Black Jack B17 Flying Fortress

Blackjack,a B17 Flying Fortress is possibly the most famous bomber in the South West Pacific theatre of operations.Ditched whilst returning from a raid on Rabaul, she now lies in 50 meters of water off Boga Boga village in the Milne Bay province of Papua New Guinea.

Blackjack was part of the 43rd bomb group and the 5th Air Force. And part of 10 B17s on her way to attack Rabaul, forced to ditch through lack of fuel and severe thunderstorms. She now lies on a white sandy bottom and is completely intact, even her guns move in their mounts. Visibility is usually excellent, 25-30m and can be visited by experienced divers.

She was discovered almost by accident by 3 local divers from Lae, she lies in deep water on the seabed a thin skin of coal encrusting her. She is beautifully preserved and totally intact - ammunition belts still wend their way to the machine guns, which still move stiffly in their mounts.

The last two digits of her serial number are "21" so she became Black Jack named by her first pilot Ken McCullar a keen card player.

The Flying Fortress was a big bomber. Powered by four 1200 horsepower engines, the B17 was 74' long, with a wingspan of 103 ', and weighed over 20 tons. Thirteen machine guns jutted from her turrets and gunports to protect her crew of ten men.In the air, the bond between man and machine is real. In war it becomes even stronger and such a bond was forged between Ken McCullar and BLACKJACK. Ken McCullar was a flamboyant gambler and a totally fearless aggressive pilot - he even had his ground crew fit a extra machine gun in BLACKJACK'S nose, fired by a button on his control wheel, so he could use the big bomber to duel with Japanese fighters. He pioneered a tactic called ''skip bombing'' -night attacks against Japanese shipping in port or at sea. The Fortresses would roar along the moon slick at minimum altitude, releasing their bombs a hundred feet short of the targeted skipping them off the water into the side of the enemy ships at the waterline. It was dangerous, but devastatingly effective.
BLACKJACK and Ken McCullar became a legendary team. His name is still spoken with a kind of awe whenever 5th Air Force veterans gather. Flying as many as three combat missions in one day, BLACKJACK and McCullar always came back, sometimes against all odds.

BLACKJACK and McCullar lived charmed lives together, and the Japanese could not stop them. But McCullar died in a fiery take off crash of another aeroplane, and BLACKJACK fell victim to the New Guinea weather. Caught up in a violet storm, with a malfunctioning engine vibrating so badly it threatened to tear itself from the wing and the other on the same side giving only limited power, her crew was unable to hold a straight course and became hopelessly lost. With fuel running low they tried to land on the shallow waters of a reef, but missed and landed in deep water. Three of the crew were wounded in the crash, but all were saved by friendly natives and an Australian coast watcher named Eric Foster who rescued the 10 men. The next day after a radio call had been sent out by Foster a small seaplane arrived to take of the wounded and leave supplies for the rest of the survivors Later a P.T.boat arrived to take the remaining crewmembers to Goodenough Island where they were flown back to Moresby.

The story of BLACKJACK and Ken McCullar has been told in a documentary titled BLACKJACK'S LAST MISSION, filmed on location in P.N.G. it covers the history of BLACKJACK and includes interviews with crew members, villagers and other promandant people. It also includes some incredible world war two and underwater footage

THE CREW MEMBERS - Pilot Capt. Ralph Deloach, Co. Pilot Lt. Joseph Moore, Navigator Lt. Charles Shaver, Bombadier Lt. Manuel Diaz, Flight Eng. Deldert Smith, Radio Operator George Paezioso, Waste Gunner Edward James, Ball Turret Joseph Wilson, Waist Gunner Jim Peterson, I have no record of the rear gunner.

Myself and Sheila dived the wreck in 1994 from the MV Barbarian skippered by an Australian Rob Pierce who can be seen in the video entering the cockpit. You can perhaps see from the video how intact the aircraft is and what a site she is sat in 50m of water. She was identified by the serial number on her radio and has been dived quite a bit since. The site is very remote and takes a bit of effort to get there but the dive is a five star dive and well worth the effort and the money. It has to be one of the best dives I have ever done and I hope you enjoy the video.

Peter Hall 2012