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But that's where the encouraging news stopped. So what happened to the crew of the L-8? jQuery('#shs_slider_cont').hover(function(){ clearInterval(shs); },function(){ shs=setInterval(function(){ shs_animate(); },7000); }); The patrol was scheduled to last 4 hours, after which the L-8 would return to Treasure Island at around 10:30AM, and with fairly clear weather, good visibility, and everything appearing routine in every way, it was fully expected that the mission would be right on schedule. jQuery('#shs_slider_ul:not(:animated)').animate({'left' : left_indent},1000, .jQuery('#shs_slider_ul .shs_items:first').before(jQuery('#shs_slider_ul .shs_items:last')); He had a full team of salvagers and cameramen to oversee the process. World War II saw some of the greatest air battles in history. jQuery('#shs_next').click(function(){ A little over an hour later, at 7:42AM, the L-8 gave a radio transmission stating that they had observed a suspicious oil slick approximately 5 miles east of the Farallons and were going to investigate for possible enemy activity. }); I think joy just became a grandparent so send her some good wishes! jQuery('#shs_slider_ul').css({'left':'0'}); Whatever was behind it, the Navy believes that it was likely not voluntary, with the Navy’s board of inquiry concluding: Careful analysis of the evidence indicates no reason for voluntary abandonment of the airship…the board therefore believes that abandonment was involuntary. The wreck was "discovered" by the RAAF in 1972; The aircraft will be relatively easy to recover ‘Swamp Ghost' is the last surviving intact B-17E; The crew had an arduous escape Said Mike Gabriel: “My fervent hope was to do honor to the insignia and nose artwork that the Disney artists created back in the 1940s during the war, by doing a Swamp Ghost design that was totally convincing to the time in which the Swamp Ghost was flying. var left_indent = parseInt(jQuery('#shs_slider_ul').css('left')) -item_width; In February 1942, after America's first heavy bomber offensive raid of World War II, a bullet-riddled U.S. B-17E bomber crash landed in a remote swamp in Papua New Guinea because it was running out of fuel. The crew is doing great! The strange sight of the apparently free roving blimp floating and limping out of control was witnessed by people all over the area, and law enforcement trailed not far behind, wondering where it would inevitably come down. After the war, Monroe stayed in the military in various capacities and postings around the world. Crew aboard the Albery Gellatin sounded the alarm and manned their positions just in case, and the crew of the fishing vessel cowered in fear of the blimp dropping bombs. For decades the plane was known only to a few locals in nearby areas. var item_width = jQuery('#shs_slider_ul .shs_items').outerWidth(); Most of you know that Oscar passed away a year ago. The wreck was "discovered" by the RAAF in 1972; The aircraft will be relatively easy to recover ‘Swamp Ghost' is the last surviving intact B-17E; The crew had an arduous escape When authorities arrived it was found that the cockpit was empty and there was no sign of the two men who had been aboard. While the crew of the Swamp Ghost was redeployed on a new mission, their Flying Fortress was all but forgotten, about half-submerged in the distant swamp. During the attack, the Swamp Ghost was hit, but the plain didn’t explode. Throughout this whole time efforts were being made to try to make radio contact with the L-8 in order to know their status, but were unable to get any response from the blimp. There is additionally the theory that they abandoned ship for some reason, but if that were the case why did they not send any form of radio transmission to that effect or deem it necessary to take their life-raft or any of their survival gear and what would cause them to have to suddenly abandon in the first place? What happened to these two experienced men on a routine mission, under ideal conditions, and in an area free of an enemy presence? The Swamp Ghost was due to return to the New Guinean capital city of Port Moresby, but there was no way that the crew could make that happen with a punctured wing and the massive leaking of fuel. However, the plane never reached its destination. It never was determined why the crew would have stopped their mission after seeing the oil slick and head back to San Francisco without notifying anyone over their fully functional radio. Get the MegaPack collection now for this great price. The year was 1942, and the seas were considered to be a dangerous place to be, prowled by enemy Japanese submarines that stalked through the cold depths of the Pacific and had sunk dozens of Allied ships along the west coast, as well as even shelling a California oil facility. So, the