Visited the Solomon Islands in Nov '05 and had a fantastic time.
As well as diving in Gizo, there was a particular dive not far out of Honiara which I had to do.
I stumbled upon it whilst looking over a WWII wrecks site - 'Bessie the jap smasher'.
She is an american B-17 flying fortress that was forced to ditch not far from Henderson airfield on a routine mission. (The same aircraft as in the movie 'Memphis Belle' if you are familiar with it.)
It is remarkably intact, however the tail section was broken off when an attempt to raise her failed, the tail is long gone but everything else is pretty much there, the nose of the aircraft is busted open, presumably shattered on impact and the pilots two seats are sitting out in the open as the cockpit windsheild is also gone.
The ball turret which some poor little bloke had to sit in is next to the fuselage with guns still intact, as is the top turret. And a lone machine gun still sits atop its swivel a few metres from the wreck. Presumably one of the fuselage side guns or possibly the gun from the nose cone.
You are able to swim up into the central corridor/bomb bay (tight fit, but gives you an idea of how cramped it would have been in the plane fully laden with crew and payload). There are no bombs in there just a whole heap of little fish that happily part to allow you access to see their humble new home.
You can sit on the pilots seat as i have heard of this being a great photo oppurtunity, however i cant imagine something made of metal lasting forever under an unforgiving ocean so would recommend to just look,once its broken thats it.
We spotted a lone Lion fish hanging around in an engine cowling and numerous other fish which i couldn't tell you the name of (soooo many wonderful colorful species in these warm waters).
It Lies at an easy 11-15 metres and is only a 2 min paddle from the beach.
I thoroughly recommend the Solomon Islands if you are planning a dive holiday, trust me you will not find a better location, amazing reefs for the lover of aquatic eco-systems and plenty of metal from the Islands turbulent WWII battles for the wreck enthusiast.
Get there and enjoy.
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