Emily Chan
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.
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