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9. Another Messerschmitt and the remains of the pilot were found in Denmark in 2017
Family lore for the Danish Kristiansen family included the story of a German fighter plane crashing on their farm during the Second World War. When a metal detector deployed by the Danish farmer and his son began signaling the presence of something deep in marshy ground an excavator was employed and at a depth of about fifteen feet the remains of a wrecked airplane began to be exposed for the first time in decades. The airplane was not recognizable as such, being mostly wreckage, though the aircraft’s engine was mostly intact. So was ammunition for the fighter’s guns, which made further excavation somewhat dangerous, and specialists were called in to remove the remainder of the wreckage.
They also found bone fragments and tattered clothing which had been worn by the pilot. A book, which the farmer identified to the BBC as being “either a little Bible or it was Mein Kampf” was found, as well as a wallet which contained intact paper currency. All of the personal items were placed in the hands of the proper authorities and forensic experts were called in to attempt to identify the pilot, as well as recover all of the human remains. From the engine it was determined that the downed German airplane was a Messerschmitt Bf-109. On March 24, 2017 it was announced that the pilot of the German plane was Hans Wunderlich, nineteen years of age at the time of his fatal flight, which occurred sometime in April, 1940.