Wreckage From A Famous WWII Plane Named After The Fighter Pilot’s Girlfriend Was Found In The Jungles Of Papua New Guinea
In the South Pacific, a search team found what they believed to be the wreckage of a plane flown by Richard Bong, a fighter pilot who was America’s top flying ace in World War II.
He shot down 40 Japanese aircraft during World War II, all with the Lockheed P-38 Lightning fighter.
A nonprofit World War II aircraft recovery group named Pacific Wrecks and the Richard I. Bong Veterans Historical Center in Superior, Wisconsin, collaborated to search for Bong’s plane. He nicknamed the aircraft “Marge” in honor of his girlfriend, Marjorie Vattendahl.
The plane crashed in 1944 when another pilot, Thomas Malone, was flying a reconnaissance mission at night.
The engine failed and sent the aircraft into a spin. Malone bailed out before the plane crashed, managed to evade capture, and survived the accident.
The search team uncovered the wreckage of the P-38 in the jungles of what is now known as Papua New Guinea in the Madang Province.
Chunks of metal were scattered on the jungle floor, and there was a wing tip stamped with “993.” They were the last three digits of the plane’s serial number.
The markings were covered in rust and dirt, which made them difficult to read. Additionally, a piece of metal was imprinted with “Model P-38 JK.”
Expeditions to recover such historical remains are always slow-going because plane crashes usually occur in remote areas. The thick vegetation in these regions makes travel and meticulous research a challenge.
Abby – stock.adobe.com – illustrative purposes only
The recently discovered wreckage is one of the most significant aircraft from World War II due to its association with Richard Bong, who is considered an icon.
Bong grew up in Poplar, Wisconsin, and he is known for shooting down more planes than any other American pilot.
In 1944, he was presented with the Medal of Honor, the highest decoration in the U.S. military, by General Douglas MacArthur.
According to Pacific Wrecks, Bong enlarged a portrait of Vattendahl and pasted her face on the nose of his plane.
The couple got married in 1945. Then, he was sent to Burbank, California, on assignment as a test pilot.
While he was testing a P-80 jet fighter, he crashed and died on August 6, 1945, the same day that the United States dropped an atomic bomb on Hiroshima.
An investigation of the accident revealed that there had been an issue with the aircraft’s fuel pump. Bong’s parachute did not deploy when he attempted to eject, and he went down with the plane in a field north of Hollywood.
At the time of Bong’s death, Vattendahl was just 21-years-old. She became a model and a magazine publisher in Los Angeles. She died in 2003.
Today, there is an airport, a state recreation center, and a bridge connecting Superior and Duluth, Minnesota, named after him. The Bong family was ecstatic to hear the news of the discovery, calling it “amazing and incredible.”
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