Pilot History
William Otto Carter, Jr, flew 190 combat missions, received the Distinguished Flying Cross and the Air Medal with 4 oak leaf clusters. Among his highlights are meeting and flying with Charles Lindberg in a week long training session in New Guinea. He also claimed a Japanese destroyer and a transport ship in one mission. He had 2 different planes named "Sweetwater Swatter" and 2 others named "Carter's Lil' Pill".

Otto Carter, Jr. adds:
"My father had five different planes during his wartime service. Two were named "Sweetwater Swatter" The former it was a take-off on the town, Sweetwater, Texas where he was born and raised. The cowling had a picture of a Japanese face getting hit with a fly swatter. The plane crashed before dad had a chance to have the nose painted. His other two planes were named "Carter's Lil' Pill", named after a popular "regularity" medicine which was popular back then. Neel Kearby was dad's C.O. Dad practically worshipped that man, and always told me he and Kearby were scheduled to fly the week after Neel was shot down."

Aircraft History
Assigned to Otto Carter flew the plane in September or October of 1943, on one of his many missions to the Markham Valley and Tsili Tsili area.

Mission History
On October 1, 1943 Carter flew on a morning mission. Later that same day, another pilot, Wallace Harding borrowed the aircraft. During the flight, the oil pump failed, causing the engine to seize, and Harding was able to make a wheels-up landing in the Waigani swamp, north-east of Port Moresby. It took Harding two days to reach the shoreline after struggling through the sharp leaved kunai grass.

Wreckage
The wreck remained in situ until the middle 1960s.

Mult-Year Swamp Recovery
Bill Champan decided to salvage the wreck between 1965-1968. First, a track was required to be cleared to the wreck, to allow access and lifting the wreck onto a trailer flatbed, and then towed out by a bulldozer. Due to the wet seasons, and difficulty transporting, the wreck was eventually cut into five major sections and moved by hand to dry land, then taken to South Pacific Motor Sports Club at Port Moresby.

Ray Fairfield adds:
"Our fist visit would be the dry season in 1965. That would be the first visit in a long time - some accessories had been salvaged from behind the engine & cowls left on the ground, major flight instruments removed but minor instruments and stick pistol-grip, usually first to be souveineered, were still in place. Salvage attempt quickly planned as swamps were dry. I didn't get there for the work clearing the track in & hoisting onto the trailer, but heard first-hand that success was very near. Ready to start towing when a soft spot was found in the crossing pushed into the only major creek. Come back next weekend... But it started to rain! Access impossible until 67/68. Luckily they had the (borrowed) bulldozer on the right side of the creek. Two to three years later the destructive salvage was done."

Bruce Hoy recalls:
"In 1967, the Air Museum of PNG recovered the plane from a swamp. The previous year almost saw it recovered but the onset of an early wet season prevented this. After the ground had dried, someone set fire to the kunai, which resulted in the destruction of all the wheels on a specially built trailer on which the aircraft had been loaded. It was decided that rather than rebuild the trailer, it would be quicker to cut the aircraft into five major sections, wings, cockpit, rear fuselage, tail, engine, and manhandle these onto dry land."

Bob Piper adds:
"I walked to it in 1969, after it had been salvaged onto a trailer. We had to walk through tall grass, cross small river to get there. The radio and compass were the only things missing. It was completely intact and fully armed. Only the bottom propeller blade was bent. While on the trailer there was a grass fire that damaged it slightly, causing its retracted tires to catch fire and burning not to any great extent. Later it was taken to the South Pacific Motor Sports Club in Port Moresby where it was dismantled."

Storage in Port Moresby
After salvage, the wreck was stored outside at the The Air Museum of Papua New Guinea (AMPNG) until the early 1970s.

Bruce Hoy adds:
"The AMPNG then attempted restoration. Very little substantial work was done, and the remains languished, firstly in a holding yard owned by a local car dealership, and then behind the local car club without any security. Then along came the Museum of Transport and Technology in Auckland, New Zealand. A deal was hatched, and the remains were shipped to New Zealand in about 1970-1972."

Export, Display
Transported to New Zealand in the early 1970's on 'loan' to the Museum of Transport and Technology (MoTAT). The museum attempted some external restoration to satic display, and exhibited the P-47 outdoors until 1991.

In 1991, the museum swapped the P-47D to the RNZAF Museum in Wigram AB, Christchurch, NZ in exchange for work done on a Mosquito. The P-47 was stored dismantled until 1995.

In 1995, the P-47 was swapped or sold to Robert Greinert / HARS for a newly built Sopwith Camel that included some original parts. The P-47 was air freighted to Sydney aboard a RNZAF C-130.

Restoration
Robert Greinert hopes to restore it to airworthy condition. It has been under restoration since then, by sheetie Peter Salmon and volunteers on behalf of owner Robert Greinert. Restoration work was undertaken between late 2000 - 2004. Present status of project unknown.

References
WRG - P-47 42-8066 Profile

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Last Updated
March 31, 2009

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