Explorers find what they believe is Richard Bong’s downed plane in jungle ravine

SUPERIOR, Wis. — A family in Superior, Wisconsin is celebrating a major World War II discovery.

A few months ago, the Richard I. Bong Veterans Historical Center hired a crew to find a plane that crashed in a Pacific jungle during the war.

“This has been a long, long saga shall we say for many of us growing up,” said Terry Lundberg, president of the Richard I. Bong Veterans Historical Center. 

Bong was known as an ace pilot during World War II. He loved planes and he loved his girlfriend Marge. So much so that he painted her face on his P-38. But 80 years ago, the plane crashed into the jungles of Papua New Guinea.

“From that point forward its existence very much remained a mystery,” said Lundberg. 

Lt. Thomas Malone was the pilot that day. He bailed out and survived and from then on there was a mission to find Marge. 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,” said Justin Taylan, Pacific Wrecks. 

Zooming 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,” said Taylan. 

The plane was found in a jungle ravine. It hit the ground so hard that most of its engines were buried in dirt. But they saw red paint which was a color on the P38 Marge plane. And as they dug further, they finally found the serial number, leaving no doubt it was Bong’s plane.

“At the base of that was a stencil. A U.S. Army Air Force stencil, with the last 3 digits of the serial numbers,” said Taylan. “The emotion I felt was not just my own joy, but imagining what this means for the Bong family.”

In the audience for the Zoom press conference was Richard Bong’s 99-year-old sister Gerry Fechtelkotter. While it’s mission accomplished for the expedition, she’d love to bring a part of Marge home.

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

Bong has been regarded by many World War II historians as America’s Top Ace. He is credited with shooting down 40 Japanese plans during the war. 

John Lauritsen

John Lauritsen is an Emmy award-winning reporter from Montevideo, Minn. He joined WCCO-TV in late-July of 2007. Two days after he started, the Interstate 35W bridge collapsed.