So whats the problem in PNG

[ProudKerman]

I recently read Classic Wings where one person says that they know of a couple of P-40s, a P-38, Seafire and Corsair aswell as a B24 being broken up in PNG in the last couple of years.
I know of a number of wrecks I'd personally love to recover if I had the funds but I know its impossible of what cost tons because of the laws.
Obviously they could get so much more than scrap value for these things but they won't allow it.
So why not the museum there is abit useless with recoveries so why not let others there's so many still there and i don't think too many people actually go to PNG to see the wrecks unless they're scouting for a recovery which they can't do anyway.
Is there a way it can be done, I saw a doco where one of the big US guys, Yeagen or Weeks sent the Aussie's from Precision to PNG to find a P-38, they found one and spoke of recovering it the next year and that was recent so there must be a way.

 

[nuuumannn]

Internal politics is probably the simplest answer. Tribal differences. These island nations work so very differently to our own societies; their views of historical events have a different value to our own. Remember, PNG is a Third World country and finances are not going to be spent on pointless things like the recovery of wrecked war relics for the express desire of a few rich white folk and a bunch of aviation enthusiasts sitting at home in front of their computer terminals. These things cannot be seen as a direct benefit to PNG itself.

In PNG, each region is governed over by its own government, which is largely tribal in nature and each different area has different policies on different things. This is similar to many island nations.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Papua_New_Guinea

First, you have to get around the system, figure out who it is you need to talk to and where, bearing in mind that these people have very different needs to our own, so our Western means of dealing with such matters almost universally fail. Our greatest failure in dealing with island nations such as PNG is underestimating how they work.

 

[ProudKerman]

So if you made friends with the individual governments and offered something they need or want instead of money you may just get permission?
I've been told that the museum controls all the wrecks and won't let anyone recover them.

 

[nuuumannn]

So if you made friends with the individual governments and offered something they need or want instead of money you may just get permission?

Yep. In Western society the Golden Handshake is considered a bribe and frowned upon, but many societies around the world respect this method of trade. Its existed for centuries.

Getting round the museum owners is likely to be very difficult; one has to figure out the best way to appease these guys; what is it they want that you have that will allow them to see your point of view.

Island societies in the Pacific have been built on traders from foreign countries doing their thing; some of these guys have been immortalised in these societies. Ever been to Rarotonga? Heard of Trader Jack's? What about Samoa? Aggie Gray's?