuse since the 1980s, officials said, including one found in September that was almost entirely destroyed, save for the remains of the wings and some structural elements.
The last five wrecks have all been identified by the Capo Murro Diving Center team, led by Fabio Portella and including Antonio Di Grazia, Linda Pasolli, Fabrizio Rosina, Edo Salaj, Vincenzo Carrubba, Elio Nicosia and Marco Gargari.
Capo Passero is on the southeastern tip of Sicily, the island on the southern end of Italy in the Mediterranean Sea.
Facebook Translate was used to translate the Facebook posts from the Italy Superintendent of the Sea.
This story was originally published December 6, 2024 at 10:57 AM with the headline "Divers exploring Italian coast discover WWII plane wreck — then reconstruct mission."