pilot had to make a crash landing. THE last surviving crew of the Swamp Ghost, navigator George B. Munroe has died in America as Papua New Guinea’s best known war relic is prepared to be shipped out of Lae today for the United States to be restored by a private collector. Right around the evening time when it happened, that’s when it really gets weird, and [my wife] Dale leaves me alone.” Rossington and the rest of the band and crew – 20 in all – survived their injuries but struggled for years with the aftermath. But once again, only one of the reality series’ original cast members is returning for the latest batch of episodes. Of course you can’t have such a strange disappearance without having talk about aliens as well, and alien abduction has absolutely been offered forth as an explanation. Aero Vintage Review - Swamp Ghost DVD by Scott Thompson, November 2008 [ Read review on Aerovintage] Swamp Ghost: B-17E 41-2446 was timely in 2005 when it was released; it is poignant now in 2008. function(){ Since the Swamp Ghost became somewhat of a regional attraction, Alfred didn't take too long to find the crash site. The Swamp Ghost was due to return to the New Guinean capital city of Port Moresby, but there was no way that the crew could make that happen with a punctured wing and the massive leaking of fuel. Divorce. The pilots and the flight engineer, two of 10 flight attendants, and 96 of 163 passengers died; 75 passengers and crew survived. No bombs came, and the blimp continued to circle the area for full hour as the ships’ crews observed them through binoculars. The 13th season of Ghost Hunters premieres on April 8, marking its second straight year airing on A&E. When investigators were finally able to board that mysterious bomber that landed itself, they were left with more questions than answers. Besides the puncture and some minor damage to the blimp’s propellers from hitting obstacles the ship seemed to be in good working order. In response, a Pan American airline pilot reported seeing the L-8 near San Francisco’s Golden Gate Bridge at approximately 10:50AM, at which time it was reported as flying steadily and obviously under pilot control. At the location of the L-8 was the fishing ship the Daisy Grey, and a Liberty ship, the Albert Gallatin, both of which observed the blimp drop flares in the area and proceed to circle the vicinity, obviously attempting to detect a possible sub in the area. jQuery('#shs_slider_ul .shs_items:last').after(jQuery('#shs_slider_ul .shs_items:first')); Some strange vanishings seem destined to forever taunt us from beyond their veil of mystery. These are the cases that leave scant clues, very little trace of evidence, yet copious amounts of unanswered questions and bafflement. A US-based war relics lobby group, Pacific Wrecks, which is against the removal of the B17 bomber from its crash site in Oro province, announced First Lt Munroe’s death yesterday. In the wake of the pilotless crashed “ghost blimp,” the Navy immediately set up an investigation into the matter, calling in witnesses and any personnel directly related to the maintenance of the L-8, and a massive air and sea search of the area was carried out but nothing was turned up to explain the mysterious disappearance of the crew. However, when at around 9AM radio contact had still not been achieved with the L-8, search aircraft were sent out to find it and a general broadcast was made to aircraft in the area telling them to keep an eye out for the rogue blimp. } The primary feature on the DVD tells, in documentary style, the story of this unique airplane and freezes its status in 2005. In the San Francisco Bay area of California, a whole fleet of blimps was dedicated to this purpose, which was directed from Moffett Field, about 25 miles south of San Francisco. var total_width=jQuery('#shs_slider_ul .shs_items').length; Correct and incorrect assumptions about the 'Swamp Ghost' The aircraft was named by its crew. On August 16, 1942, one such routine patrol took off from Treasure Island in the early morning hours. var item_width = jQuery('#shs_slider_ul .shs_items').outerWidth(); There are so many questions orbiting this strange case that it is hard to even know where to begin, and none of them have ever really been satisfactorily answered. The new guys are working out great. . jQuery('#shs_prev').click(function(){ Ghost Mine season two contained everything one would expect to see in a Hollywood blockbuster, booby trapped tunnels, secret societies, gorgeous women, and an ending that very easily could have claimed the lives of the entire cast when the mine collapsed as they narrowly escaped its angry clutch. Another idea is that they were captured by the enemy, but at what point? Instead, it flew in shortly after the attack. The “Ghost Adventures” crew got way more than they bargained for when