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Happy Nanoq..Lost Squadron...P38's..?

tapwatertapwater Member Posts: 10,335 ✭✭✭
edited February 2004 in General Discussion
Just started a book about the P38's & B17's ditched and lost in the ice....Any insight on the subject ??? Lost aircraft recovery just lights my wick...Sooooo coooool...[:D]

The early bird gets the worm, but the second mouse gets the cheese.
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  • TRAP55TRAP55 Member Posts: 8,282 ✭✭✭
    edited November -1
    TAPWATER, The History channel did shows on both the P-38's and a B-29. The B-29 was a real bummer when it burned up just as they were ready to fly it out. They have the P-38 in flying condition last i heard.My uncle in Utah is working on a P-47 Jug at the Hill AFB museum. I'm going to see it in June and plan on lots of pics.
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  • magmag Member Posts: 464 ✭✭✭
    edited November -1
    Do a search on Glacier Girl.

    mag
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  • tapwatertapwater Member Posts: 10,335 ✭✭✭
    edited November -1
    TRAP, right on the 29, not 17..Seems like I saw something about the fire in NG or somewhere...Heartbreaker..[V]..Wonder how many wrecks are yet to be found..?? Even if salvage is not an option, the discovery and documentation are still amazing...

    The early bird gets the worm, but the second mouse gets the cheese.
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  • TRAP55TRAP55 Member Posts: 8,282 ✭✭✭
    edited November -1
    They recently located another B-29 on the bottom of Lake Mead and did a show on that one too. It crashed doing top secret tests for missle guidence systems at the beginning of the cold war. I think it was called Operation Suntracker. Doing search for P-47 info, i found a guy that researches crashed planes. He locates them and salvages for parts. Do a search on the Confederate Air Force and you'll find all kinds of stories on recovered aircraft.
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  • HappyNanoqHappyNanoq Member Posts: 12,023
    edited November -1
    Tapwater..
    No I'm sorry, I dont't know much of that subject, other than I've read about some planes that were lost during the war and found recently.
    Can't remember what or where it was, but somewhere on the ice-cap fer' sure though.

    Always sad to hear of perfectly good planes being dumped or ditched - or any more or less functional planes for that matter.

    I hope you find some good material for your book.

    Personally I like the P38 and P08's better.. i.e. pistols, not planes.
    Have shot both variants.
    One of them was a P08 with a.. well about a foot long barrel. Seemed silly, but it was accurate enough.

    polarbear.gif
    Don't do anything that I've allready done - That'd be just plain STOOOOOOPID.
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  • v35v35 Member Posts: 12,710 ✭✭✭
    edited November -1
    I believe one of the P38s is together and flying. There were about six P38s and a couple of B17s in a ferry flight that made an emergency landing in good condition on Greenland. Over the years they
    sank or were covered in a hundred or so feet of ice. Only one aircraft has been recovered and that was in sections because of the difficulties of excavating. There was damage done to them from the weight of the ice.
    The B29 recovery was a separate event and a disaster in that one member of the recovery team died from the effects of the weather.
    After an enormous effort of about two years and under terrible arctic conditions, all engines, propellers and wheels of the aircraft were replaced. When weather conditions were good to go, they made a takeoff run. An unsecured APU in the tail section, broke loose from pitching of the aircraft (caused by a primitive runway). The B29 was set ablaze and destroyed. The crew survived.
    Because of the weather no part of the B29 was salvaged. When the ice melted the B29 sank.
    What a waste.
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  • tapwatertapwater Member Posts: 10,335 ✭✭✭
    edited November -1
    v35, you jogged my memory on the 29 saga..that was a heartbreaker of a story..Happy, I meant that I've started reading the book, not writing it...Nobody would want to read my drivel, and at my two finger typing speed, the sun would be a burned out cinder before it was done..[:D]

    The early bird gets the worm, but the second mouse gets the cheese.
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  • tomh.tomh. Member Posts: 3,833 ✭✭✭✭
    edited November -1
    I saw Glacier Girl at the Dayton, Oh airshow last summer. I have a couple pics if anyone wants to email me, I'll send them back or someone can post them.
    She didn't fly that day during the warbird show, but there was another P-38 there that did, Porky II.
    If any of you warbird guys ever get to Orlando, Fl, there is a must see museum. Flying Tigers is at a small airport just outside of Kissimmee. It's not a fancy place like many museums; it's basically a hanger full of warbirds that STILL FLY. Awesome place.
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  • spasmcreekspasmcreek Member Posts: 37,717 ✭✭✭
    edited November -1
    i think a volunteer organization is rebuilding a b-29 in wichita, ks..???
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  • TRAP55TRAP55 Member Posts: 8,282 ✭✭✭
    edited November -1
    TOMH, I WOULD LIKE THE PICS IF YOU CAN E-MAIL THEM TO ME.
    SPASMCREEK, i'll check with my uncle on that one. He stays up on all the 29 restorations.He has the largest collection of flight headgear in the world,in June he's giving me his own that he used in the 29. It has the variable density goggles for dropping a-bombs. I'll post some pics of the collection at the end of June
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