Swamp Ghost Untouched B-17

Maybe the best artifacts in museums aren’t from ancient long-forgotten civilizations but from the ones in living memory. Bob Small sent a link to a fascinating article in the Huffington Post concerning The Swamp Ghost, a B-17 bomber that crash-landing in the jungles of New Guinea after being damaged in a World War II bombing raid. It has been salvaged and is now on display at the Pacific Aviation Museum in Pearl Harbor.

Bob Small sent a link to a fascinating article in the Huffington Post concerning The Swamp Ghost, a B-17 bomber that crash-landing in the jungles of New Guinea after being damaged in a World War II bombing raid.

It has been salvaged and is now on display at the Pacific Aviation Museum in Pearl Harbor.

FYI, the crew of nine survived and made it back to safety after a six-week trek through the jungle. They were given a week’s rest and then a new plane.

Swamp Ghost Untouched B-17

2 thoughts on “Swamp Ghost Untouched B-17”

  1. Looks like a dash-E, lost sometime by the middle of May, 1942, when the services began painting out the meatball in the national insignia, because gunners tended to fire at anything red. The Navy issued orders to do this, at least, by that time. Maybe a little later for the AAF.

    It would be great if she could be restored, dare we even dream, to flying condition. I don’t think there is a flying B-17E in existence. I think the flying aircraft are all -Gs, with the chin turret. I could be wrong, though.

    I’m trying to see if I can see any colors on the upper surfaces, too. The Hawaiian Department experimented with a multi-colored camo pattern at the time of our entry into the war. It was a combination of olive, browns and tan. Some of those aircraft were redeployed to the South Pacific, some flew at Midway. I’ve got a pair of kits that I want to finish as Midway B-17s, so this stuff is interesting to me.

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.