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Documentary

Richard Bong’s Lost P-38

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Description

Richard Bong’s name is closely associated with the P-38 Lightning and the aircraft called Marge. But the particular P-38 identified in Papua New Guinea in 2024 was being flown by Thomas Malone when it was lost in March 1944. Malone bailed out and survived; Bong did not die in that crash.

This documentary follows the distinction between a famous pilot’s career and the history of one airframe. Bong flew more than one aircraft, so his credited total of 40 aerial victories should not be assigned to a single machine. The identification of Marge relied on surviving physical evidence, including markings linked to its serial number.

The search also involved people and knowledge in Papua New Guinea alongside the investigating team. Records from Pacific Wrecks and the Bong Center explain how a known crash location became an identified aircraft. The story is richer when discovery, identification and later recovery are treated as separate events.

Sources and further reading: Major Richard I. Bong: Aircraft flown and assigned

Thomas E. Malone, 421st Night Fighter Squadron

P-38J-15-LO Marge, serial number 42-103993

Mission Marge

Historium research desk

Historical context

The history of Marge separates a famous pilot from a particular airframe, follows Thomas Malone’s survival and examines how researchers established the wreck’s identity.

Documentary

Transcript

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English (source subtitles)

This transcript follows the video’s narration. The companion article provides dated sources, historical context and editorial corrections.

0:00 Are you ready to hear one of the most fascinating stories of World War II?
0:05 The legendary warplane of Richard Bong, the most successful fighter pilot in
0:10 American history, was found exactly 80 years after it crashed.
0:15 But every detail of this story is absolutely mind-blowing.
0:21 During World War II, Richard Bong made history by shooting down
0:25 40 enemy aircraft, setting an astonishing record.
0:28 But his kill count wasn't the only thing that made him a legend.
0:32 It was also his iconic aircraft.
0:36 Bong named his twin-engine P-38 Lightning after his girlfriend Marge.
0:41 With a portrait of her painted on its nose and parts of
0:44 its fuselage painted blood red, Marge became one of the most feared
0:49 silhouettes in the Pacific theater.
0:51 But in March 1944, the aircraft suddenly disappeared.
0:56 Here's the twist.
0:57 When Marge went down, Richard Bong wasn't in the cockpit.
1:02 Instead, another pilot, Lieutenant Thomas Malone, was flying Marge on a reconnaissance mission.
1:08 The plane's engines failed and it crashed deep into the unforgiving jungles
1:13 of Papua New Guinea.
1:15 In 2024, exactly 80 years later, a research group called Pacific Wrecks
1:21 finally reached the wreckage.
1:24 The aircraft had slammed nose-first into the valley so violently that
1:28 its massive engines were largely buried in the earth.
1:32 The famous red paint was still visible.
1:35 But the definitive proof was the number 993 stenciled on a wingpiece,
1:41 the last three digits of the plane's serial number.
1:45 Tragically, Richard Bong never learned that his legendary aircraft had been found.
1:50 In one of history's most heartbreaking coincidences, Bong was killed on August
1:56 6, 1945, the very day the US dropped the atomic bomb on Hiroshima.
2:02 He was only 24 years old, dying in a crash while test
2:07 -flying a new P-80 jet in California.
2:11 Today, Marge's massive hull still lies where it crashed in the jungle.

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