Team prepares for another P-38 "Lost Squadron" recovery

[B-29 Super Fort]

Digging a P-38 fighter plane out from under 268 feet of Greenland ice worked for one team, and now a second team, currently based in Ovid, is going to give it a try.

Ken McBride, a Californian, said the idea came to him about two years ago. He has been lining up team members and supporters every since.
What brought the team to Ovid about the middle of last week was the presence of a single-engine biplane, the Antonov AN-2, here since being acquired by Ovid resident Pete Depew a few years back.

The craft was last flown a couple of years ago. A Texas man bought the plane and has since sold it to the Greenland team. Now, McBride said, it's a matter of readying it for the journey. If all goes according to plan, the AN-2 should be at the crash scene in Greenland in three to five days, the bird nests, droppings and pesky hornets of Ovid just a memory.

Of the eight-man Greenland team, two will be aboard the AN-2 with equipment and supplies. Six others have opted to fly commercially and thus reduce the load for the AN-2. The Greenland team never gets far from the AN-2 at the Ovid Airport. In fact, the men, 45 to 63 years of age and mostly from California, get their rest in sleeping bags.

Talking about the coming P-38 restoration at his shop in California, McBride said the team could end up with a plane worth some $4.5 million to $5 million. A profit will hinge on what it ultimately costs to restore the craft. He sounded a word of warning: "The trouble with a project like this is that so much can go wrong." Weather could be a major headache.

Glacier Girl, the P-38 recovered in 1992 and restored, came with a cost of some $3 million. Crews used various equipment and streams of hot water to create a 42-inch wide tunnel and employed a thermal meltdown generator to reach the plane. The generator chews into the ice at about two feet an hour. Pieces of the P-38 were removed one at a time. Glacier Girl, airborne once again, sold for $7 million.

http://www.theithacajournal.com/article ... enland+ice

[PinecastleAAF]

Sounds like they have it all figured out. Ok maybe not.

[Django]

I wish them the best of luck... they'll certainly need it!

[Nathan]

Whatever it takes to get a few more early model P-38's in the world!

[B-29 Super Fort]

I wonder how far apart the planes were after they landed in Greenland?

Last edited by B-29 Super Fort on Mon Jul 26, 2010 6:34 pm, edited 1 time in total.

[brucev]

the story is sorely lacking in detail, how do they plan #1 to locate the aircraft again, (they surely have moved since 1992) and #2 to remove enough ice to bring the aircraft up?

[DaveM2]

Last I heard a German crowd were after them also-question is, who has the correct paperwork to carry any survey/recovery out?
I am sure Mr McBride certainly has the 'nous' to get it done-assuming they can be found again and are not squashed as per the B-17......

[DoraNineFan]

Last I heard a German crowd were after them also-question is, who has the correct paperwork to carry any survey/recovery out?
I am sure Mr McBride certainly has the 'nous' to get it done-assuming they can be found again and are not squashed as per the B-17......

I would assume that even a squashed (but complete) P-38 would be worth bringing home and rebuilding if it could be disassembled without too much carnage. The restoration business seems to have the talent available to resurrect it, if the funding can be found.

IMO, it would have been worth bringing the remains of Big Stoop home as well for spares or for another long-term project.

I remember hearing about the German team, but nothing more of it. I hope there are no claim disputes. It is in the best interest of all of the airplanes that they are recovered for preservation. (That includes what's left of Kee Bird.)

[Ken]

It is in the best interest of all of the airplanes that they are recovered for preservation. (That includes what's left of Kee Bird.)

I agree. The only thing I'll add is that some folks get wrapped around the Kee Bird wreckage when good money and intentions could be focused closer to home. I have to think that the B-29 sitting in the Cordele, GA veteran's park could be obtained and restored for less money and hassle than trying to Franken-Fort the Kee Bird's parts into another project.

Would it be great to bring Kee Bird home? Sure!

Would it be top of my list? Nope.

My $0.02.

Ken

[DoraNineFan]

So the German group has backing from investors and a stated goal to recover all of the aircraft, from what I gather. And then sell them to collectors or museums.

December 2008: Visit to Nuuk, the capital of Greenland. Delays on the airport of Kangerlussuaq during travel due to foul weather. In Nuuk we have a short meeting with the prime minister, we visit the chambers of parliament, have a long discussion with the ministry of environment. Shortly afterwards we are handed the document which defines the conditions under which we are allowed to proceed with the recovery of the airplanes. A few days later the so-called area allotment is issued that defines the area in which we have the right of recovery.

I hope there are no conflicts here. It won't get the aircraft out of the ice any faster.

[Pogmusic]

In looking at the website photos, it looks as if they've started recovery. Or, are those images from the Glacier Girl operation of the 1990's?

[peter]

Those pics are of Glacier girls recovery..

[Chris Brame]

It'd be nice if the two squished Fortresses would yield a bunch of the missing pieces for Swamp Ghost and Desert Rat - especially correct upper and ball turrets for the Rat.

[JonL]

#2 to remove enough ice to bring the aircraft up?

Global warming????