SUPERIOR, Wis. (AP) — This Memorial Day weekend we remember a Northwest Wisconsin native and World War II fighter ace, Richard Bong.
Last week, an expedition in the south Pacific said they believe they have located the wreckage of his famed fighter plane, a Lockheed P-38 Lightning, named “Marge” after his girlfriend.
Bong, from Poplar in Douglas County, shot down 40 Japanese aircraft in World War II. A Veterans Historical Center in Superior named in Bong’s honor teamed with World War II historical preservation group Pacific Wrecks to search for Bong’s plane, which crashed in the jungles of Papua New Guinea while another pilot was at the controls.
Pacific Wrecks’ leader announced last week that his expedition discovered the plane’s wreckage.
Bong was killed in a plane crash in 1945 while serving as a test pilot.
