Inside the Swamp Ghost Recovery

Flugmuseum Messerschmitt’s ‘109

By Kenneth Wallace Fields

B-17E s/n 41-2446 was delivered to the USAAF in Seattle, Washington on December 6, 1941. On February 23, 1942, her pilot, Capt. Fred Eaton, crash landed in after receiving combat damage after attacking Japanese shipping in Rabaul. She was recovered from the swamp 68 years later and now resides at the Pacific Aviation Museum on Ford Island, Oahu, Hawaii. Photo: Kenneth W. Fields Although unnamed when issued to the USAAF, s/n 41-2446 is known worldwide as Swamp Ghost. This aerial view of the crash site gives evidence to her well-deserved moniker. Photo: Kenneth W. Fields

was my great fortune to be raised in the household of my hero, my father, the late Lt. Col. John Wallace Fields, of Shamrock, Texas. He was a graduate of what By Kenneth Wallace Fields It was then called Texas Technological College, now Texas Tech University. Dad was already a pilot in the 7th Bombardment Group (BG) when the Japanese attacked Pearl Harbor. The 7th BG had been ordered to the Philippines prior to the attack on Pearl Harbor. My father was doing a fuel consumption check on a new B-17E on December 6, 1941, and was due to depart for Hickam Field on Oahu on December 7, en route to Codename “Plum,” the Philippine Islands. Some of his squadron mates had picked up their Flying Fortresses earlier and actually arrived during the Pearl Harbor at- tack, completely unaware and unarmed. Deconstruction of Swamp Ghost got underway in 2006. This photo was taken from a plywood makeshift helicop- ter landing pad. Photo: Kenneth W. Fields

The 7th BG personnel were then diverted to Australia. On fadi River, filled with chest-high water, kunai grass, and February 23, 1942, this group of a dozen B-17s com- saltwater crocodiles. The landing was successful, and prised the entirety of the heavy bombardment forces in the crew survived with only a few minor injuries, but they Australia, and they flew the first U.S. Heavy Bombard- found themselves in kunai grass so dense and water so ment mission there. Taking off from RAAF Garbutt Field at deep that it took them four days to get out of the swamp. Townsville, Australia, the mission was designed to bomb They were eventually found by natives and evacuated Japanese shipping at Rabaul, New Ireland, refuel at Port by an Australian resident magistrate, Allen Champion. Moresby, New Guinea, then return to Townsville. Nine The aircraft, 41-2446, remained with its ammunition and aircraft participated in the raid but only three reached the machine guns intact, until 1972 when it was rediscovered target, the rest of the formation was broken up by heavy by the Australians, who removed the guns and most of storms and forced to return to Townsville. One of the the live ammunition. The aircraft was visited later by the Forts to reach Rabaul on this maiden mission, flown by well-known Pacific aviation authority, Charles Darby, who Lt. Fred Eaton, failed to drop on the first run and made a removed most of the instruments. second, and possibly a third run, giving Japanese fighters ample opportunity to engage his aircraft. During the battle By the time I was 10 years old, I was devouring anything the B-17 received damage from 7.7mm machine gun and I could find related to my father’s 51 combat missions in 20mm cannon fire. After a 45-minute running battle with the Pacific, flown primarily in B-17Es, and occasionally Zeros and Claudes, the fighters turned back and Eaton in LB-30s, the export version of the B-24. One of the first attempted to make Port Moresby to refuel. However, accounts I read was in a book called The Fight for New Eaton spent so much time at war emergency power dur- Guinea by Patrick J. Robinson. The author recounts hav- ing the battle with the fighters, not to mention leaks from ing a steak dinner in Brisbane with a young pilot named a holed fuel tank, that Eaton’s B-17 lacked the necessary Fred Eaton, who suddenly fainted from the effects of ma- fuel to climb over the Owen Stanley Mountain Range, laria. Fred was the pilot of 41-2446 and, when interviewed which runs down the spine of New Guinea. Eaton elected by Robinson, was fresh out of the New Guinea swamp. to make a gear-up landing in what looked like a grassy I became acquainted with Fred when I began attending field on the northeast coast of New Guinea. The “grassy 435th Squadron and 19th BG reunions with my father. I field” turned out to be the Agaiambo Swamp near the Koi- also became acquainted with Glen Spieth, son of the late

