Emily Chan
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.”
