Apologies for the poor image and sound quality of this video. It was "homegrown" in 1986 when TIGHAR was in its infancy.
B-17E 41-2446, aka "Swamp Ghost", landed intact in the Agaiambo Swamp, Oro Province, Papua New Guinea in 1942. Evaluated for recovery by TIGHAR in 1986. The airplane was not recovered at that time because the PNG government put a moratorium on all WWII wreck recoveries due to rampant piracy by collectors like Tallichet. Many years later, an American contractor paid off PNG officials and lifted the plane out using a chartered Russian helicopter. The B-17 was impounded and sat on the dock in Lae, PNG until it was finally exported. It is now at the Pearl Harbor air museum.

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