Crashed B17 unearthed in NZ.

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Silk

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A B17 crashed in 1942, killing 16 people. It was covered up during the war, the story being released only after 1945. Now the crash site is being developed for housing, so archaeologists are digging up the site to see what they can find before it gets covered over.

[video:google]https://www.tvnz.co.nz/one-news/new-zeal...o=5415994981001[/video]

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1943_Liberator_crash_at_Whenuapai

http://freepages.genealogy.rootsweb.ancestry.com/~sooty/b17flyingfortress1942.html

Whenuapai - whenua (fen oo ah) means land, pai means good. So, good land.

Whenua also means placenta, and traditionaly placenta are buried, the land nurtures the people, as the placenta nurtures the unborn. We buried all our childrens placenta, 2 are still in land owned to the family.

Kapai... like, sweet as.
 
My grandfather also had me interested in B17. He spent World War II on one during special missions for gathering and predicting weather. He even got to present weather to high brass the days leading up to d day.

He loved that plane.
 
Seems I made the same mistake that has probably plagued this story down the years - two US military planes crashed. With the blackout on reporting these incidents in the same area even locals probably argued what happened when. The B17 was the one with the bombs, and the one in the development zone.
 
Originally Posted By: Silk
Seems I made the same mistake that has probably plagued this story down the years - two US military planes crashed. With the blackout on reporting these incidents in the same area even locals probably argued what happened when. The B17 was the one with the bombs, and the one in the development zone.


The B-17 is more well known or famous, but the B-24 Liberator was also a primary bomber that sometimes worked in conjunction with B-17's on certain missions. They had many good attributes with sturdy air-frames and reliable engines. But they had a lower ceiling meaning they often took the brunt of flak and German fighters while flying below the Flying Fortresses (B-17's). B-17 pilots were said to have had a grim, "GI-humor" joke of "who needs escort fighters when you have B-24's on the mission?"...

This aircraft (C-87) was a converted derivative of the B-24 to mitigate the overall shortage of transport aircraft early in WWII...

The 24's were still very versatile aircraft with an excellent bomb load and good endurance and were used in many roles, they were particularly good in long over the ocean patrols against u-boats and enemy shipping in service of both Allied air forces and navies. They don't seem to have been particularly successful as a transport aircraft as perhaps that was never accounted for in their initial design...
 
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