Greek islands, even the smallest ones, hide their own secrets or surprises. Something similar happens to the island in whose waters lies a sunken German seaplane from the distant past.
We are talking about Heraklia(Iraklia). On one of the most beautiful and impressive beaches in the southwest of the island, more precisely in the bay of Alimia, there is a sunken fighter plane from World War II.
It is located relatively in the shallow water and in fact at a depth of almost 10 meters. It is very easy for someone to locate it, as the crystal clear water reveals it immediately.
It all started when a fishing boat was fishing somewhere north of Ios, towards Heraklia, at a depth of about 90 meters, sometime in 1982. On that day, the fishermen got a surprise, which was a German seaplane. The fishermen did not know what to do, so they decided to take it out of their nets and let it fall to the bottom of the sea. However, to avoid it falling back into their nets at some point, they decided to throw it into the nearest sheltered bay, which was Alimia, Heraklia.
The witness statements say that there were no bones of the pilot of the seaplane. There were also no personal belongings or other signs of human loss. Having succeeded in freeing the seaplane from the trawl nets, they lowered it and reached a depth of almost 11 meters, where it remains today.
What will you see of the seaplane today?
The images you will see when you are at this point are extremely impressive due to the shallow depth and the calm that normally exists in the bay. However, because the seaplane was on display for years, there were thefts of parts, such as aluminum. The seaplane's propeller, which weighs over 150 kg, lay on the seabed a short distance from the seaplane for many years. However, in 1990 it was lifted and is now kept in a personal collection. The same goes for the steering wheel, machine guns and cannons, which are also in personal collections. What else is on the bottom today? Today, at a depth of 11 meters, there is the hull with the engine and some parts of the trawl net with which it was originally fished.
Plane wreck in Heraklia video
