Kee Bird

[mustangdriver]

The B-29 was not all lost from what I understand, and it was going to be airlifted back to the states. Anyone else hear that, or know what ever happened to the rest of kee bird.

[Warbird Kid]

I didnt hear anything but yeah, it seemed like even after the fire consumed the majority of the fuselage, the wings, tail, nose, and engines seemed salvagable.

[retroaviation]

It's underwater. Well, most of it anyway. I was sent a picture of it from a few years back and you could see only the nose, the vertical fin, and the tops of the prop blades, sticking out of the water.

We briefly looked into the possibility of obtaining the aircraft, but was told that the Greenland govt. won't allow anyone else back in to see the airplane due to the "environmental disaster" that Greenameyer left.

It should be noted that the pictures I got (which I couldn't find for this post) were taken by a guy who snuck in there in his helicopter (supposedly), because of the govt.'s stand on no visitors to the site.

Don't know how true all of that is, but it's what I was told when we were interested in it.

Gary

[mustangdriver]

Waste of a good airplane, but it looked good on film.

[Warbird Kid]

Well, at least its in an area of the world right now thats gonna preserve it more than corride it. Maybe in a few years somebody will be able to recover her.

I mean anything is possible, look at Swamp Ghost.

[gregv]

I mean anything is possible, look at Swamp Ghost.

Hmmmn, not sure if that is a good comparison right now...

greg v.

[Second Air Force]

Not only loss of a pristine B-29, but never forget a man lost his life trying to save the thing on Greenamyer's schedule.

R.I.P. Rick Kriege

[spriso]

I always wondered why they did not pull the remains back to what would be the shoreline...

Then again, after seeing the results of years of hard work go up in a fire, it was probably easier just to walk away...



I still get depressed each time I watch the video...

M

[mustangdriver]

Not only loss of a pristine B-29, but never forget a man lost his life trying to save the thing on Greenamyer's schedule.

R.I.P. Rick Kriege

Correct, he made the biggest sacrafice of everyone.

[spriso]

I always wondered why they did not pull the remains back to what would be the shoreline...

After reviewing the photos on the Corbis website by photographer Tim Wright, I guess that it would not have been possible to tow the remains without damaging the props...

There are a bunch of amazing before and after the fire photos of the Kee Bird here:

http://www.corbis.com

Search "Kee Bird" and it will give you 6-pages of images.

Michael

[Ztex]

It just make me angry...

[Jerry O'Neill]

I always wondered why they did not pull the remains back to what would be the shoreline...

Then again, after seeing the results of years of hard work go up in a fire, it was probably easier just to walk away...

M

Because the men involved were smart guys, my guess is that the plane was insured. If that was true, then if anything was recovered there would be less insurance money.
My two cents, since otherwise, they could've recouped some of the money spent with the recovery of centersection, props and engines.
Once underwater, the aircraft was a "total loss".
Jerry

[gregv]

Is there any particular reason that these guys tried to patch up and fly out a complex aircraft that had been abandoned after a forced landing about four decades before? With no runway? I can only deduce that it was egos at work, or they had watched too many "Salvage 1" episodes on tv. To boot they also burnt the location (no pun intended).

A man literaly worked himself to death and a time-capsule was destroyed; next time, just call the pros.

http://www.worldwideaircraft.com/

My two cents.

Greg V.

[Jerry O'Neill]

Is there any particular reason that these guys tried to patch up and fly out a complex aircraft that had been abandoned after a forced landing about four decades before? With no runway? I can only deduce that it was egos at work, or they had watched too many "Salvage 1" episodes on tv. To boot they also burnt the location (no pun intended).

A man literaly worked himself to death and a time-capsule was destroyed; next time, just call the pros.

http://www.worldwideaircraft.com/

My two cents.

Greg V.

I think it was because it was probably the only aircraft in the world that could've been recovered in such a dramatic fashion. Read that as...egos.
Jerry

[APG85]

I was sent a picture of it from a few years back and you could see only the nose, the vertical fin, and the tops of the prop blades, sticking out of the water.

Gary

PICTURE!!!!!