A Tale of Two Bombers: Forensic Recovery of WWII-era Aircraft Crash Sites in the Jungles of Papua New Guinea

Summary

This is an abstract from the "A Multidimensional Mission: Crossing Conflicts, Synthesizing Sites, and Adapting Approaches to Find Missing Personnel" session, at the 84th annual meeting of the Society for American Archaeology.

The successful recovery of human remains from aircraft crash sites is significantly impacted by the circumstances of loss, to include how the crash occurred, the size of the aircraft, and taphonomic factors. Two WWII aircraft crashes in the East Sepik and Madang Provinces of Papua New Guinea highlight these variables, and how the archaeological recovery strategies utilized were impacted by the resulting wreckage fields and remains distribution. The first case study involves the loss of twelve U.S. servicemembers aboard a B-24D Liberator, which partially broke up in the air after being struck by anti-aircraft fire, resulting in a crash site spread out over more than a 500-x-500 m area and distribution of remains over more than one loci. In contrast, the second case study focuses on the loss of an A-20G Havoc, a light bomber with two servicemembers on board that failed to return from a bombing run near Wewak, resulting in an extremely compact crash site in which both individuals were recovered primarily within a 2-x-2 m impact area. This poster will review the circumstances that led to these contrasting site types, the impacts to forensic excavation strategies utilized, and the resulting recovery and identification of the servicemembers involved.

This Resource is Part of the Following Collections

• Society for American Archaeology 84th Annual Meeting, Albuquerque, NM (2019)   •
• A Multidimensional Mission: Crossing Conflicts, Synthesizing Sites, and Adapting Approaches to Find Missing Personnel

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Record Identifiers

Abstract Id(s): 24398