WWII B-17 BlackJack in Papua New Guinea

This B-17 went down July 11, 1943 during WWII off the shore of the village known as Boga-Boga on a tiny Papuan island during a terrible storm. Amazingly, all of the crew members survived the crash with the help of the native peoples who ventured out into the surf in their dugout canoes to rescue the American aviators. To make a cool story even cooler, the co-pilot grew up a couple of towns over from where I did, in western PA.

The wreck sits perfectly preserved on a white sand bottom in about 150 feet of water. I'm a little narc'd up on this dive (hence the saluting and whatnot.)

Category:

Travel & Events

Tags:

• B-17
• scuba
• papua
• new
• guinea
• png
• diving
• BlackJack
• WWII

[seadeucei]

Did this dive back in '98 from the Paradise Sport.

The video helped the reminiscing!

But it missed what IMO was the most memorable part of the B-17, its tail machine gun.

The gun still moved as if it were greased yesterday!! Up, down, and sideways.

The control column was movable too.

BTW the documentary video that was made about it was named: "Blackjack's Final Mission"

It also shows the wreck underwater.

I enjoyed this; well done

[pixelkatt]

Thanks :-) I was seriously narc'd on this dive.

[herbies182]

love the b-17s, did you organise the dive with airways hotel n stuff. Yea how far deep was the dive,

[pixelkatt]

We were on the Mike Ball boat, Paradise Sport out of Port Moresby for the entire week. Great boat- highly recommended. The dive was fairly deep- about 150 ft.

[ossy3154]

This is a great video but I'm surprised that no-one has commented on the skills of the pilot.For all the crew to survive a crash landing at sea - in a storm - in a big aircraft - that didn't break up - wow! That was some pilot. He should be in the hall of fame!

[pixelkatt]

There's a full length documentary video on the event somewhere, but the pilot was aiming to land on the reef, but missed, which is one reason why the plane is still intact. That everyone survived is very much due to the fact that the Boga-Bogans went out and rescued the crew. It's a really cool story, all the way around.

[wreckdiver001]

Terrific video and an amazing story.

[tsns1]

Tunes are Perf!

[TheFreedownloads4u]

Great video! Click my profile and check out my free eBooks on how to beat the casino!

[destroyingsociety]

it would be cool if they found some bones

but whats the planes story??

[XMrAverageX]

pixelkatt, me too, the plan was that the Dive Guide was going to shake his rattle when we had 5 mins to start going up... we were all supposed to give him the OK signal. When we surfaced, he asked me why I did not respond. I said I had my head in a hatch and was narked out of my head :)

[XMrAverageX]

seadeucei I can tell you that the tail gun was still moving in 2005, I did the dive with Mike Ball, and it was probably my best dive ever, bloody boring deco stop though!

[lizk1811]

i am an ex serviceman, i have the utmost respect for these blokes and all the other anzacs that have served. every year i shed a tear at anzac day to remember, i cannot control this but it always happens. My 3 kids already know the spirit and sacrifice of the anzac.  all you criticizers please remember that these blokes, and the ones that are now serving are doing what you voted for!!!