World War II US plane wreckage found in Arunachal Pradesh

Ajay Banerjee

Tribune News Service

New Delhi, April 4

An Indian Army patrol along with a police representative has recovered the wreckage of a World War II vintage US Air Force aircraft in Roing district of Arunachal Pradesh.

The patrol located the aircraft debris covered by thick undergrowth and buried under five feet of snow on March 30.

During the World War (1939-1945), the allies—the US, the UK and France--used China as a base to launch against the imperial Japan. 

The US planes regularly flew sorties from Panagarh in West Bengal to locations in China. 

The route was over Arunachal Pradesh. Several such planes crashed.  The US Department of Defence has been asking the Indian government to allow access to these sites.

The latest finding of the debris was based on the information received from local trekkers of Lower Dibang district. A special patrol of the Army was sent to locate the wreckage in a remote location, 30 km from Roing.

The patrol moved across the country for 30 kilometres in thick jungles and snow-covered areas for eight days to trace out the wreckage. The region had seldom been ventured by anyone in the past and is even obscured from air due to thick foliage.

The discovery of the vintage aircraft and other warlike stores would lead to revelation of some historical inputs, a spokesperson of the Army said.