Bristol Beaufighter, Naxos

The Bristol Beaufighter Mk.IC / TF Mk X is a twin-engine long-range British heavy fighter aircraft that ditched into the sea off Cape Kouroupas (near Alyko beach), southern Naxos, on October 30, 1943. Flying a strike sweep from Cyprus to attack German naval shipping in Naxos and Paros harbors during the Aegean Dodecanese campaign, the aircraft engaged in an aerial dogfight with German Arado Ar 196 floatplanes and sustained anti-aircraft damage that knocked out engine power, forcing the pilot to execute a controlled belly-landing on the water half a nautical mile offshore. Both crew members—New Zealand pilot Flying Officer W. E. Hayter and British navigator/gunner Sergeant T. J. Harper—survived the water impact with zero casualties. They escaped into the water and were rescued and sheltered by patriotic Naxian villagers, who hid them from Axis patrols until they were successfully evacuated by Allied submarine to Egypt. Discovered in 2007, the aircraft sits completely intact and upright on a pristine white sand seabed at 33 to 34 meters depth, with its wings, cockpit, radial engines, and propellers remarkably preserved.