Ever Wonder What Happened to Richard Bong’s P-38 Fighter Plane, ‘Marge’?

Richard Bong was a famous American fighter pilot during World War II. Known for his incredible flying skills, Bong piloted a special plane named “Marge” after his girlfriend. But what happened to this famous aircraft? Justin Taylan, director of a nonprofit group called Pacific Wrecks, wants to find out. Let’s take a deeper look into the story behind this search.

The Email That Sparked Curiosity

In September 2023, Justin Taylan received an email from a museum curator. The email asked if the renowned P-38 plane was still in Papua New Guinea, where it had crashed in 1944. Taylan, who has been researching World War II aircraft crash sites for nearly 30 years, was puzzled. He responded honestly, saying, “I don’t know. But let’s find out.”

The Plan to Search for Marge

Several months later, Taylan is getting ready to lead a team to Papua New Guinea. His goal is to locate and document the wreckage of the famed plane in partnership with the Richard I. Bong Veterans Historical Center in Wisconsin. The area where the plane might be is very remote and mountainous.

Taylan mentioned, “I can’t promise anything to anyone. It’s possible that local people have removed the wreckage for scrap metal. Or, an earthquake or tornado might have buried it under tons of earth. But there’s no way to know until we get there.”

Richard Bong’s Aerial Feats

Richard Bong was from Wisconsin and enlisted in the U.S. Army Air Corps in May 1941. He started flying a P-38 Lightning, a powerful plane with two engines that could climb 3,300 feet in one minute and reach speeds of 400 mph. This was about 100 mph faster than other fighters at the beginning of World War II. The P-38 was armed with four .50-caliber machine guns and a 20 mm cannon.

Bong quickly proved his skills as a pilot. He achieved his first aerial kills in December 1942 over Buna, New Guinea. By January 1943, he had five aerial victories, earning him the title “ace.” In April 1944, he surpassed the 26 aerial kills of America’s top World War I ace, Edward Rickenbacker, becoming the highest-scoring ace in U.S. history. The record still stands today. Throughout his career, Bong received numerous awards, including the Silver Star, Distinguished Service Cross, and Medal of Honor.

The Plane Named “Marge”

In February 1944, Bong was given a new P-38. He named it “Marge” after his girlfriend, Marjorie Vattendahl. He even placed a large portrait of her on the nose of the plane, along with a scoreboard tallying his aerial kills. The public loved the stories about Bong’s flying skills and his dedication to his girlfriend.

While piloting “Marge,” Bong achieved three aerial victories. Unfortunately, on March 24, 1944, another pilot named 2nd Lt. Tom Malone was flying Bong’s plane on a weather mission over New Guinea when electrical problems forced him to bail out at about 11,000 feet.

Bong continued flying other planes, amassing a total of 40 aerial victories. He returned to the U.S. in early 1945, married Marjorie Vattendahl, promoted war bonds, and became a test pilot for the first jet fighters. Sadly, Bong died in a crash while flying a P-80 Shooting Star jet fighter on August 6, 1945, the same day the atomic bomb was dropped on Hiroshima.

The Search Begins

Earlier in 2023, Briana Fiandt, curator at the Bong Historical Center, met people with ties to Papua New Guinea. She became curious about the fate of “Marge” and started researching. She was surprised to find that nobody had searched for it before. Fiandt reached out to Taylan, who has visited over a thousand aircraft wreck sites in the Indo-Pacific region.

Taylan explained that he often searches for aircraft linked to missing-in-action service members to help the U.S. government account for them. However, no missing-in-action members are associated with “Marge.” The plane’s crash site was discovered by a U.S. Army patrol shortly after the crash. They paid little attention to it since pilot Malone had bailed out and the New Guinea landscape was full of crashed aircraft.

Taylan’s search team will include documentarians, archaeologists, and locals familiar with the area. If they find the site, they will survey it but not remove any artifacts. Portions of the search will be livestreamed at p38marge.org, depending on internet access.

Taylan is optimistic about finding the site. He said, “I’m confident that there will be something to find there, but it’s not going to be an intact airplane. It’s going to be a crash site. It’s going to look like perhaps a pile of junk. But this will be the most historically important pile of junk in the Asia-Pacific region.”

Watch the video below: