WWII P-38 Pilot Reunited With His Plane

YouTube / Jon Bowman
A Happy Reunion
This P-38 Lightning was scrapped and buried in Papua New Guinea after the war. Seemingly lost and forgotten, it was dug up decades later and was shipped to Colorado for repairs in the hands of WestPac.

Frank Royal, a WWII veteran, walked in one morning as the workers applied the finishing touches of the P-38โs restoration. Royal talked to Bill Klaers, the owner of WestPac, and revealed that he had flown P-38s in the Pacific at one point.ย
Through sheer fate, the two realized that Royal had flown the P-38 Klaersโ company was restoring.

Their work on Royalโs Lightning, โWhite-33,โ was 90% complete when he visited in 2015. A year later, the National Museum of World War II Aviation announced that White 33 was now airworthy.ย

Of course, Frank Royal was in attendance during the whole ceremony. Now thatโs a happy ending!