Crew of Soviet Pe-2 Bomber Crashed Over Bolshoi Tuyters Island Identified

The three members of the crashed Soviet Pe-2 bomber plane’s crew on Russia’s Bolshoi Tyuters island have been identified, according to preliminary data, Artem Khutorskoy, head of the Russian Geographical Society (RGS) complex expedition on the island told Sputnik on Monday.

BOLSHOI TUYTERS (Sputnik) — On Wednesday, RGS members on the island discovered the debris of a Pe-2 plane shot down by Nazi Germany’s forces occupying the island from 1942 to 1944.

"Following the three days of work, we have found the plane’s serial number. On one of the engine’s pistons there was a serial number that helped to identify the crew members," Khutorskoy said.

Khutorskoy also said that this information will be finally confirmed along with the names and personal data of the crew members in the coming days.

The expedition on Russia's Bolshoi Tuyters island is the fourth carried out by the RGS to several Gulf of Finland islands, and is sponsored by the Russian Defense Ministry and the Leningrad Region administration. Some 100 Russian service personnel and 20 units of military equipment are taking part in the expedition alongside volunteers and Rossiya Segodnya International Information Agency journalists.