Warbird Information Exchange

War plane guns seized

TWO machine guns supposed to be shipped out of the country with the controversial American WWII B-17E bomber dubbed “Swamp Ghost” did not have export licences.
Customs officers say the two machine guns were built into the plane but they had to have separate export permits.
Customs officers dismantled the guns and removed them from the plane and put them away safely.
The warplane has an export permit following an agreement signed between the National Museum Board of Trustees and American military firm Military Aircraft Restoration Corporation which allowed MARC to salvage the plane and restore it in the United States of America.
However, the plane will not be removed pending the outcome of the Public Accounts Committee inquiry on July 1.
The PAC is a parliamentary committee that protects and investigates the use of public monies and state properties.
Acting Attorney-General Fred Tomo said they were acting on a directive from the PAC to obtain a National Court injunction restraining the exportation of the warplane.
Mr Tomo said his lawyers were getting information to establish how the agreement to allow the salvage and restoration of the plane was signed in the first place.
PAC Chairman John Hickey said the museum management had told him that $US100,000 (K320,000) was given as goodwill money to the state and to the Oro Provincial Government and the landowners.
Mr Hickey said he had given the museum board of trustees and its management 24 hours to declare the plane a national heritage item.
He said if investigations show that the plane had to be retained, part of the K320,000 should be used to have the plane transported back Northern Province.

The Swamp Ghost saga
BY all means let Papua New Guinea make sensible diplomatic arrangements to retain the grounded World War Two bomber, dubbed the Swamp Ghost.
While the issue is scarcely in the same category as the Public Accounts Committee investigations, the numerous leadership tribunal hearings currently underway, or PNG’s battle against rape, sorcery and murder, a case can be made out for the downed bomber’s retention in this country.
At the same time, we should avoid knee-jerk reactions and acknowledge a few facts.
The aircraft presumably remains the property of the United States Air Force.
We imagine that it would have great historical significance to those Americans who fought in WWII in our country, and to their descendants.
We would do well to recognise why the Americans were fighting in our country at the time, and to calmly assess the contribution their involvement and that of the Australians made to the preservation of our freedom and the development of the independent state of Papua New Guinea.
Had those efforts failed, landowners in the area where the Swamp Ghost was shot down might not today own any land at all.
The Boeing B-17 bomber was downed in 1942, while returning from a raid on Japanese-held Rabaul.
That’s 64 years ago.
It would seem that during that long period, only the Americans have expressed any interest in the stranded plane.
According to a local historian, three attempts have been made by American groups to salvage the aircraft and return it to the United States.
To the best of our knowledge, no attempts have been made by any Papua New Guinean government or by the local landowners, to take advantage of the bomber, to preserve it, or in any way to create a tourist attraction from the plane’s presence.
The clear message PNG has sent to the outside world has been one of suspicion over attempts to salvage and preserve the plane, while making no effort to do so itself.
Let’s be honest.
This country’s reputation for preserving contemporary history, including WWII relics, has been almost entirely negative.
Almost all of the recognised connections with WWII that still remain in our country have been ignored, vandalised or simply forgotten.
Nor is our record with those remaining vestiges of our own history any better.
Only a tiny handful of our people displayed even the slightest interest in saving the birthplace of our independence, the House of Assembly.
It is almost inconceivable that given the chance to preserve that building for posterity, we allowed it to house squatters who ultimately destroyed any possibility of restoration.
Future generations will be scathing in their assessment of our apathy over that issue.
PNG is littered with battle sites, remarkable wartime and historical cemeteries, and a host of other relics rotting away in our harsh climate. Very few indeed have been carefully maintained and are available for tourist inspection.
There are dozens of fascinating wrecks in many of our harbours; there has been no attempts made to salvage any of these as aspects of our national history. In general, they have become havens for divers and fish, or have been plundered for anything of value that remained.
The Fairfax Harbour wreck of the Burns Philp passenger ship, the MV Macdhui, a far more important war relic than the Swamp Ghost, has been allowed to rust away to near invisibility.
The sea grave of many Port Moresby residents trapped when the ship was strafed on June 17 and 18, 1942, by Japanese bombers, the Macdhui should have been preserved as a maritime memorial park, a fitting tribute to the many innocent civilians who were slaughtered on board.
Our government should step back from the outburst of passionate nationalism that has erupted over the Swamp Ghost.
If it is thought to be a matter of national importance to keep this plane in PNG, then we should pursue the matter through appropriate diplomatic channels.
But at the same time, we should look back with candour at our own poor record of preserving or capitalising upon the huge range of wartime and
other historical relics that have waited in vain for funding, for the people’s interest, and for positive action to ensure their survival.

Minister wants report for NEC

By JULIA DAIA BORE
THE National Museum and Art Gallery had been directed to put together a submission for Culture and Tourism Minister David Basua to take to cabinet on all matters relating to the World War II Boeing B-17 Flying Fortress bomber.
The bomber, nicknamed the Swamp Ghost, was returning from an air raid mission in East New Britain when it crash landed on the Agaiembo Lake in 1942. It was recently retrieved from the lake and shipped to Lae where it was in the process of being dismantled and packed into containers for shipment to the US.
However, newspaper reports on these activities resulted in various government agencies intervening, including permanent parliamentary Public Accounts Committee chairman John Hickey and acting Prime Minister Sir Moi Avei.
The Swamp Ghost is now sitting idle at the main wharf in Lae, Morobe province.
Government authorities are also questioning the procedures used by the National Museum and Art Gallery board in permitting a group of Americans to retrieve and dismantle the Swamp Ghost for shipment overseas.
Internal Revenue Commission (IRC) chief David Sode, when contacted yesterday, said he had not received any export documentation from the Americans trying to ship the remains of the Boeing B-17 bomber.
“A lot will depend on the legal status of export authorisation from the National Museum and Art Gallery,” Mr Sode said, when asked if the IRC would block the shipment of the relic to the US.
Sir Moi had called on all relevant authorities do all in their powers to prevent the aircraft from leaving the shores of PNG while cabinet reviews the museum board’s decision.
Meanwhile, the chairman of the National Museum and Art Gallery board Arthur Jawodimbari is away overseas.
He is understood to be on a two-week prayer retreat in North Queensland, Australia.
Museum executives could not locate him yesterday to sign important documents explaining their position on the matter.
Acting director Simon Poraituk told The National yesterday that the chairman was out of the country and could not be reached to comment on the Swamp Ghost.
Deputy board chairman Andrew Kongri also refused to comment yesterday, preferring to wait until the full board of 13 members meets to discuss the issues at hand.

Let’s be honest.
This country’s reputation for preserving contemporary history, including WWII relics, has been almost entirely negative.
Almost all of the recognised connections with WWII that still remain in our country have been ignored, vandalised or simply forgotten.
Nor is our record with those remaining vestiges of our own history any better.

I wonder how much of the plane will be left in the next 30 years IF the Swamp Ghost doesn't come home. I remember seeing pictures of her when she was first re-discovered and a lot has disappeared including the swamp!

Time to bring her home.

I would grab the B-17 off the moutain and Split! _P.S. I would not even tell the help what were doing untill we were at the site!

Why doesn't the PNG Governement work out some kind of auction deal where they make available for recovery a number of airframes every year ?