one wing wasn´t at the crash site. the engine was present, but was too difficult to extract, i do have photos of it as it was found in the jungle.
in the mid eighties the plane was in more or less one piece from nose to tail including one crumpled wing. the cockpit and nose cone were intact.
at the next visit to the site disaster had struck, local farmers had started to cut it up for scrap, but luckily, at this point the plane was rescued before any further damage was done. the aircraft was recovered from the jungle along with the pieces
...bell P39D
project
my bell p39d was discovered at the end of a runway in the highlands of
one of the islands off the coast of papua new guinea. it belonged to 44th
pacific fighter group US airforce.
it must have crashed, after being shot down early in the war, and