## WARBIRD DIGEST # 67 In 1986, I went to Papua Glen Spieth stands on the wing of Swamp Ghost in New Guinea (PNG), having 2006. A pilot in the 435th BS, Spieth’s father checked gotten in touch with Bruce off the author’s father as a command pilot early in the Hoy, an Australian who was war. Their fathers each earned the DFC with Oak Leaf Cluster for missions they flew together.Photo: Kenneth then the curator of the Na- W. Fields tional Museum and Art Gal- lery of Papua New Guinea, which has authority over all war materiel and World War II artifacts in PNG. We chartered a Jet Ranger and flew through passes in the Owen Stanley Range to the Swamp Ghost site and jumped onto the wing as the helicopter hovered. The aircraft was half- submerged in water and almost completely covered in kunai grass. For many years Glen and I worked with a number of groups, including the Travis Air Force Base Historical Society, Admiral Nimitz 435th pilot Harry Spieth, who checked off my father as a Foundation, and National Museum of the Pacific War, to command pilot early in the war. Dad and Spieth were both raise interest in the recovery of this priceless connection awarded the Distinguished Flying Cross with Oak Leaf to our fathers’ service with the 435th BS. Our fundrais- Cluster for two of the missions they flew together. ing efforts continued without success, until 1998 when I received a phone call from David Tallichet, a warbird Through our friendship with Fred Eaton, and other collector, businessman, and restaurateur who owned a 41-2446 crew members, Glen Spieth and I decided to at- series of aviation-themed restaurants across America and tempt a recovery of 41-2446 in order to save it for poster- numerous World War II aircraft. Tallichet had been alerted ity. It was Glen who coined the term Swamp Ghost. In to my recovery efforts by a dedicated Swamp Ghost discussions with my father and Fred Eaton, we learned enthusiast, Rod Mish. Tallichet asked me to work with that none of the aircraft that were flown by the early him to recover the aircraft, and I was delighted to do so. nucleus of the 7th BG out of Australia, which soon became th th Being an attorney came in handy, as I drafted an Aircraft the 435 Bomb Squadron (BS)/19 BG, had been named. Recovery Agreement that was submitted to the National As my father told me, “we had neither the time, nor the Museum and Art Gallery in PNG, in accordance with their paint, nor the luxury of flying the same aircraft with any statutes. After many years of negotiation, Tallichet’s orga- regularity to fool around with naming them.” When 41- nization, Military Aircraft Restoration Corporation (MARC), 2446 bellied into the Agaiambo Swamp, she was there- was given contractual authority to recover the aircraft fore unnamed, but she will be forever known as Swamp Ghost. After being removed from the wings, the right wing’s engines are lifted by a Russian helicopter. Photo: Kenneth W. Fields

Banana boats ferry personnel up the Koifadi River during the 2006 recovery. Photo: Kenneth W. Fields

JUL/AUG 2016 ## Ken Fields (standing, left) and Fred Hagen (cockpit) survey Swamp Ghost in 1999. Photo: Wade Fairley and Taillchet asked me to help put together a recovery the wreckage of a B-25 Mitchell bomber that his uncle, crew. Quite coincidentally, through correspondence with Bill Benn, had disappeared in during the war. Fred’s expe- George Chandler, a P-38 Ace from Kansas, I learned that rience gave him intimate knowledge of aircraft recovery a friend of his, Alfred “Fred” Hagen of Pennsylvania, had operations in the very challenging environment of PNG. just visited Swamp Ghost! As matters developed, MARC handed off the Flying For- tress recovery rights to Fred’s company, Aero Archeology, I made a call to Fred Hagen, who ultimately turned out to LLC. be the key to our successful recovery of Swamp Ghost. My (then) new friend Fred Hagen turned out to be an ex- Fred and I returned to PNG in 1999 to survey the aircraft perienced New Guinea explorer, who earlier had located for the recovery mission planned for later that year, but

