Aircraft History
This B-17F-20-BO was built in Seattle and delivered to the US Army on July 23, 1943 at the cost of $314,109. Modified at Lowry Modification Center in Colorado and then ferried to Hamilton Field. Ferried to Australia by Lt. William O'Brien, departing on August 30, 1942. Assigned to 43rd Bombardment Group, 63rd Bombardment Squadron on September 7, 1943.

Assigned to Captain Kenneth D. McCullar who nicknamed the bomber "Black Jack" because the serial number ended in "21". The right side of the nose had the nose art of two playing cards: Jack and Ace making 21 in poker. The left side of the nose had the nose art "The Joker's Wild". McCullar had an extra 50 caliber machine gun rigged into the nose to fire forward triggered from the pilot's control column.

On November 24, 1942 "Black Jack" piloted by McCullar took off on a mission against destroyers in Huon Gulf and performed a skip bombing attack from 200', with bombs impacting off the stern of the destroyer. Anti-aircraft fire hit ammunition and started a fire in the tail section that was successfully extinguished. On the second bombing run the B-17 was hit again and three crew were injured. On the third run the left outboard engine was hit and the engine did not feather and controls damaged. McCullar made two more attacks from higher altitude and the right outboard engine failed due to a hit in the fuel system. Out of bombs, they departed. On the return flight the damaged left engine's propeller broke off and spun off. Loosing altitude, the crew jettisoned all equipment possible and managed to restart the right engine and managed to climb over the Owen Stanley Mountains back to Port Moresby. Later that night, RAAF Beaufort crews reported a destroyer sinking. During B-17s attacks, Hayashio was hit and later scuttled by the Japanese.

Damaged on a night bombing attack against Japanese destroyers on . After being repaired it was flown by McCullar's co-pilot Lt. Harry Staley, until he completed his tour of duty. Again it was damaged on February 14, 1943 mission to Rabaul and did not fly again until April and completed 14 more combat missions.

Mission History
Assigned to Lt. Ralph DeLoach on this mission. Took off after midnight from Port Moresby to attack Rabaul. Problems developed with the right wing's engines, but the bombs were dropped over the target.

On the return home, the plane was caught in a violent storm, with two engines malfunctioning. They could not hold a straight course and got lost. Co-Pilot, Moore had previously ditched a bomber, DeLoach handed the controls over to him for to ditch. The bomber ditched on shallow coral reef, but missed and ended up in deep water, ditching near Kakau near Boga Boga on Cape Vogel (Makau Mission). Three of the crew were injured in the crash and were aided by villagers to shore. 

Rescue
An Australian Coastwatcher notified air-sea rescue and a RAAF sea plane evacuated the wounded men. Two days later, a PT boat rescued the remainder of the crew, taking them to Goodenough Island and evacuated at Vivigani Airfield back to Port Moresby. The unhurt crew members got two weeks leave in Sydney, then were sent back to combat.

The crew earned several awards for the mission: DeLoach and Moore earned the Silver Star. Smith, Wilison and Prezioso earned the Bronze Oak Leaf Cluster

Wreckage
Discovered by Rod Pearce, also present were David Pennefather and Bruce Johnson.  The nose is torn and crumpled when it impacted the bottom first. The rest of the bomber is in excellent condition.

Rod Pearce recalls:
"We were very excited when we found it. We had found the serial number, but did not know the history initially. I sent the serial number to to my friend Richard Leahy and informed us the history of the bomber, the most famous B-17 in the SWPA and contacted historian Steve Birdsall, who was very excited. At a later date, he proposed the idea of making a documentary about it, Black Jack's Last Mission.

I corresponded with the tail gunner, Paul Blasewitz who wrote me a lovely letter after we found the bomber. He told me when he saw the postmark of 'Lae' he just stared at the letter for days. He told me he had a Thompson Sub-machine gun aboard, but we could never find it. When the bomber ditched, he was in the radio compartment with a parachute against his back, and the Thompson on his lap. They water hard and skipped once or twice then came to rest. Water started to fill the plane he lost, then exited through the radio hatch. Also, he told me about a "Bowie" survival knife in the tail, which we found. The blade was rusted away, but the guard was there. We also found some 30 caliber ammunition in boxes in the nose.

Waist gunner Jim Peterson lived in Miami, Florida when it was found. He read an article about a bomber being discovered in New Guinea. He remembered being seated next to Blasewitz when they ditched. He recalled worrying what was going to be outside - if they would be shot or eaten by locals. I got his address and also wrote to him."

References
Black Jack's Last Mission by Steve Birdsall and visit by DeLoach
Warbirds "Black Jack's Last Mission" by Steve Birdsall Sept / Oct 1989
National Geographic "Ghosts of War" page 426-427
Winged Ghosts of the Pacific includes dive footage of the wreck
Pride of Seattle pages 10-11, 15

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