SUPERIOR, Wis. (AP) — 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 announced the search on Friday, Minnesota Public Radio reported.
Bong, who grew up in Poplar, is credited with shooting down 40 Japanese aircraft during 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 nose of the plane, according to a Pacific Wrecks’ summary of the plane’s service.
Bong said at the time that Vattendahl “looks swell, and a hell of a lot better than these naked women 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 is now known as Papua New Guinea when engine failure sent it into a spin. Malone bailed out before the plane crashed in the jungle.
Pacific Wrecks founder Justin Taylan will lead the search for the plane. He plans to leave for Papua New Guinea in May. He believes the search could take almost a month and cost about $63,000 generated through donations.
Taylan told Minnesota Public Radio that he’s confident he’ll find the…
