{"id":42085,"date":"2024-05-23T20:06:46","date_gmt":"2024-05-23T20:06:46","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/airforcetimes\/uncategorized\/2024\/05\/23\/explorers-discover-possible-wreckage-of-wwii-ace-richard-bongs-plane\/"},"modified":"2026-08-07T21:16:59","modified_gmt":"2026-08-07T21:16:59","slug":"explorers-discover-possible-wreckage-of-wwii-ace-richard-bongs-plane","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/airforcetimes\/veterans\/military-history\/2024\/05\/23\/explorers-discover-possible-wreckage-of-wwii-ace-richard-bongs-plane\/","title":{"rendered":"Explorers discover possible wreckage of WWII ace Richard Bong\u2019s plane"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">MADISON, Wisconsin \u2014 Searchers announced Thursday they\u2019ve discovered what they believe is the wreckage of World War II ace Richard Bong\u2019s plane in the South Pacific.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The Richard I. Bong Veterans Historical Center in Superior, Wisconsin, and the nonprofit World War II historical preservation group Pacific Wrecks announced in March they were launching a joint search for Bong\u2019s Lockheed P-38 Lightning fighter. Bong nicknamed the plane \u201cMarge\u201d after his girlfriend, Marge Vattendahl.<\/p>\n\n\n\t<aside class=\"smg-interstitial-link wp-block-smg-interstitial-link\">\n\t\t<a href=\"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/airforcetimes\/veterans\/military-history\/2024\/03\/25\/search-begins-for-wreckage-of-ace-pilot-richard-bongs-crashed-plane\/\" class=\"smg-interstitial-link__inner\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<div class=\"smg-interstitial-link__media\">\n\t\t\t\t\t<img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"300\" height=\"237\" src=\"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/AP24083487029410.jpg.jpg?w=300\" class=\"smg-interstitial-link__image wp-post-image\" alt=\"\" \/>\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<div class=\"smg-interstitial-link__content\">\n\t\t\t\t<span class=\"smg-interstitial-link__kicker\">Related<\/span>\n\t\t\t\t<h3 class=\"smg-interstitial-link__title\">Search begins for wreckage of ace pilot Richard Bong\u2019s crashed plane<\/h3>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<p class=\"smg-interstitial-link__excerpt\">Two historical groups are looking for Richard Bong&#039;s Lockheed P-38 Lightning plane, nicknamed \u201cMarge\u201d in honor of his girlfriend, Marjorie Vattendahl.<\/p>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/a>\n\t<\/aside>\n\t\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">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.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The expedition\u2019s leader, Pacific Wrecks Director Justin Taylan, said in a news release that the search team discovered the wreckage in the jungles of Papua New Guinea\u2019s Madang Province. He released photos of himself in the jungle with chunks of metal on the ground taken May 15.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">In one photo he points to what the caption calls a wing tip from the plane stamped with \u201c993,\u201d the last three numbers of the plane\u2019s serial number. Enlarging the photo shows markings that could be two \u201c9s\u201d but they\u2019re obscured by what might be dirt or rust and difficult to make out. Another photo shows a piece of metal stamped with \u201cModel P-38 JK.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cThe plane\u2019s association with Richard Bong makes it one of the most significant World War II aircraft in the world,\u201d Taylan said in the news release.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Bong, who grew up in Poplar, Wisconsin, is credited with shooting down 40 Japanese aircraft during World War II. He plastered a blow-up of Vattendahl\u2019s portrait on the nose of his plane, according to a Pacific Wrecks summary of the plane\u2019s service.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Bong shot down more planes than any other American pilot. Gen. Douglas MacArthur awarded him the Medal of Honor, the U.S. military\u2019s highest decoration, in 1944.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Bong and Vattendahl eventually married in 1945. Bong was assigned to duty as a test pilot in Burbank, California, after three combat tours 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 same day the United States dropped an atomic bomb on Hiroshima.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Vattendahl was 21 at the time of Bong\u2019s death. She went on to become a model and a magazine publisher in Los Angeles. She died in September 2003 in Superior, Wisconsin. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">A bridge connecting Superior and Duluth, Minnesota, is named for Bong.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cThe Bong family is very excited about this discovery,\u201d James Bong, Richard Bong\u2019s nephew, said in the news release. \u201cIt is amazing and incredible that \u2018Marge\u2019 has been found and identified.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Dick Bong is credited with shooting down 40 Japanese aircraft during World War II.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":7,"featured_media":72744,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_yoast_wpseo_meta-robots-noindex":"","_yoast_wpseo_meta-robots-nofollow":"","_yoast_wpseo_canonical":"","_acf":"","_yoast_wpseo_primary_category":86,"_jetpack_feature_clip_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","_smg_distribution_targets":{"2":{"categories":["military-history","veterans"],"primary_category":"military-history"}}},"categories":[101,86,26,21],"tags":[],"coauthors":[3040],"class_list":["post-42085","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-daily-news-roundup","category-military-history","category-newsletters","category-veterans"],"acf":{"subheadline":"","legacy_arc_id":"FSKGKPW67VBVLOQF2JCIY5TEWA","arc_canonical_url":"\/veterans\/military-history\/2024\/05\/23\/explorers-discover-possible-wreckage-of-wwii-ace-richard-bongs-plane\/","remove_feature_photo":false,"is_sponsored":false,"subtype":"","redirect_url":"","disable_inline_ads":false,"native_logo_pretext":"Presented 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