MIflyer
Captain
From PJ Media:
Eighty-two years is a long time for a piece of an airplane to wait in a jungle. A battered wingtip from a P-38 Lightning now sits inside the Richard I. Bong Veterans Historical Center in Superior, Wisconsin. Its red paint is worn, and the metal carries the scars of time. Yet three faded numbers, 993, helped prove exactly what it was: part of the fighter once flown by Maj. Richard "Dick" Bong. America's highest-scoring fighting ace.
On March 24, 1944, 2nd Lt. Thomas Malone flew P-38 serial number 420103993 on a weather reconnaissance mission over New Guinea. Mechanical and electrical failure forced Malone to bail out. He survived, while the P-38 disappeared into the jungle.
Dick came home and married Marge in Superior on Feb. 10, 1945. Their wedding became local news because America already knew both names: the pilot and the young woman smiling from the nose of his fighter.
Their marriage would last only six months.
After combat, Bong became a test pilot and worked with Lockheed's new P-80 Shooting Star jet. On August 6, 1945, the same day an atomic bomb fell on Hiroshima, Bong's P-80 suffered an engine failure after takeoff near Burbank, California. He bailed out too low for his parachute to save him.
He was only 24 years old. For decades, "Marge" remained where she fell. In May 2024, a team led by Pacific Wrecks located the crash site. Confirmation came from those final three digits, 993, still visible on the wingtip. Eighty years of jungle could scar the aluminum, but it couldn't erase the identity.
In July 2026, the Wisconsin Air National Guard helped bring the recovered wingtip out of Papua New Guinea. It traveled through Guam and Hawaii, appeared at EAA AirVenture Oshkosh, stopped in Poplar, and finally reached Superior. On September 21, the Bong Center placed it on public display in front of its restored P-38.
Eighty-two years is a long time for a piece of an airplane to wait in a jungle. A battered wingtip from a P-38 Lightning now sits inside the Richard I. Bong Veterans Historical Center in Superior, Wisconsin. Its red paint is worn, and the metal carries the scars of time. Yet three faded numbers, 993, helped prove exactly what it was: part of the fighter once flown by Maj. Richard "Dick" Bong. America's highest-scoring fighting ace.
On March 24, 1944, 2nd Lt. Thomas Malone flew P-38 serial number 420103993 on a weather reconnaissance mission over New Guinea. Mechanical and electrical failure forced Malone to bail out. He survived, while the P-38 disappeared into the jungle.
Dick came home and married Marge in Superior on Feb. 10, 1945. Their wedding became local news because America already knew both names: the pilot and the young woman smiling from the nose of his fighter.
Their marriage would last only six months.
After combat, Bong became a test pilot and worked with Lockheed's new P-80 Shooting Star jet. On August 6, 1945, the same day an atomic bomb fell on Hiroshima, Bong's P-80 suffered an engine failure after takeoff near Burbank, California. He bailed out too low for his parachute to save him.
He was only 24 years old. For decades, "Marge" remained where she fell. In May 2024, a team led by Pacific Wrecks located the crash site. Confirmation came from those final three digits, 993, still visible on the wingtip. Eighty years of jungle could scar the aluminum, but it couldn't erase the identity.
In July 2026, the Wisconsin Air National Guard helped bring the recovered wingtip out of Papua New Guinea. It traveled through Guam and Hawaii, appeared at EAA AirVenture Oshkosh, stopped in Poplar, and finally reached Superior. On September 21, the Bong Center placed it on public display in front of its restored P-38.