they grabbed their SLS and infrared cameras, EMF detectors, digital recorders and spirit box and headed to … Most of you know that Oscar passed away a year ago. These patrols often took off and landed at an airfield located on Treasure Island, situated within the San Francisco Bay, from which they fanned out to seek and destroy enemy subs with their weaponry, such as onboard depth charges and .30-caliber machine guns. The crew had two major problems: a punctured wing and the massive leaking of fuel. shs_animate_next(); The 'Swamp Ghost' B-17 comes home, unveiled in Long Beach The inside of the "Swamp Ghost," a B-17 E Flying Fortress brought back to the U.S. after being stranded in a swamp in New Guinea during WWII. During this time, the blimp made one very low pass about 30 feet over the waves, as if to get a better look at something it had seen, and at this point the crew could clearly be seen within the cockpit. So, the crew tried to make its way back to Port Moresby, New Guineas’ capital city. Aside from Kanan and Ezra, however, the fate of the other members of the Ghost crew were left pretty open-ended. There is also the idea that they had been involved in some sort of top secret testing of experimental radar that had gone awry. The crew did finally notice the situation taking place, but nowhere near in time to prevent the inevitable. jQuery('#shs_slider_ul').css({'left':'-300px'}); Why is there no scrap of evidence of where the two men went? Frederick “Fred” C. Eaton, Jr. had just spotted his target – a 10,000-ton enemy freighter. Indeed, it would be the last anyone would ever hear from any aboard, period. Then the pilot spotted a perfect place to make a crash landing. Mysterious Universe is a property of 8th Kind Pty Ltd, History-Changing Discovery of Funerary Temple of Egyptian Queen and Dozens of Mummies, Why We Don’t Get to See the Really Good UFO Documents, The Strange Story of Nikola Tesla and the Aliens, Astronomers Identify the Fastest Ever Spinning Magnetar, Argentine Rancher Believes Aliens Mutilated His Cattle, Creator of Roswell Alien Autopsy Film Comes Clean (Again? No SOS had been sent even though the equipment had been working, no weights had been dropped to adjust height in the case of engine failure, even though the engines worked just fine, and the parachutes and life raft had also not been deployed. One such case revolves around the brave crew of a military blimp, who went out to sea to protect their country only for their aircraft to return to shore without them or even any sign of what could have possibly become of them. Swamp Ghost in Hawaii 2014. Not long after this sighting, at about 11AM, one of the Navy search planes that had been scouring the area for the blimp saw it soaring up to around 2,000 feet, which was the limit of it’s recommended maximum altitude and at the point where it becomes dangerous for the craft’s gas pressure. The mysterious vanishing of the L-8’s crew has gone down as one of the most bizarre and perplexing air mysteries of the ages, pored over by numerous authorities and amateur sleuths who have all come to absolutely no answer to the conundrum. The transmission ended with the word “Standby..” It would be the last radio transmission the L-8 would ever make. THE last surviving crew of the Swamp Ghost, navigator George B. Munroe has died in America as Papua New Guinea’s best known war relic is prepared to be shipped out of Lae today for the United States to be restored by a private collector. Did they meet with some unknown disaster and were so suddenly overpowered that they had no time to make preparations or send out a distress call? shs_animate(); THE last surviving crew of the Swamp Ghost, navigator George B. Munroe has died in America as Papua New Guinea’s best known war relic is prepared to be shipped out of Lae today for the United States to be restored by a private collector. if(rcount < 3){ We have two printing plants and the paper is simultaneously printed in the capital city of Port Moresby and the industrial city of Lae. There was nothing particularly strange or out of the ordinary about anything on board the L-8 except the fact that the gondola door had been unhinged and the eerie absence of anyone aboard. As he lined up to unleash his payload, the bomb bay doors malfunctioned. One of the common ways to hunt for these evasive steel predators at the time was the use of blimps, which did patrols over the sea and escorted freighter convoys on the lookout for trouble. Did they abandon ship even though it was working perfectly? ), Mysterious Encounters With Evil Gnomes, Imps, and the Tommyknockers. © 2009 - 2016. At around this same time, another witness on the ground saw the blimp and later reported that it had appeared to be “bent” in the middle. Soon after, they were reunited with the US forces as hero’s and then sent back