by Justin Taylan

1960s: Expatriate Interest
The idea of removing aircraft from New Guinea to another country for display or restoration did not begin until the later 1960s.  Salvage in this era, it was a relatively easy affair. Simply go to an old airbase and find the wrecks that had not been scrapped, pay the locals a bit of money, and haul them to a waiting barge.

There were no laws or rule regulating the remaining aircraft, aside from the 'War Surplus Materials Act' that was geared towards large scale scrapping. To salvage an aircraft in this era, salvage was an easy affair, as there were still plenty of wrecks that scrappers had passed over.

The first known salvage was in 1967 of A6M2 Zero 51553 from Kavieng. This Zero was in amazing condition and displayed near the airport. Australian Thomas King wanted to recover a plane from New Guinea before retiring to Australia. Even by the late 1960s these aircraft were seen as valuable and compensation was necessary to make the deal happen. King donated Wirraway A20-13 in exchange for permission to take the Zero. Problems with the New Guinea Government arose over the export, causing him to re-painted the plane with a bogus tail number and kill markings, to try and disguise its true identity as the well known wreck from Kavieng. Out of the country, the aircraft was sold to the USAF Museum, and is today restored to static display.

In the 1960s, expatriates working in PNG, like Bill Chapman, began to take an interest in the relics left in the country and transported some of them to a centralized location for display.  Chapman began the first Air Museum of Papua New Guinea, whose collection later became the present day PNG Museum Modern History Branch. On weekends, he worked to salvage several largely intact aircraft wrecks from around Port Moresby, his home.

P-47D "Sweetwater Swatter" 42-8066 was salvaged from a swamp after several years of work, and brought to town. There were not facilities for restoring the plane, so it was shipped to New Zealand's MoTAT for restoration and display. Later, in 1991, it was sold to Robert Greinert of Sydney who has been attempting to restore it to flying status over the past six years, but still not completed.

Chapman also attempted the salvage of F5A Lightning 42-13084, which was later salvaged by the PNG Museum under curator Bruce Hoy in 1978 and displayed at the museum in Port Moresby.

Another Expatriate in Wewak, Roy Worchester collected easily accessible relics to his property for display.  From the area, he salvaged Ki-61 Tony 379 from Cape Wom, transporting it on a log raft, then a truck to his property. After he left PNG, it was taken to the PNG Museum until the 1980s when it was sold to an American and exported to the USA. Later, it ended up at Weeks Fantasy of Flight Museum. Also, Worchester salvaged a Ki-43 Oscar. Again, it later went to the PNG Museum. Taken by '75 Squadron' in 2001 to Australia.

Salvagers From Far Away Arrive
In the late 1960s, outsiders arrived to get their own aircraft. Canadian Robert Diemert proclaims himself to be the first aircraft salvager and restorer to visit New Guinea. After working as a stunt pilot in the movie 'The Battle of Britain' he visited PNG, having heard stories about aircraft wrecks left there. He succeeded in salvaging several Japanese aircraft from southern Bougainville in 1968-9.

It is unclear precisely how many aircraft Diemert salvaged, or where each came from. Confirmed is the salvage of A6M2 Zero 3471 and possibly two other Zeros from Kahilli. It is also possible that these Zeros were already disassembled by another salvager when Diemert arrived. Back in Canada in 1970, he began restoring the planes in his farm and workshop with hopes of having them used in the movie Tora Tora Tora. Instead, they were later sold to several American museums.

Next Decade: 1970s: Warbird Era Begins

Return to History of Aircraft Salvage in Papua New Guinea