This aircraft was flying a few times a year up to 2019. Today she rests in the Flying Heritage & Combat Armor Museum in Everett Washington. She is a data plate reconstruction of work nummer 1342 Messerschmitt Bf 109E-3 Emil.
It was delivered to the Luftwaffe around the end of October 1939 - it was issued to Jagdgeschwader 51 and assigned to Feldwebel Eduard Hemmerling of the unit’s 6th Staffel..
Hemmerling fought in France and England in 1940. He had a total of three kills before he was killed in combat. He shot down an RAF 54 Squadron Supermarine Spitfire on July 7, 1940 over Dover and two days later he downed a Bristol Blenheim near Cap Blanc Nez. His last victory came only moments before he perished in his Messerschmitt later that month.
On the 29th of July Hemmerling was escorting a force of 48 Junkers Ju 87 ‘Stuka’ dive-bombers and found himself in a dogfight over Dover. He shot down a British aircraft - his third aerial victory. However, his airplane was also hit in the fight and Hemmerling was forced to turn back to France. He never make it and crashed on the coast of Cap Blanc Nez. The 27-year-old Luftwaffe pilot died in the crash.
Forty Eight years later a man was walking on the beach near Calais when he noticed a piece of metal sticking out of the sand. It was the wingtip of Bf 109 1342 and the hulk was recovered from its watery grave.
The Messerschmitt was sent to England for restoration at Craig Charleston’s Charleston Aviation Services workshop near Colchester in Essex. It was placed on the British civil register as G-BYDS in November 1998 for New Zealand-based Sir Tim Wallis’s Alpine Fighter Collection.
Prior to first flight, the Messerschmitt was acquired by Paul Allen and it was registered to Flying Heritage as N342FH in November 2004. The first engine and taxi runs were carried out at Wattisham, Suffolk, in February 2005.
Shipped to the USA, 1342 was re-assembled at Arlington, Washington and then Steve Hinton carried out the Bf 109’s first flight in 68 years on March 22, 2008. Happy with its performance, Hinton ferried the fighter to Paine Field.