Warbird Information Exchange

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A Greek diving friend of mine gave me the OK to post this ....


Last summer I managed to locate the wreckage of a B-24 in the waters of Corfu, close to Kavos village at 30 m. depth. The plane is now a field of debris scattered around in the seabed.
A piece of the fuselage about 4-5 meters long is the biggest piece I located. Attached are also 2 engines with their blades.

I made just a solo dive there. Given the general characteristics and the position which is excactly at the area the plane crashed as described by the other pilots of the Ploesti raid, seems that the plane is Wongo -wongo piloted by Brian Flavelle
during operation Tidal Wave

Just a relative of a crew member living in US is informed so far (nephew of the radio operator Wilis Lutz)

Here is a short presentation made by Nick Karatzas, diver instructor and aviation enthusiast in his blog in Greek....

http://aquatec.wordpress.com/2013/06/24 ... ngo-wongo/

Does anyone know any other relatives of the crew?

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Off topic I know but one of the JU-52's on their site looks pristine the metal is still silver in color. I know of another 52 in a lake in Norway that looks like it just left the factory but when I emailed a few museums about possible recovery sadly they said they were'nt interested in a 52.

Nice discovery. Thx for posting. According to Fold3 data below.


B-24D 42-40563 "Wongo Wongo!" of the 512th Bomb Sq, 376th BG, inexplicably lost over the Mediterranean enroute to Ploesti, 1 August 1943.


This plane crashed on this mission. During the flight over the Mediterranean she dropped out of formation and plunged into the sea for unknown reasons, killing all 10 crew members.

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[Thread title is ridiculous btw]

...and the ground crew she left behind: (L-to-R) Sergeants Sandler, Cowan, Bond, Payne, Bergstrom

http://www.armyaircorps-376bg.com/image ... crew_1.jpg

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It was a good idea, it just didn't work.

It was great to come upon this site and to hear that the WONGO WONGO has been found. My mother's brother Tim Oscar McLaughlin was on this warbird when it was lost. I see that there is one other family member that is known. It would be great to talk with this person. Ralph

Ralph

Drop me a PM and I will put you in touch with the Greeks, they may be able to put you in touch with the other relative.

Dave

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Wasn't Wongo-Wongo the lead plane on the raid? (or the one carrying the lead navigator?). IIRC, the loss of the Wongo-Wongo was considered one of the reasons that some of the groups made a wrong turn towards Bucharest instead of heading towards Ploesti.

My grandfather was the navigator, Robert Wilson. Any new info on the wreckage?