Missing Royal Australian Air Force World War II bomber and crew discovered in underwater wreck in Papua New Guinea

Human remains have been identified after four crew members and the WWII aircraft they were aboard went missing in 1943.

The remains of two Australian World War II officers have been positively identified, 79 years after their aircraft crashed in waters south of Papua New Guinea, following a search commissioned by a mining magnate. The crash site was first identified in 2020, by a private dive team employed by Andrew 'Twiggy' Forrest, whose wartime uncle remains missing.The team returned in February 2022 to identify the aircraft and found bone material, which was then examined by anthropologists and DNA specialists.

Bone fragments have been confirmed as belonging to 28-year-old Warrant Officer Clement Batstone Wiggins from Gatton and 34-year-old Warrant Officer Russell Henry Grigg from Brisbane.There were no remains identified of 22-year-old Flight Sergeant Albert Beckett from Launceston and 26-year-old Flight Sergeant Gordon Lewis Hamilton from Brisbane.

RAAF WWII Royal Australian Air Force World War Two World War II Missing Bomber Found PNG Discovery 100SQN A9-186 Gasmata Bomber Crash Site Dive Team Underwater Discovery RAAF Crew Missing Crew World War II Beaufort Aircraft Missing Aircraft

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