P00174.007 Accession Number: P00174.007

Description

A Boeing B-17E "Flying Fortress" heavy bomber nicknamed 'Frank Buck', with the serial number 41-2659, of the 30th Bombardment Squadron, 19th Bomb Group of the 5th United States Army Air Force (USAAF) bogged in the beach sand at Hood point, Central Province, Papua New Guinea.

This predicament was due to it making a wheels down landing after running low on fuel following a night attack in bad weather on Japanese held Rabaul on 15 September 1942. Hood Point is approximately 92 kilometers South-East of the capital Port Moresby.

On the side of the forward fuselage the name "Frank Buck" was painted in white in a cursive outline with a single quotation mark around it. The nickname was in reference to Frank Howard Buck, an American personality who was a hunter, animal collector, author and actor in Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey Circus and Hollywood movies including Bring 'Em Back Alive (1932) radio programs and comics.

The Navigator of this B-17E, Sergeant Gordon R Manuel later recalled the incident in the book '70,000 to One - an American airman's grim fight for life against fantastic Odds' published in 1946:

"This had been a night mission, and the weather was really foul. It was so bad that somehow our instruments went haywire and now, when we should have been just about coming home, we were God knows how many miles from nowhere with nothing under us but two miles of sky and a few more miles of water. I went back to the radio compartment with the boys. We put on our Mae Wests and just sweated it out. Rosenberger, our radio operator, just sat there, tapping out messages, asking the base to tell us where we were. The gas was getting very low, and Holsey had the engines leaning way down to use as little gas as possible.
We hit so softly that we didn't even bounce. Holsey had landed us on a beach at Hood Point - a lovely beach. The plane skimmed along and then it settled into the sand as our speed reduced. The heavy ship gave a little lurch to the left and we stopped. The next day a boat came with some steel netting [Marston Matt / Pierced Steel Planking (PSP)]. Friendly natives helped us lay it on the beach, and then Holsey and Ryan, our co-pilot took her off. They just prayed her off and the right-wing tip touched the water, but she got off all right. We went back to Moresby by boat laughing it all off. But we hadn't laughed during the hour we were sweating it out."

Manuel was born on 4 April 1917 in Hodgdon Maine and passed away on 16 August 1950 and he is buried at Arlington National Cemetery.

The US crew were aided by friendly local Papuan civilians whilst they waited for help to arrive. Allied aircraft dropped supplies to them and a small boat arrived from Port Moresby with a quantity of Marston Matting (aka Pierced Steel Planking - PSP) to create a runway on the beach. After a week the improvised runway was completed and a take-off was successfully conducted with only the pilot and co-pilot onboard. The bomber landing shortly after safely at 7 Mile Drome near Port Moresby, with the remainder of the crew returned via a boat back to Port Moresby and returned to operations.

"Frank Buck" the B-17E bomber eventually scrapped at Mareeba Airfield in Queensland on 27 July 1943 by the 2nd Australian Corps Special Salvage Unit.

The same B-17E "Frank Buck" (41-2659) is depicted on the beach at Hood Point in Australian War Memorial image P00174.008.