Arrested Decay

The Swamp Ghost is a Boeing B-17E Flying Fortress piloted by Captain Frederick 'Fred' C. Eaton, Jr. Swamp Ghost was forced to crash land in a swamp... more

by American Landscapes

Title

Arrested Decay

Artist

American Landscapes

Medium

Photograph

Description

The Swamp Ghost is a Boeing B-17E Flying Fortress piloted by Captain Frederick 'Fred' C. Eaton, Jr. Swamp Ghost was forced to crash land in a swamp on Papua New Guinea during the Second World War on February 23, 1942 after an encounter with Japanese aircraft over Rabaul and having run out of fuel trying to avoid being shot down. All of the crew survived the crash landing and arduous trek out. For more than three decades, Swamp Ghost lay intact and virtually undisturbed, all but forgotten until the aircraft was rediscovered in 1972 in Agaiambo swamp by a Royal Australian Air Force helicopter and local press dubbed it the “Swamp Ghost." It is arguably the world’s only intact, and unretired, World War II-era B-17E bomber and is a one-of-a-kind example since it is the only B-17 in the world that still bears it's battle scars.

In 2010, the aircraft was shipped to the United States, and on June 11, 2010, was shown to a public gathering in Long Beach, California, that included family members of the original crew. The Swamp Ghost was received by the Pacific Aviation Museum in Pearl Harbor on April 10, 2013 where it is undergoing restoration while on display in Hangar 79.

Although “Swamp Ghost” is not the bomber’s historical name, it is the name history gave it.

Uploaded

June 16th, 2020