A WWII-era landing craft was used to deliver the recovery crew’s tools at the remains of a boat dock at Tufi where PT Boats were moored during the war. Photo: by Kenneth W. Fields

## WARBIRD DIGEST # 67 Above: Water drains from the starboard wing as it is airlifted by a Russian Mi-8 helicopter to the WWII landing craft. Photo: Kenneth W. Fields

Left: Papua New Guinea locals provided extra manpower during the recovery project. Here, natives take a break on the airbags used to lift the aircraft from the swamp. Photo: Kenneth W. Fields political difficulties intervened, and it was not until May were at first unsuccessful because we could never obtain 2006 that we were able to return for the actual recov- level placement of the multiple airbags as we inflated ery. Our team assembled at Tufi, a dive resort, and our them under the aircraft. One or more of them would tools and equipment were delivered on a LCT, which invariably shoot out, dropping the aircraft back into the was off-loaded with help from natives onto the trawler swamp, creating hazardous conditions for those working Raka, which Fred had chartered to take us up the coast in, under, and around the aircraft. One of the members to a point off Karaisa Village, where our equipment was of the film crew that Fred hired to document the recovery trans-loaded onto banana boats. We journeyed up the suggested filling the airbags with water instead of air to river to our base camp, Koifadi Village, which was about achieve more stability. When we tried his suggestion it two miles from Swamp Ghost. Each morning we would worked like a charm. be ferried out via helicopter to our “landing site,” which Once we raised the bomber out of the water, the engines consisted of a sheet of plywood lying on top of the kunai were removed followed by the horizontal stabilizers and grass near the aircraft. We began disassembling the air- the wings. Once the latter were removed, the fuselage craft into components small enough to be airlifted out of essentially turned into a boat, rolling and floating in the the swamp. This process took approximately three weeks. swamp water. To stabilize it, we secured the fuselage with a line from the nose and two lines from the vertical fin, Due to the water level in the swamp, it was necessary to then went through it with a compressor-operated water raise the aircraft out of the water for disassembly. Fred hose to wash the mud out of the fuselage. In the course had enlisted the aid of a couple of friends from Phila- of cleaning out the fuselage, we found additional live delphia who specialized in recovery of overturned semi- 50-caliber rounds as well as spent 50 and 30-caliber shell trucks and tractor trailers. They would raise these trucks casings. upright by filling giant airbags underneath them. This is the process we attempted with Swamp Ghost, but we In 1972, the Australians had removed all of the machine

JUL/AUG 2016 ## guns except the twin 50-calibers in the inaccessible remote belly turret. Due to the fact that it lay relatively undisturbed for over five decades, 41-2446 is the only surviving B-17 that possesses a remote belly tur- ret, as opposed to the ball turret found on later B-17s. The remote turret was wholly faired-in with alu- minum and the gunner lay on his belly on a piece of armor plate and attempted to look through a series of mirrors to track attacking fighter aircraft. This remote turret system was functionally ineffective, and therefore it was soon replaced with the more familiar ball turret. After the aircraft had been disas- sembled and cleaned out, we were ready to attempt to airlift it out of the swamp. Fred had arranged for a barge to be anchored off the coast, and pallets were constructed on the barge to cradle the fuselage. To airlift the Fort out of the Aga- iambo, Fred hired a Russian Mi-8 Hip heavy-lift helicopter because it was the only aircraft in PNG with the required lifting capability. The pilots and most of the crew were Russian, but the loadmaster was a New Zealander. An attachment had been fashioned that we hoped would allow the fuselage to be lifted out of the swamp in a stable fash- ion, but none of us knew for sure what would happen. We hoped Swamp Ghost after being delivered to the Pacific Aviation the fuselage would withstand the Museum on Ford Island, Oahu, and reassembled for lift and would not weathervane display. The museum has since moved Swamp Ghost into or suffer some other unforeseen a historic seaplane hangar. Photo: Kenneth W. Fields problem. It was, however, the only way to get the fuselage out of the swamp, and the greatest care was taken to optimize our chances of success. engines, starboard engines, and the port wing. Just as When the Hip arrived, my Aussie friend Billy Smith and the helicopter disappeared over the horizon with the wing, I were stationed behind the vertical fin on the port side I heard Randal Einhorn, the director of the documentary and the starboard side, respectively. The Mi-8 hovered film crew, exclaim, “Fred, they dropped the wing.” The and slowly tightened the tension on the lift device. When signaled by the loadmaster, we severed the lines from wing had severed the attach lines; however, it fortunately the tail fin and the aircraft lifted out of the swamp beauti- wafted downward and back into the swamp with minimal fully, straight as an arrow, and took flight for the first time damage. The helicopter returned for the starboard wing, since February 23, 1942. The recovery crew remained in which was successfully removed, and then the port wing the swamp while the fuselage was deposited success- was once again recovered and placed on the barge. fully on the barge, and the chopper returned for the port At this point, there was a sizeable, water-filled depression