out on another mission! The crew and plane of "Flight 19." One of the most straightforward theories is that they simply fell out. As he lined up to unleash his payload, the bomb bay doors malfunctioned. So, the crew tried to make its way back to Port Moresby, New Guineas’ capital city. On the imminent export of the Swamp Ghost, Mr Taylan said the airplane wreck was on the Lae dock awaiting export aboard the Pacific Pathfinder, most probably today. Pacific Wrecks’ Justin Taylan, a vocal critic of Swamp Ghost’s “illegal export”, said in a media statement from New York: “As if tied to its imminent export, the last living Swamp Ghost veteran, George Munroe, died last week in the US.” Born on March 21, 1918, in Moline, Illinois, Munroe graduated as an engineer, joined the US Army Air Corps and completed flight training but, due to a shortage of navigators, was assigned to that role. David C. Tallichet’s* recovery of the B-17 High above recently captured Rabaul, New Britain, and piloting a fully loaded B-17E Flying Fortress, Capt. Strangely, the intensive search of the region turned up not only a complete lack of any trace of the missing men, but also a total lack of any people who had seen them. Swamp Loggers ended its fourth and final season in 2012, but that doesn't mean the beloved cast is forgotten. Joy and Bo are no longer with us. }); In the end, we may just have to resign ourselves to the fact that this is one weird case that is perhaps destined to forever elude us. Swamp Ghost in Hawaii 2014. During the attack, the Swamp Ghost was hit, but the plain didn’t explode. Following this discovery the aircraft was dubbed as the “Swamp Ghost” (it was not called this in World War Two) and unfortunately became a target for souvenir hunters who during the 1970’s removed instruments and guns from the wreck (the bomb sight had been removed and deliberately sabotaged and thrown into the swamp in 1942 by a crew member but pretty much everything else … The blimp was never out of sight of witnesses for very long and there was no evidence on the blimp at all that it had been attacked in any way by the enemy. Swamp Ghost - episode: 412205 On February 23, 1942, following America's first heavy bomber offensive raid of World War II, a bullet-riddled U.S. B-17E bomber crash-landed in a remote swamp in Papua New Guinea. Swamp Ghost - The Plane Today; Fact or Fiction? Then, at 9AM the L-8 finished whatever it had been doing and headed off north back towards San Francisco, which was a bit odd as it had been scheduled to continue to the Farrallon Islands. It was assumed at the time that they were merely maintaining radio silence and it also was not particularly uncommon for blimps to temporarily lose radio contact while out on missions, so no one was particularly worried at first. jQuery(document).ready(function() { Photo of the sagging L-8 over Daly City, California. After the Feb 23, 1942, ill-fated Swamp Ghost mission, Munroe went on to fly more missions as a navigator for more than a dozen more missions. } In 1943 the two crewmen were listed by the Navy as presumed dead, and to this day no trace of them has ever been found, their vanishing still a profound mystery. Why had they aborted their mission to the Farallon Islands and headed back to base without telling anyone? A giant container ship was discovered off the coast of Myanmar with no one on board and no clues as to where it came from. Finally, the blimp came to a stop by crashing into a house on Bellevue Avenue, coming to rest on the family’s car as it slowly deflated from a puncture in a shower of sparks sent down by its nudge into electrical wires. It was a very sad time for the guys. But shortly after the patrol turned north for the second leg of its journey, something very strange happened. The bomber is now on prominent display at the Pacific Aviation Museum. Suicide. However, the plane never reached its destination. In the wake of the pilotless crashed “ghost blimp,” the Navy immediately set up an investigation into the matter, calling in witnesses and any personnel directly related to the maintenance of the L-8, and a massive air and sea search of the area was carried out but nothing was turned up to explain the mysterious disappearance of the crew. jQuery('#shs_slider_ul .shs_items:first').before(jQuery('#shs_slider_ul .shs_items:last')); var item_width = jQuery('#shs_slider_ul .shs_items').outerWidth(); }else{ The crew of nine survived, and over the next six weeks battled malaria and heat exhaustion as they made their way to safety. The National | A Site By. jQuery('#shs_slider_ul:not(:animated)').animate({'left' : '-300px'},1000,function(){}); No explanation as to this sudden change of plans was given over the radio from the crew. Short (2:26) trailer of full film “The Swamp Ghost” . 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