A World War II Bomber Lost with 11 Servicemembers Has Been Found After 74 Years

A B-24 D-1 bomber plane transporting 11 American servicemen was shot down over the South Pacific on March 11, 1944. For more than 70 years, the final resting place of the aircraft nicknamed Heaven Can Wait and the men it carried remained a mystery. Now, through the efforts of Project Recover, it's finally been identified.

Project Recover is an organization dedicated to locating the remains of U.S. aircraft that crashed into the ocean during World War II. To find the wreckage of this particular plane, a team of marine scientists, archaeologists, and historians worked together to trace its final flight.

Heaven Can Wait was on its way to bomb Japanese anti-aircraft batteries around Hansa Bay off the north coast of Papua New Guinea when it went down. Before heading off to Papua New Guinea to survey the area, Project Recover compiled data on the crash from military reports, diary entries from airmen on associated planes, and extended family members.

With that information in hand, the team traveled to the suspected crash site and searched a 10-square-mile patch of sea floor with sonar, divers, and aerial and aquatic robots. It took them 11 days to locate the wreckage of Heaven Can Wait in Hansa Bay, 213 feet beneath the ocean's surface.

Now that the bomber has been found, the U.S. government will assess the site before potentially recovering the remains of the lost servicemen. “This is an important step toward our ultimate goal of identifying and returning home the crew of Heaven Can Wait who bravely served our country during the battle at Hansa Bay,” Dan Friedkin, Project Recover team member and chairman and CEO of the Friedkin Group, said in a statement. “Our search efforts for the more than 72,000 missing American service members from World War II will continue as we seek to bring closure to the families impacted by their loss.”

Watch a video from Project Recover detailing the story of Heaven Can Wait below.