A Wisconsin museum is partnering with a historical preservation group in a search for the wreckage of World War II ace Richard Bong’s plane in the South Pacific.
The Richard I. Bong Veterans Historical Center in Superior and the nonprofit World War II historical preservation group Pacific Wrecks announced the search on Friday, Minnesota Public Radio reported.
Bong, who grew up in Poplar, is credited with shooting down 40 Japanese aircraft during World War II. He flew a Lockheed P-38 Lightning fighter plane nicknamed “Marge” in honor of his girlfriend, Marjorie Vattendahl. Bong plastered a blow-up of Vattendahl’s portrait on the nose of the plane, according to a Pacific Wrecks’ summary of the plane’s service.
Bong said at the time that Vattendahl “looks swell, and a hell of a lot better than these naked women painted on most of the airplanes,” the Los Angeles Times…
