A historic aircraft engine is recovered

In May 1940, Germany invaded the neutral Benelux countries and marched into France. The Western Campaign placed Switzerland on alert. Border surveillance flights became part of everyday life. And so, on May 16, pilot Jean de Praetere, a budding mechanical engineer, and observer Arthur Zulauf, a civil engineering student, set off from Buochs, in the Constance-Sargans area, at around 8 a.m. They were flying a reconnaissance and ground attack aircraft of the Swiss Air Force, a K+W C35.

The two did not get far. A little later, the plane crashed into Lake Zug in the Murpfli area near Oberwil. The young pilots did not survive. A part of the machine was able to be recovered thanks to an oil stain. But the engine and the propeller remained missing - until today. Because on Friday afternoon, the engine was lifted out of the lake after almost 80 years. Diver Roger Eichenberger discovered it by accident last November. "Of course, I knew about the plane crash in this area," he says. But he was actually looking for a sunken motorboat.

Eichenberger owns the company Divework, with which he works in the field of diving and underwater construction. An underwater robot is also used. In order to stay in practice, Eichenberger searches for sunken objects. He located the engine named Hispano-Suiza HS-77 from the fighter plane at a depth of 70 metres. It had sunk almost halfway into the ground and looked more like a pile of stones. "It's special," says the diver. "What we bring up here is part of the story." The last step is to lift the engine out of the water.

Photo 1: The historic V12 engine had been in Lake Zug for 80 years
Photo 2: A K + W C35 aircraft
Photo 3: The engine is carefully lifted out of the water, checked by diver Roger Eichenberger (right) and observed by Stefan Hochuli, head of the cantonal office for monument protection and archaeology.

The crane in the Zug harbour thereby helps out, and has to be operated very carefully. Finally, the monster emerges from the water. "A beautiful V12 engine with 1,000 hp," says Eichenberger in awe. The event is not only observed by some onlookers, but also by Stefan Hochuli, head of the cantonal office for monument conservation and archaeology, and Daniel Geissmann, head of the exhibition and collection of the Verkehrshaus Luzern. The relic is to be exhibited in the Verkehrshaus in the Aviation hall. This is not quite so simple, of course. The engine is an archaeological find, which means that the engine belongs to the Canton of Zug. However, the latter has made no claim, and has left it to the Verkehrshaus. Drained and well secured, the engine is transported to Lucerne.

It is still not clear what exactly happened in the air in May 1940. "The accident was attributed to the fact that the pilot lost his coordination of position and altitude above the water," is how the Swiss aviation journalist and author Peter Brotschi describes the crash in his book "Broken Wings. In fact, the two-seat multi-purpose aircraft was only observed at Immensee flying about 30 metres above sea level. It flew across Lake Zug at the same height, and then along Lake Zug and finally croseds the lake again. When it turned to the left at Murpfli, the left wing touched the water, and the C-35 immediately sank into the water.