ALLEGIANCE
WWII
B-17E Flying Fortress
The story of a B-17E Flying Fortress that ran out of fuel on an ill-fated bombing mission in early 1942 and was ditched in the Agaiambo Swamp about eight miles inland on the northern coast.
THE SWAMP GHOST
A Ghost No More... Salvage of Swamp Ghost
In late April - early May 2006, B-17E 41-2446 was salvaged. The salvage was funded by Alfred Hagen, with Robert Greinert acting on his behalf as 'Recovery coordinator'. According to news articles, participants were: Salvage team: Alfred Hagen, Robert Greinert, Joe Krzeminski (MARC) Sponsors: Alfred Hagen, Billy Hansfield, Paul Adams, Robert Reinhartz...
B-17E Flying Fortress Serial Number 41-2446 (aka "Swamp Ghost")
Salvage
Hagen and Greinert, along with a salvage team from America and Australia began the salvage of the wreck in late April until early May 2006. Salvager cut off the wings, engines and tail stabilizers. With a hired MI-8 helicopter, the parts were flown to the coast, and loaded aboard a barge, then shipped to Lae...
Papua New Guinea
Pearl Harbor Aviation Museum
Swamp Ghosts
In Papua New Guinea, a journalist investigates the controversy over a World War II bomber
Papua New Guinea—or PNG as it's called, sometimes with affection, sometimes in exasperation—is the kind of place tourist brochures describe as "the land that time forgot." It would be just as accurate to call it "the land that forgot time." Schedules are not rigidly adhered to. In the capital, Port Moresby, young men with no visible means of support hang out along the roads and markets, giving the place a laid-back feel but making it dangerous at night. The topography of mountains and jungle, beautiful but almost impassable, renders national identity elusive...
Alfred Hagen
"Meanwhile, Alfred Hagen had set his sights on the Swamp Ghost. A 49-year-old aviator and commercial builder from Bucks County, he describes himself as "a carpenter from Pennsylvania with grandiose delusions." For more than a decade he has been plying the jungles of PNG in search of downed aircraft.
