P39 discovered in Fiji

You have a good memory there Dave. Nice to see that JPAC are studying the site.

Sorry to dredge up a two year old thread, but an interesting development in this story has been reported on the Pacific Wrecks site here:

http://www.pacificwrecks.com/bboard/viewtopic.php?p=4655#4655

There is a P-39 fuselage and numerous other large parts in Lancaster, OH that, the last I heard, was looking for a new home. I wonder if this might be one of the above mentioned Tallichet Airacobras (as the Invader the group is restoring belongs to him as well)?

Here it is back in 2002:

The group there are restoring a C-45 and several military vehicles, for more info. see here:http://www.historicalaircraftsquadron.com/

Found this interesting.

Aviation Archaeology in the Marshall Islands

Hi Laurent

I think a lot of these were scrapped , some made it out to the states but there are none there now from what I could see.

Regards
John P

Going back to the P-39 recoevered in the 70’s by Tallichet/Armstrong/Darby, they were all recovered from Tadji and Tsili-Tsili airfields in main PNG whereas the above photo taken in the early 80’s on Woodlark island in Milne Bay province.

The only P-39 i know for sure that has already been recovered from Woodlark is P-39K 42-4312 now under resotration in australia to static display using the wings of P-39D 42-4368 also recovered from same island.

So, what happened to all the others. Still there ? Scrapped ? Recovered ?

Laurent

Hi Dave,

“Is it focusing on just the American collectors, or will there be a more worldwide approach to it? There are a few interesting stories here in New Zealand alone, Armstrong and Darby, John Smith, etc…”

Yes the book will be covering all of the major people pluss some of the lesser know. Mark12 has been a big help with contacts in the UK. I’ve been in touch with Mr.Darby a very nice gentlemen.

“I don’t know a great deal about either David Tallichet or Doug Arnold”

Between these two guys they were able to save some of the more important aircraft out their. Here is a small list of some of davids aircraft

3 P-51
10 PBY
All of the South American P-47 that came out in the mid-70s
9 A-26
7 or 8 C-123
O-47
4 SB2A
3 T-33
7 P-40

As you can see Dave this is a small list one of the things I’m going to be geting here sometime this month is the actual list of aircraft that David has owned over the past 30+ years.

As for Doug here is what I have off the top of my head I’m sure Mk12 and other can add to this list.

12 Spitfire
3 Hurricains
All of the Ex-India B-24
2 B-17

I’m hoping that I can get a list of all of the Aircraft that Doug owned also but I’m having problems with his son.

Cheers Crazymainer

Thanks Crazymainer, great to hear he’s still around, but even better to hear that you’ve recorded his story. Your book sounds fascinating and I hope it goes well. Is it focusing on just the American collectors, or will there be a more worldwide approach to it? There are a few interesting stories here in New Zealand alone, Armstrong and Darby, John Smith, etc…

I don’t know a great deal about either David Tallichet or Doug Arnold – in fact i know almost notheing about hi except he owned some warbirds in the 1970’s or so. So such a book would be great.

Setter, thanks for that too, interesting. The Armstrong/Darby P39 that came to NZ did I believe come directly here, along with the P47 (now in Aussie), a Beaufort (now in Aussie?) and several P40’s that were the founding aircraft much later of the excellent Pioneer P40 factory. The P39 and P47 were once resident for some time at Motat.

Hi Dave

Here are some of my recollections which may help with the P39 tangle here. These are my recollections and are thus very suspect accroding to my wife.

You are correct that the Darby /Armstrong example was one of these machines and was recovered in the Tallachet expedition. I don’t think it ever went to the US and I am pretty sure it went straight to NZ then to Australia – it was restored to static display condition and then eventually went to the USA and then restored to flyand now to Duxford.

Another P39 was aquired by Bob Jarrett of Fighter Jets Museum in SA and I think he brought it back himself and restored it to static. I believe that this is the one that Kermit Weeks purchased and went to Florida and may now be at Wangaratta with Murray Griffiths for restoration to fly on behalf of Kermit?

There is the one at Sid Beck’s collection in Queensland that was recovered form a crash landing site in Queensland and now has been restored as a static exhibit.

