Explorers find missing World War II plane that crashed in the jungle

SUPERIOR, Wis. (WCCO) – Many World War II historians regard Richard Bong as America’s top ace in the war.

The fighter pilot is credited with shooting down 40 Japanese planes during the war.

However, what happened to the plane has remained a mystery for decades, until now.

Bong loved planes and he loved his girlfriend Marge. He loved Marge so much that he painted her face on his P38 before it crashed into the jungles of Papua New Guinea more than 80 years ago.

“From that point forward its existence very much remained a mystery,” Terry Lundberg, president of the Board of Directors of the Bong Center, said.

Lt. Thomas Malone was the pilot the day the plane went down. He bailed out and survived. From then on, it became a mission to find the plane with Marge’s face.

A few months ago, the Bong Center reached out to Pacific Wrecks, a group that works to solve World War II mysteries.

“This has been an incredible journey. An incredible expedition,” Justin Taylan, with Pacific Wrecks, said.

Traveling from Madang Province, Taylan and his crew talked about working with locals and hiking through jungles before they finally caught a break.

“When we located the crash site it was an amazing experience,” he said.

The plane had been found in a jungle ravine. It hit the ground so hard that most of its engines were buried in the dirt, but the red paint of the P38 Marge plane was identified.

As they dug further, the crews finally found the serial number, leaving no doubt that it was Bong’s plane.

“The emotion I felt was not just my own joy, but imagining what this means for the Bong family,” Taylan said.

In the audience for the Zoom press conference was Bong’s 99-year-old sister Gerry Fechtelkotter, who said she’d love to bring a part of Marge home.

“It’s great we know it’s been found. We saw pictures of it so we know it’s the right one. It’s great to know that it’s been discovered,” she said.

Bong died during a test flight in the United States when he was just 24 years old.

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