‘Missing’ World War 2 fighter plane found after 80 years

A P-38 Lightning fighter plane fighter plane that vanished in a daring raid in Italy has been found after 80 years, solving a mystery that’s endured since World War 2.

Warren Singer, a US airman, disappeared with his P-38 Lightning fighter plane on August 25, 1943, during an attack on Italian airfields near Foggia amid World War 2.

The mission sought to blunt Italy’s aerial response to the coming landings, and was a great success – destroying 65 enemy planes, at the cost of seven P-38s.

However, Second Lieutenant Warren Singer never reached his target, and Air Force records show he was last seen flying near Manfredonia, a town 22 miles east of Foggia.

Now, 80 years later, divers have found the wreckage of Singer’s plane at a depth of 40ft beneath the Gulf of Manfredonia.

22-year-old Singer was survived by his wife Margaret, whom he’d married five months earlier, and who later gave birth to their daughter, Peggy, in January 1944.

Reacting to the discovery of the plane, grandson Dave Clark said: “Warren is a hero to us all, and we love him. He was a very young man with love, hope, and dreams”.

The diver who identified the wreck, Fabio Bisciotti, said that it was in surprisingly good condition. “The plane is in pretty good condition… it most probably had a mechanical failure and ditched in the water,” he added.

“It was not hit hard by anti-aircraft guns because it was very far away from the coast – we are talking about four miles, more or less,” he added.

Dr Bisciotti, who leads the underwater study group at the Italian Naval League, said there was no trace of a body. He believes 2nd Lt Singer probably escaped the wreck but subsequently drowned.

“The windows are open, so we are pretty sure that he managed to ditch the plane and then who knows what happened. Maybe he tried swimming or, due to his uniform, he went down. We are pretty sure that he drowned,” he added.

The diver was able to identify the wreck as a P-38 due the plane’s distinctive twin-boom design. And he was able to narrow it down to Singer’s aircraft, since records show it was the only P-38 lost at sea in the area.