Famous Plane From Buffalo,NY Found In Siberian Lake

A World War 2 era plane that was built in Buffalo is back in the 716 after being pulled from a Siberian Lake.

It never ceases to amaze me how incredible the history of Buffalo and Western New York is. Winning the war took an entire nation and, more specifically, the hard work of Americans at home and here in Buffalo. The Bell p-39 has a legendary history in the United States and WW2 and it is a MUST see at The Niagara Aerospace Museum!

According to their website:

In 2009, The Niagara Aerospace Museum acquired a wrecked P-39 that had crashed in lake above the Arctic Circle in Russia during WWII. Watch the powerful story of a warrior airplane come home to the place where she was built in Western New York after an amazing journey of over 60 years.

Bringing Her Home from Full Circle Studios on Vimeo.

The plane's journey was covered in a special feature in The Smithsonian Magazine:

The museum curators know that Baranovsky was flying the airplane because when salvagers pulled the P-39 from the lake, they found his remains inside. They also found the airplane’s maintenance log, tracing the journey of P-39Q no. 44-2911 from Buffalo along a string of northern U.S. air bases to Alaska, where it was handed over to a Soviet pilot. It was one of 2,565 P-39 Airacobras that followed that route to World War II’s Eastern Front—and the only one that made it back.

Buffalo and our war history have been in the news across the Nation as the USS The Sullivans is taking on water. Senator Schumer says money for repairs and cleanup could come from the National Maritime Heritage Grant Program and the Great Lakes Restoration Initiative. The ship is named for the five Sullivan brothers who died during World War Two