Bf 109F2 Fighter Shot Down Near Kyiv by Soviet Anti-Aircraft Fire

June 20, 2025 - Reading time: 2 minutes

German Bf 109F-2 from 3./JG3 downed by Soviet anti-aircraft fire near Kyiv. Pilot Heinz Schmidt captured.

Kyiv region, USSR. July 20, 1941.
Near the western approaches to Kyiv, a once fearsome predator of the skies — the Messerschmitt Bf 109F-2, bearing the markings of 3rd Squadron of Jagdgeschwader 3 “Udet” (3./JG3) — lies silent in the Ukrainian grass.

Shot down by Soviet anti-aircraft gunners, the German fighter made a rough emergency landing. Red Army troops quickly surrounded the wreck, capturing its pilot, Heinz Schmidt, before he could flee.

This variant of the Bf 109 was one of the Luftwaffe's top fighters in 1941 — fast, agile, and deadly. But even the best steel falcons can be grounded when the flak finds its mark.

The summer sky over Ukraine burned with battle, and this aircraft is just one of many whose flight ended in the inferno of Operation Barbarossa.

📷 Technical photo data:
📸 Photographer: Unknown
📅 Date: July 20, 1941
📍 Location: Kyiv region, Ukrainian SSR, USSR