scm65
October 5, 2006 at 2:14 pm

New Guinea P40 question

Hi,

During the fall of 1986 I tutored English in Papua New Guinea. I lived about 5 miles from the Lae airfield of Amelia Earhart/Saburo Sakai fame. I spent a week living in Salamoa, site of a large Japanese base. About a mile down the beach from the village there was a heavily corroded P40 wreck located on the edge of the beach, about 30 yards from the waters edge. The locals told me that the P40 was Australian flown; it had been damaged while attacking the Japanese base and had made a successful emergency landing on the beach. The locals also said that the Japanese had beheaded the Australian pilot.

Does anyone have any more information on this incident?

Unfortunately, I do not have any good pics of the wreck. My camera was lost shortly thereafter in a boating accident. The P40 was intact, but corroded to the point of being barely recognizable. I have Charles Darby’s Pacific Wrecks book and have looked at the Pacific Ghosts website, but neither have any information on this aircraft.

Thanks,

Steve

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By: scm65 - 5th October 2006 at 21:11

Thanks everyone! I submitted an update to Pacific Wrecks.

Steve

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By: paulmcmillan - 5th October 2006 at 20:53

pS> I do not believe the story about the attempted recovery in 1970’s…. As we have an eye witness in 1986! and the photo on the website looks more recent than 1970!

However, it MAY have been the victim of an attempted recovery since 1986!

Also see

http://www.adf-serials.com/2a29-E.shtml

for a history of this aircraft

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By: paulmcmillan - 5th October 2006 at 20:50

http://www.pacificwrecks.com/aircraft/p-40/A29-38.html

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By: paulmcmillan - 5th October 2006 at 20:40

Sounds very much like the P-40 which is pictured in ‘Epics of Aviation Archaeology’

Well done that man!.. Epics of Aviation Archaelogy Page 108. Same picture that Mark12 posted. Bruce Adams wrote the chapter on war-wrecks of the South-West Pacific

Says it is a P-40 Kittyhawk

Mark12… PS. Check your email :rolleyes:

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By: scm65 - 5th October 2006 at 19:30

That’s it!!! Although I rememer the beach being wider and the P-40 being farther from the water, the rest matches and I remember that the wheels were down. Any info on the pilot?

Thanks,

Steve

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By: Mark12 - 5th October 2006 at 19:15

Here is the P-40 at Salamaua taken by Bruce Adams some time prior to the mid 1970’s.

From memory, I think it was Bruce Adams who wrote ‘Rust in Peace’, a book I have yet to track down.

Mark

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By: scm65 - 5th October 2006 at 18:36

Hi Swiss Mustangs,

It isn’t either of those two in the pictures. This P-40 was on the sand part of the beach and close enough to the water that it was massively corroded. The only parts recognizable as P-40 were an upright V-12 engine, wing stubs and the remains of the center section.

Thanks,

Steve

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By: David Burke - 5th October 2006 at 15:12

Sounds very much like the P-40 which is pictured in ‘Epics of Aviation Archaeology’

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By: Swiss Mustangs - 5th October 2006 at 14:29

could it have been one of these two ?

A29-448 and A29-527

Martin