## WARBIRD DIGEST # 67 grateful for the assistance of the local Yuko Clan and Chief Nokoro Yaki. On the same day the aircraft was successfully recovered, we struck camp and loaded into banana boats to head back down the Koifadi River to rejoin the Raka on the coast. There was considerable talk at this point that the river had been blockaded downstream, and while I have yet to learn if this was so, we made a rest stop downstream at a village and discovered that the Russian helicopter crew had coincidentally landed there to rest. Rather than face any rumored blockade downstream, we requested airlift on the Russian helicopter to Tufi. This was for- tunately granted, as by this point we were thoroughly exhausted. Instead of spending a couple more days sleeping on the bow of the Raka, by that evening I was instead enjoying drinks in the bar of the resort at Tufi with Fred and a jubilant recovery crew. The food, showers, and libations were wonderful. I can attest that a few weeks in the Agaiambo Swamp is a great weight loss program.

Due to the many years of delays and obstacles that were placed in the way of the recovery effort, pilot Fred Eaton and all of the other crew members of Swamp Ghost had passed away by the time the final components were lifted out of the swamp. The aircraft was delivered to the port of Lae, where additional impediments were ultimately overcome, and the aircraft was finally returned to Long Beach, California, where its fuselage was unveiled on June 12, 2010.

The Swamp Ghost has now been transported to Ford Island on Oahu, Hawaii, and is currently on display inside a historic seaplane hangar at the Pacific Aviation Museum near the famous battleship USS Missouri. The Pacific Aviation Museum may be visited by obtaining tickets at the Pearl Harbor Mu- seum adjacent to the Arizona Memorial. Visitors are transported by bus from the Pearl Harbor Museum to Ford Island for a tour of the Missouri and the Pacific Aviation Museum. The Pacific Aviation Museum is currently raising funds to preserve Swamp Ghost, in- where Swamp Ghost had rested for 68 years! The feeling cluding its battle damage and the wear and tear from I had at that moment was of accomplishment and great 68 years in the swamp. An appropriate display area is be- emotion that we had succeeded in a task so physically ing developed to highlight its historical significance. It was and politically difficult, and so meaningful to all of us who the single most sought-after, intact aviation artifact from had been privileged to know the original Swamp Ghost the Pacific War, and we saved it! Swamp Ghost will reign crew. I produced a flask of Glenmorangie Scotch that I as queen of the Pacific Aviation Museum collection, and I had brought to my father from Edinburgh years before, will be forever proud of my role in her recovery, which of- with which Fred and I toasted Swamp Ghost, her crew, tentimes seemed impossible. They say the difficult takes and the members of the 435th BS “Kangaroo Squadron.” some time and the impossible takes a little longer, or, in Throughout all of our efforts in the swamp, we were very this case, a little over two decades!

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