An ATC from Mt Isa also recovered one from Queensland and static restored it and this has now passed to Murray Griffiths and is to be restored to Fly at Wangaratta.

Murray also has the parts of 3-4 others from the Kuril Islands etc to form the basis of flying rebuilds for various parties here and overseas ( see recent Classic Wings and Flightpath Mags for more details)

It is my belief that there are 5-6 more P39’s in the US from the location that are awaiting restoration but it has to be pointed out that these aircraft were pretty heavily stripped and are thus a big job to rebuild and especially as the P39 is still not a glamor rebuild the business case for a flying rebuild is less profitable than say a P51.

My 2 Shillings worth your honor

Regards
John

David T.

Hi Dave,

Not only is David still alive but he is the only B-17 pilot that is still flying a Fortress mind you he has another person with him in the Cockpit.

I had a chance to sit down and interview him at Genesseo for the book I’m working on about the Early Warbird Collectors.

I spent over a three day period about 9 hours talking with him. We talk alot about the PNG recoverys and I’m presently putting the items together for a upcomming story.

I know alot of us have harped on David and some of his deallings but between him and Doug Arnold it can be saftly said that 1/3 of the know warbird Survivers are directly because of these two Men.

As for how does david fly these days lets say he still likes to land the 17 like he’s coming back from Berlin. A long Downwind with a VERY 😮 Short Base line up with the Outer Marker find the Numbers and then Hit the Numbers with a Very short roll out and then off the Runway.

Cheers Crazymainer

Charles Darby and Monty Armstrong recovered the P39 that is now flying with the TFC at Duxford, during that Tallichet raid on the islands. Maybe that’s one of them,

Is David Tallichet still alive?

Hi
It was my understanding that a lot if not all of these machines were recovered by Tallichet et al in the 1970/80s and were nearly all sent to the US where some are still emerging for restoration as time goes by- certainly there were none left when I visited in the late 80s and 90s.

Regards
John P

And what about those! This photo was taken some times ago (unfortunately not by myself but by Ch. Darby) on Woodlark Island. 4 P-39 can be seen and they were not the only ones remaining on the island at that time.

I know for sure that at least one has been recovered and is now under restoration down under. But what about the many others ?

Has anybody more info on the fate of the others ?

Laurent
Belgium

It must have it’s reasons why a plane can survive for more than 50 years without being discovered. But I know that the specialists will do the best they can to recover parts if this is possible.

Just wait and see.

J.V.

Hi Guys

There is a specialised US military team located in Hawaii that recovers the remains and does the practicle stuff that has to be done so rest assured it will be dealt with properly as they do in PNG whenever a machine is discovered there.

As for all the aircraft in PNG – you would be surprised how much has been recovered or scrapped – you really have to go searching now and if you do locate anything it is pretty difficult to get out of the country. Then there are to locals who are pretty out of control and a lot of people die there as a result – So it is no easy task.

Kindest regards
John P

For all the rarity of the P39, my primary hope is that this ‘recovery’ also involves the repatriation of the pilot if indeed his remains are still with the aeroplane…

I agree entirely. This should be the number one priority of any such recovery.

Loss

Good point Steve 🙂 , A rely somewhere might be very greatfull to cross the M.I.A. out at last, But I must say for me when a nice warbird goes in now days 🙁 , Yes I feel for the pilots family 🙁 , But I feel more upset for the loss of such great aircraft 😮 , Tally Ho! Phil 😉

For all the rarity of the P39, my primary hope is that this ‘recovery’ also involves the repatriation of the pilot if indeed his remains are still with the aeroplane…

There must be dozens of wrecks still littering the area, but as the PNG doesn’t do anything to ensure their protection or otherwise within half a century it all has corroded into blue aluminium powder heaps.

There are plenty of P-39 remains around but relatively little is done to these to restore (with some exeptions of course). Pity for such a charismatic aircraft type.

Cheers

Cees

makes one wonder how many OTHER wrecks still lie undiscovered in the Pacific. Hmmm…….. Would love to stumble on the wreck of a Ki-61 in Papua New Guinea. 😀