The FW was recovered by BAHA which is a Belgian aviation archeology group:
Here is what I found of the FW190:
Part of 9. Staffel Jagdgeschwader 54 “Grünherz”
Crashed at Waasmunster on January 1, 1945
Pilot : Feldwebel Paul Drutschmann, baled out
Engine, cockpit, tail section, landing gear… recovered on August 29, 2004
Here is the story of the day the FW crashed:
On the evening of the last day of 1944, the Luftwaffe had ambitious plans. The next day, New Years’ Day 1945, the Luftwaffe was about to start one of the last major air battles.
The Ardennes offensive got stuck, and the German supreme command decided that the time was right to destroy, or at least severely damage the Allied Air Force units.
This action would claim its part in history under the somewhat peculiar name of “Unternehmen Bodenplatte” (Operation Baseplate).
At the German airfields, the groundcrew worked all night to prepare the Messerschmitts and Focke-Wulfs for combat. Every healthy pilot, no matter what experience he had, had to participate in the event.
The route went over Rotterdam and the Schelde river. In the surroundings of Waasmunster, the German formation flew on very low height. The German pilots were ignorant that they flew right into the Polish 122th Wing.
The latter was stationed at Sint Denijs Westrem, but took off that New Years’ morning at 08.15 with their Spitfires for a routine mission. The weather was beautiful with a maximum visibility.
As they were flying westbound from Antwerp, the pilots were warned about the German attack. At almost the same time the Polish pilots made visual contact with the German Messerschmitts and Focke-Wulfs. The Spitfires dived towards the enemy at 09.25 hrs, and Pilot Officer Dromlewicz got on the tail of Feldwebel Paul Drutschmann’s “Weisse 3”, a FW 190 D-9 of the 9. Staffel of the Jagdgeschwader 54 “Grünherz”. After several hits, Paul Drutschmann’s engine gave up. Eyewitness Private Jozef De Munck, at the time 19 years old, was on leave and at home at that very moment. He recalls:
As I heard the engines and the clatter of machineguns, I ran outside to see what happened. The Spitfire threw off his fueltank, and attacked the German fighter. The latter came from over the airfield, and over the castle of Blauwendaal, but couldn’t avoid the Spitfire’s machineguns.
When the aircraft was hit, the pilot pulled up his FW and, when he reached the highest point, he opened the cockpit and baled out. Only seconds later the parachute opened, and the FW crashed in a marshy land, locally known as the “Sint-Anna-broek”. The pilot himself plunged into the muddy water of the Durme river. He was very lucky the water level was very low; he could have drowned. He waded trough the mud, pointing his pistol at the people that were approaching him.
The local police arrived, but the pilot refused to surrender. I wore my uniform, and the pilot looked at me. I approached carefully. Then, he lowered his pistol, and said : “I will follow you, but not those people”, whilst pointing at the police officers. I saluted him, and he saluted back. Then he handed me over his pistol.
We took him to the bridge on Fons D’Hoe’s bicycle. From there we took him to the town hall. The pilot was soaked, but refused to accept dry underwear. I offered him a sigaret, but he wouldn’t take it because it was English. I asked him where he was from, but he kept silent for a while and then replied: “I could have dealt with two of them, but three was too much…” He referred to the combat which still kept his mind busy.
Paul Drutschmann died in 2000, but the grandson of Drutschmann attended the recovery of the plane.
Info gathered with thanks to BAHA.
And some more pics; source is BAHA:
J.V.
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