A Wisconsin museum is partnering with a historical preservation group in a search for the wreckage of World War II ace Richard Bong’s plane in the South Pacific.The Richard I. Bong Veterans Historical Center in Superior and the nonprofit World War II historical preservation group Pacific Wrecks introduced the search on Friday, Minnesota Public Radio reported. Bong, who grew up in Poplar, is credited with taking pictures down 40 Japanese plane throughout World War II. He flew a Lockheed P-38 Lightning fighter plane nicknamed “Marge” in honor of his girlfriend, Marjorie Vattendahl. Bong plastered a blow-up of Vattendahl’s portrait on the nostril of the plane, based on a Pacific Wrecks’ abstract of the plane’s service.Bong stated at the time that Vattendahl “appears swell, and a hell of a lot higher than these bare ladies painted on most of the airplanes,” the Los Angeles Times reported in Vattendahl’s 2003 obituary.Another pilot, Thomas Malone, was flying the plane in March 1944 over what’s now often known as Papua New Guinea when engine failure despatched it into a spin. Malone bailed out earlier than the plane crashed in the jungle.Pacific Wrecks founder Justin Taylan will lead the search for the plane. He plans to go away for Papua New Guinea in May. He believes the search may take virtually a month and price about $63,000 generated by way of donations. Taylan instructed Minnesota Public Radio that he is assured he’ll discover the wreckage since historical information present an approximate location of the crash web site. But he is undecided there will likely be sufficient left to conclusively establish it as Marge.”Hopefully we’ll have the ability to discover the final proof, which will likely be a serial quantity from the airplane that claims this airplane is Marge,” Taylan stated.Bong shot down extra planes than another American pilot, incomes movie star standing. Gen. Douglas MacArthur awarded him the Medal of Honor, the U.S. navy’s highest ornament, in 1944.Bong married Vattendahl in 1945. He was assigned to responsibility as a take a look at pilot in Burbank, California, after three fight excursions in the South Pacific. He was killed on Aug. 6, 1945, when a P-80 jet fighter he was testing crashed. He died on the identical day the United States dropped an atomic bomb on Hiroshima.Vattendhal was 21 when Bong died. She went on to turn out to be a mannequin and a journal writer in Los Angeles. She died in September 2003 in Superior. A bridge connecting Superior and Duluth, Minnesota, is known as for Bong.
A Wisconsin museum is partnering with a historical preservation group in a search for the wreckage of World War II ace Richard Bong’s plane in the South Pacific.
The Richard I. Bong Veterans Historical Center in Superior and the nonprofit World War II historical preservation group Pacific Wrecks introduced the search on Friday, Minnesota Public Radio reported.
Bong, who grew up in Poplar, is credited with taking pictures down 40 Japanese plane throughout World War II. He flew a Lockheed P-38 Lightning fighter plane nicknamed “Marge” in honor of his girlfriend, Marjorie Vattendahl. Bong plastered a blow-up of Vattendahl’s portrait on the nostril of the plane, based on a Pacific Wrecks’ abstract of the plane’s service.
Bong stated at the time that Vattendahl “appears swell, and a hell of a lot higher than these bare ladies painted on most of the airplanes,” the Los Angeles Times reported in Vattendahl’s 2003 obituary.
Another pilot, Thomas Malone, was flying the plane in March 1944 over what’s now often known as Papua New Guinea when engine failure despatched it into a spin. Malone bailed out earlier than the plane crashed in the jungle.
Pacific Wrecks founder Justin Taylan will lead the search for the plane. He plans to go away for Papua New Guinea in May. He believes the search may take virtually a month and price about $63,000 generated by way of donations.
Taylan instructed Minnesota Public Radio that he is assured he’ll discover the wreckage since historical information present an approximate location of the crash web site. But he is undecided there will likely be sufficient left to conclusively establish it as Marge.
“Hopefully we’ll have the ability to discover the final proof, which will likely be a serial quantity from the airplane that claims this airplane is Marge,” Taylan stated.
Bong shot down extra planes than another American pilot, incomes movie star standing. Gen. Douglas MacArthur awarded him the Medal of Honor, the U.S. navy’s highest ornament, in 1944.
Bong married Vattendahl in 1945. He was assigned to responsibility as a take a look at pilot in Burbank, California, after three fight excursions in the South Pacific. He was killed on Aug. 6, 1945, when a P-80 jet fighter he was testing crashed.
He died on the identical day the United States dropped an atomic bomb on Hiroshima.
Vattendhal was 21 when Bong died. She went on to turn out to be a mannequin and a journal writer in Los Angeles. She died in September 2003 in Superior.
A bridge connecting Superior and Duluth, Minnesota, is known as for Bong.
