Search for Dick Bong's P-38

[lucky52]

Just out of curiosity, would Papua New Guinea allow the wreckage to be recovered? I Know it probably augered in and it is poor shape but it would be interesting to see it, or what’s left of it.

[quemerford]

Nothing wrong with seeing more P-38s flying, but that's another discussion: the wreckage of Bong's aircraft is part of a national heritage and should be recovered, conserved and displayed in the same respectful and considered way that other historically important items are.

Just as no sensible person would condone repairing the crack in the Liberty Bell, neither should we consider the notion of "restoring"* Bong's P-38. If that wasn't the intent of the comment, then my apologies. But there will be those already afoot, thinking "Hey that's a cool idea".

*In modern warbird parlance, "restoring" means acquiring the identity of a historic aircraft, making a replica of that aircraft and then pretending it's the original item. And then preventing the public a chance to view the genuine original, if such exists after the "restoring" process has been completed.

(Am I annoyed? Yes. I'm truly fed up seeing our collective aviation heritage being mistreated and destroyed by those who only seek to make money from it. One day soon I hope it will be an offence that is liable for prosecution, but we're still in the zombie stage, thoughtless sleepwalking through what's happening. Once it's gone, it gone forever).

I essentially agree, but if the remains were recovered and "stabilized" it would be a win in my opinion. Nothing on this earth is forever, and eventually the aluminum bits will corrode away, but keeping them around longer for history's sake in a place where more people could see them would be great.

It's my opinion that some of the emotions and sentiments are quite irrational when it comes to warbird wrecks sitting in a largely inaccessible jungle location.

100% agree: recover and stabilize.

[DoraNineFan]

Just out of curiosity, would Papua New Guinea allow the wreckage to be recovered? I Know it probably augered in and it is poor shape but it would be interesting to see it, or what’s left of it.

I would argue to just recover the wreck to the Dick Bong Memorial/Historical Center for display. It will last longer there than in the PNG jungle.

As far as flying P-38s, there are still four of them frozen in the ice in Greenland, admittedly a much more difficult recovery today. I'm not sure if the current project to recover them is still happing or not.

[Chris Brame]

Plus projects like Kermit Weeks' 44-26761, which appears to be the same shape it was in when I sat in its cockpit in Dick Lambert's hangar 45 years ago.

[JohnB]

I'd guess there are "substantial wrecks" out there from warbird crashes that could be repaired/rebuilt.
That way, no government is involved.

Of course some of the "no data plate rebuild " crowd would call foul.

But since a rebuild would likely be replacing post war (i.e. not original) metal, the "don't rebuild because it's an artifact" argument would be muted.
Of course any of this is dependent on someone wanting a P-38 enough to pay big bucks for one.

[Mark Allen M]

Curious why it took this long to discover Bong’s P-38. Seems for such a rare and special airplane, the search would have been done decades ago. Not knocking anything. Great it happened now instead of either never or too late. I’d like to eventually read the process of discovery. Years of searching? Level of difficulty? Cost? Red tape? etc.

[Spitty]

Think it was found years ago and thought that it wasnt economical to recover.