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Remains of WW II pilot, plane wreckage found near St. Petersburg Sat identified

The plane was shot down on September 14, 1941, six days after the Nazi troops besieged Leningrad
MiG-3 fighter jet, 1944 A. Mikoyan, M. Gurevich/TASS
MiG-3 fighter jet, 1944
© A. Mikoyan, M. Gurevich/TASS

ST. PETERSBURG, April 28. /TASS/. Military officials and staffers of the local military commissariat in the town of Pushkin have found and identified the remains of a World War II pilot whose plane was unearthed by construction workers within St. Petersburg city limits on Saturday.

Earlier reports said the wreckage of a World War II plane was found on the premises of the Lenexpo exhibition compound on Vasilyevsky Island. According to confirmed information the plane was discovered by builders at another exhibition site - Expoforum - in the city’s south near Pulkovo Airport.

"The plane is a MiG-3 fighter, made in June 1941. It was shot down on September 14, 1941 (six days after the Nazi troops besieged the city) in an air-to-air clash over the town of Uritsk (currently a southwestern neighborhood of St. Petersburg). The remains of the pilot were recovered. He was identified as Senior Lieutenant Vasily Bukhreyev, listed as missing in action. His plane crashed near the Pulkovo Heights," the Western Military District’s press-service said.

Bukhreyev was born in Moscow. His wife lived in Leningrad. He participated in the battle of Khalkhin-Gol (1939), Soviet-Finnish war (1939-1940) and World War II (which for the Soviet Union began as the Great Patriotic War in June 1941).

The pilot’s identification papers and hand arm were retrieved from the wreckage. The plane’s engine and other parts are being recovered. The crash site has been declared a military grave. A monument will be placed there.