WW2 aircraft wrecks in New Guinea.....

Flightpath · 11-23-2007, 03:31 PM

Hi,

In 1987 I was lucky enough to work in New Guinea for one month and of course hoped for some time off to look around for aircraft wrecks.........

When I arrived in PNG I had two special things with me, an AAF 1944 silk escape map of New Guinea/New Britain and an original photo taken from a B-24 bombing Cape Hoskins airstrip on New Britain in may 1944.
To my surprise I was told that I was to work for two weeks on the island of New Britain and the next day we actually landed at Cape Hoskins airport. At the airport I showed the map and photo to some MAF pilots and during a very interesting talk they told me that there were some japanese aircraft just off the runway where the control tower and revetments used to be!
Here's the original AAF photo with some aircraft arrowed.........

I went with one of them into a plantation next to the runway and found what was left of two Val dive bombers amongst the trees.
One was half sunk into the ground with the engine attached but the centre section missing, the other was on it's u/c minus wheels, half a wing, engine and centre section.
I cleared the jungle from it and had this photo taken, we had some metric tools with us and ............. well you know

That night I had a close look at the photo with a magnifying glass and found the wing shapes of Val dive bombers right where we found the two aircraft that afternoon.
Here's a close-up..........they look u/s to me as does the runway!

During my stay on the island we made a couple of trips into the jungle to hunt for rumoured aircraft but one turned out to be a drop-tank (now cut up and made into cooking pots) and another was a japanese army truck......... a great adventure to an interesting place though.

cheers,

-Flightpath
P.S.
After I arrived back in Melbourne I visited a friend whose father was in the Australian Army fighting the japanese on New Britain, he asked me if the island still shook every afternoon, I said that it still did, he said that he and his fellow soldiers were more scared of the island blowing up than of the japanese!

ccheese · 11-23-2007, 03:47 PM

Flightpath.... I envy you greatly. I got to Okinawa in the middle '60's hoping
to see something. Most of the pillboxes, etc were fenced off and no trespassing signs posted. I couldn't even find a tour to take me to any of the war zones. I was told "too much live ammo laying around" was the reason. Foo....

Charles

syscom3 · 11-23-2007, 05:04 PM

Thanks for the pics!!!!

If you have anymore, please post them.

Flightpath · 11-23-2007, 05:10 PM

I have been lucky ccheese,

since moveing to Norway I have also been to two RAF crash sites only 1/2 hour from my home.
One was a Sunderland shot down by an ME110, the other was a Armstrong Whitworth Whitley, both went down in 1940. The Sunderland had 10 crew on board, 9 died, the wireless Op. came out without a parachute when the aircraft broke up at 1000 meters. Sgt. George fell through trees and landed in snow, rescued by norwegians, he was in hospital then a POW and went on to live through the war into the 80s visiting his rescuers here Norway a number of times.

In 1950 a norwegian; Mr Erling Strangebye, was visiting Bremen, Germany and found a small silver cup in an antique shop. The cup had: 'Leutnant Lent, Fornebu 9-4-1940 Sunderland' engraved on it.... the ME110 pilot's cup for the shootdown. He bought the cup and kept it for many years until 1972 when he saw a program on TV about the Sunderland shootdown, they interviewed Mr George who was visiting Norway, Mr Strangebye contacted Mr George, met up with him in Oslo and presented the cup to him!
cheers,

-Flightpath

Heinz · 11-23-2007, 05:16 PM

wow some fantastic sights you have seen mate.
Thank you greatly for sharing them

ccheese · 11-23-2007, 05:34 PM

Flightpath.. Thanks for sharing.... hope to hear more.
Call me Charles

Flightpath · 11-23-2007, 05:41 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Heinz

wow some fantastic sights you have seen mate.
Thank you greatly for sharing them

The Sunderland crew are resting in Sylling churchyard along with one of the crew of the Whitley.
Three of the Sunderland crew were aussies in the RAF so the churchyard and crash site are special places for me to visit.......... there's still many Sunderland parts there inc. an airleron stuck in the ground right next to the main road to indicate the way up to the crash site........ how long would that last in Australia or the US?

There's a few more aussies resting in Norway along the west coast, most from 455 squadron.

cheers,

-Flightpath

Micdrow · 11-23-2007, 07:01 PM

Very cool Flightpath along with some very interesting stories. Something you will not forget anytime soon.

Heinz · 11-23-2007, 08:07 PM

Lovely shots mate. Good to see the fallen can rest out their days in a peaceful looking place.

ccheese · 11-23-2007, 08:31 PM

Thanks for the 'heads up', flightpath. Great shots and something we can all
equate to. I honestly believe that most of the members of this forum have,
in some way, been touched by WW-II. Grand-fathers or Uncles who
participated in the war, who have left mementos, which have been
passed on to present generations.

As my Aussie friends would say, "Good on you, Mate".... and thanks....

Charles

Flightpath · 11-24-2007, 02:05 AM

Here are a few mor photos of the Sunderland crash site....

The Sunderland was from 210 squadron RAF, on the 4th April 1940 it flew from Scotland to see what the germans were doing in Oslo on the first day of their invasion. There were already ME110s on the ground at Fornebu with aircrews relaxing in the sun, they saw the Sunderland approaching, took off and chased it for a short time, attacking it over the forest between Sylling and Vikersund....... it expolded and the wreckage was spread over a large area.....

cheers,

-Flightpath

lesofprimus · 11-24-2007, 06:27 AM

Great stuff.... Very interested in ur story about the silver sup...

Flightpath · 11-24-2007, 07:15 AM

Hi lesofprimus ,

You might have heard of Lt. Helmut Lent of ZG76, he was a well known pilot but did not survive the war. He was very highly decorated during the war with the knights cross oakleaves then w/swords, and then with diamonds.

Here is a copy of a page from the book Fornebu 9. April by Cato Guhnfeldt telling the cup story ......... in norwegian (sorry)

cheers,

-Flightpath

lesofprimus · 11-24-2007, 07:20 AM

Yes, I am quite aware of Helmut Lent, which is why this story is great to hear.... Thanks for the shot, but my Norweigian has somewhat diminished to nothingness over the years....

Kindly translate it for me???

Flightpath · 11-24-2007, 08:08 AM

Hi,

this is as close as I can get..........

In 1950 the norwegian Erling K Strangebye was liveing at an american hotel in Bremen. He worked as an escort officer for an international organisation for placeing the many uprooted people.
One day he went into the hotel’s antique shop his eyes caught 12 small silver cups with the luftwaffe emblem on them.

All had the name “Leutnant Lent” on them with a date, place and aircraft type.
What he had found was 12 of around 60 small silver cups that Leutnant Lent had received from the luftwaffe, one for each shootdown up until 1943.
Three cups refered to shootdowns in Norway, one of them had “Leutnant Lent Fornebu 9.4.1940 Sunderland” this was when Leutnant Lent shot down the british flying-boat.

Strangebye bought the cup for $50. In 1967 he finally moved back to Norway with the cup.
In April 1972 Ogwyn George (the survivor of the Sunderland) came to Norway to take part in a TV program hosted by Erik Bye. Two days later he wemt to the Hotel Continental in Oslo and gave Leutenant Len’s Sunderland cup as a gift to Mr George.

cheers,

-Flightpath