Researchers announced Thursday that they have discovered what they believe to be the wreckage of the World War II ace Ricardo Bongplane in the South Pacific.
The Richard I. Bong Veterans History Center in Superior, Wisconsin, and the nonprofit World War II historic preservation group Pacific Wrecks announced in March that they were launching a joint search for Bong’s Lockheed P-38 Lightning fighter. Bong nicknamed the plane “Marge” after his girlfriend, Marge Vattendahl.
Another pilot, Thomas Malone, was flying the plane in March 1944 over what is now known as Papua New Guinea when engine failure sent it spinning. Malone jumped before the plane crashed into the jungle.
Expedition leader Pacific Shipwreck Director Justin Taylan said the search team discovered the wreck in the jungles of Papua New Guinea’s Madang province on May 15.
He released photos of himself in the jungle with pieces of metal on the ground. In one photo he points to what the caption calls the tip of the plane’s wing stamped with “993,” the last three numbers of the plane’s serial number. Zooming in on the photo shows marks that could be two “9s,” but they are obscured by what could be dirt or rust and are difficult to distinguish. Another photo shows a piece of metal stamped with “Model P-38 JK.”
Taylan said during a video press conference from Papua New Guinea on Thursday afternoon that the serial number and model identification prove the plane is Marge “definitely, beyond a shadow of a doubt.”
“I think it’s safe to say mission accomplished,” said Taylan. “Marge has been identified. It’s a great day for the center, a great day for Pacific shipwrecks, a great day for history.”
Taylan has been researching the location of the crash site for years. He said historical records suggest he fell on a 150-year-old plantation. Local residents initially showed the expedition the wreckage of a Japanese fighter plane before telling investigators about the wreckage deep in the jungle.
The explorers walked through the jungle until they discovered debris in a ravine, Taylan said. At the top of the ravine, they found two plane engines sticking out of the ground, indicating that the plane went in nose first and buried itself in the ground. Taylan said that Bong painted the tips of his wings red and the paint was still on them.
Bong, who grew up in Poplar, Wisconsin, is responsible for shooting down 40 Japanese aircraft during World War II. He glued an enlargement of Vattendahl’s portrait to the nose of his plane, according to a summary of the plane’s service in Pacific Wrecks.
Bong shot down more planes than any other American pilot. Gen. Douglas MacArthur awarded him the Medal of Honor, the U.S.’s highest military decoration, in 1944. Taylan said Bong shot down three planes while piloting Marge.
Bong and Vattendahl eventually married in 1945. Bong was assigned to work as a test pilot in Burbank, California, after three combat tours in the South Pacific. He was killed on August 6, 1945, when a P-80 jet fighter that he was testing crashed. He died on the same day that the United States dropped the atomic bomb on Hiroshima.
Vattendahl was 21 at the time of Bong’s death. She became a model and magazine editor in Los Angeles. She died in September 2003 in Superior.
A bridge connecting Superior and Duluth, Minnesota, is named for Bong. A state recreation area in southeastern Wisconsin is also named after him.
“The Bong family is very excited about this discovery,” said James Bong, nephew of Richard Bong, in the press release. “It’s amazing and amazing that ‘Marge’ was found and identified.”
