The ‘Swamp Ghost’ B-17 comes home, unveiled in Long Beach | 89.3 KPCC
More than six decades after a B-17 E Flying Fortress ran out of gas and crash-landed in a Papua New Guinea swamp, the World War II plane has returned to the United States. Aviation archeologist Fred Hagen presented it Friday at the Reef Restaurant in Long Beach.
Excerpt found on 66.226.4.226
The inside of the "Swamp Ghost," a B-17 E Flying Fortress brought back to the U.S. after being stranded in a swamp in New Guinea during WWII. It was unveiled Friday at the Reef Restaurant in Long Beach, Calif. The aircraft was one of the first to set out on the Pacific Theater during the war.
More than six decades after a B-17 E Flying Fortress ran out of gas and crash-landed in a Papua New Guinea swamp, the World War II plane has returned to the United States. Aviation archeologist Fred Hagen presented it Friday at the Reef Restaurant in Long Beach.
Less than three months after Pearl Harbor, a nine-member crew flew what is fondly referred to as the "Swamp Ghost" over New Guinea in an ill-fated bombing mission.
Hagen and B-17 enthusiast, restaurateur and antique aircraft collector David Tallichet spent more than $1 million on excavating the aircraft.
"It was our greatest dream because for some reason it captured the imagination of people from around the world," Hagen said. "Because of its completely intact nature, because it was located in one of the most remote and inaccessible swamps on earth, because of the extreme difficulty, logistical difficulty of getting the equipment on site to salvage it and the political problems inherent in that salvage it was widely considered that it was impossible to salvage this airplane."
For more than 30 years, the aircraft had remained in the 5-foot deep swamp until an Australian Air Force crew found it in 1972.