Kee Bird?

Rocket88 · **Joined:** Wed Mar 13, 2013 6:54 pm **Posts:** 23

I was reading some stories a while back about a guy who did recoveries for insurance companies in the 60's and he talked about plucking many a DC3's and other civilian craft off their bellies (mostly around alaska and other areas in the far north). There is a Lockheed Lodestar that was bellied into a swamp near Quebec, CA in the early 60's that is currently being recovered in the same manner as the Kee Bird. They will be flying out as it's the only way feasible to them. Her name is "Bush Baby".

Ken · **Posted:** Mon Aug 12, 2013 7:21 am

This one will be debated & rehashed long after the cows come home. There's one WIXer whose tag line is something like "It was a great idea, but it just didn't work" and that is what happened. Most of us know the would have/should have so I won't bother.

The one thing we will never know is ... would the plane have gotten airborne and would it have made it all the way back to the US? For argument's sake, let's say there were some other fatal flaw that had gone unnoticed, say in the flight control system. Maybe the APU fire actually saved the crew from a fatal disaster?

I wish it had turned out differently, but the fact remains that it did not.

Ken

Rocket88 · **Joined:** Wed Mar 13, 2013 6:54 pm **Posts:** 23

You are right about that one Ken. I personally believe that they would have got her in the air. When they had her going good right before the fire you could see the nose coming up. They had 4 good engines, no bomb load and they weren't full of fuel. But that's all speculation, and it will always be an example of what can happen and how not to do things.

N3Njeff · **Posted:** Mon Aug 12, 2013 8:06 am

Was the intent on the initial leg to do a stop at Thule?
You are right, For taxiing to the Ice, he was doing a pretty good clip. What gets me still was not that the makeshift gas can for the apu but that he kind of hints that Some one left it running but yet as Gary A said years ago that its required to be running for take off.

N3Njeff · **Posted:** Mon Aug 12, 2013 8:15 am

Rocket88 wrote:

I can't imagine starting one of those engines with that bent ass prop was very kind to the bearings or rotating assembly, which was probably junk after the props smacked the ground. I'm sure they didn't attempt to rev it any, because it was still attached to the wing afterwards

I'm sure if the recovery would have been attempted now it would have been gone about differently as the value of a B29 has gone up exponentially since then.

I've read about many aircraft being salvaged in a similar manner to this, jack it up, wind landing gear down, new props and maybe engines, and get it out. If they would have walked through her to make sure their heads weren't in their ass before they went bouncing around on the ice, well.....maybe that video would be a little more available. I would LOVE to see it though Jeff if you can get ahold of it.

When I first played the tape, just the initial trip out there struggling to fly a fully loaded Huey to a fuel point just to reach it by helicopter was painful.
Now what the point was to start the no 1 engine is beyond me. They did not get all the cylinders firing but they got quite a few going.
Just really sad operation from the start.

Rocket88 · **Joined:** Wed Mar 13, 2013 6:54 pm **Posts:** 23

I believe the intent was to try and see if they could use the originals and hang new propellers. There were a few guys in the 80s who wanted to go about it that way. If the props hadn't hit the ground, MAYBE. The boys who landed her there drained the oil from the engines to start a fire, so they were sitting there all that time with no oil. I do find it kind of cool they made an attempt and got one fired, but you're right, little point other than "Let's see if we can".

N3Njeff · **Posted:** Mon Aug 12, 2013 10:32 am

Rocket88 wrote:

I believe the intent was to try and see if they could use the originals and hang new propellers. There were a few guys in the 80s who wanted to go about it that way. If the props hadn't hit the ground, MAYBE. The boys who landed her there drained the oil from the engines to start a fire, so they were sitting there all that time with no oil. I do find it kind of cool they made an attempt and got one fired, but you're right, little point other than "Let's see if we can".

Well I watched the nova movie and it even sounds like the engines they brought, only two had been tested prior to Thule. I wonder what their history was and if in fact they were bought outright or they were "on loan". The owner of the VHS tape has at 1990's value of 28,000 worth of propeller parts at the bottom of the lake.

Rocket88 · **Joined:** Wed Mar 13, 2013 6:54 pm **Posts:** 23

I'd be interested to know where they got the engines. I know the Wright R-3350-23 engines they used were originally carbureted which they converted to direct injection using the parts from the original engines. I know now the earlier dash numbers of that engine are rare because of the reliability issues with them. The later ones will not fit into B29 mountings and cowlings. I suppose it was your friend who had the prop shop in Tucson, does he still have his shop?

Ken · **Posted:** Mon Aug 12, 2013 8:51 pm

I wonder if the deleted scenes from Nova were destroyed or still exist. Just a few of the pan views throughout the cabin capture all kinds of great time capsule stuff - I sorta picture Taigh going through those frame by frame checking for placards, wiring, you name it.

Not only would it have been cool to restore Kee Bird, but the raw history of how that airplane would have arrived at Thule (or the US) initially would have been a historian's gold mine, much like the Sahara P-40. Thank goodness for video & digital photos.

Ken

N3Njeff · **Posted:** Mon Aug 12, 2013 8:56 pm

Rocket88 wrote:

I'd be interested to know where they got the engines. I know the Wright R-3350-23 engines they used were originally carbureted which they converted to direct injection using the parts from the original engines. I know now the earlier dash numbers of that engine are rare because of the reliability issues with them. The later ones will not fit into B29 mountings and cowlings. I suppose it was your friend who had the prop shop in Tucson, does he still have his shop?

Nope,
Native Vermonter and has never lived anywhere else. As a boy he climbed a local mountain where a B-24 had crashed the previous winter and proceeded to cut through the base of the only relatively straight blade with a hacksaw. After that his whole life has been nothing but Hamilton Standard propellers. You would think his basement was in Hartford. Lot of NOS parts.

N3Njeff · **Posted:** Mon Aug 12, 2013 9:01 pm

Another good excuse to see him is to see the gem of his collection and his last purchase that I know of. A B-25 prop with all the tooling to assemble it in the field, still in the crate when it was packed in 44.

Rocket88 · **Joined:** Wed Mar 13, 2013 6:54 pm **Posts:** 23

I love guys like that. They always have off the wall stuff nobody else has or can get ahold of. Was he simply out the props when the plane was left, or were they insured? I've heard talk of the kee bird being insured, which would have been smart but unlikely, because I know they were on a tight budget. It's nice to dream about what would have happened if she made it out but the reality probably would have been red tape, and more red tape. She probably would have sat at Thule for years.

Dan Jones · **Posted:** Tue Aug 13, 2013 2:36 am

If I recall correctly, that airplane had something like 210 hours TTSN on it. :cry:

N3Njeff · **Posted:** Tue Aug 13, 2013 9:37 am

Rocket88 wrote:

I love guys like that. They always have off the wall stuff nobody else has or can get ahold of. Was he simply out the props when the plane was left, or were they insured? I've heard talk of the kee bird being insured, which would have been smart but unlikely, because I know they were on a tight budget. It's nice to dream about what would have happened if she made it out but the reality probably would have been red tape, and more red tape. She probably would have sat at Thule for years.

Simply out. He had documents from them stating what was his and that if anyone salvaged the remains that he legally owned them. I don't believe he ever had seen any money as it was about the time he was building his house and could have used the money. He sure does have some rare stuff and knows about props. I helped him do the 5 yr insp on the DC-3 and it was like watching a doctor do heart surgery. I sure did learn a lot those days.

Rocket88 · **Joined:** Wed Mar 13, 2013 6:54 pm **Posts:** 23

Sometime between the fire and now someone made off with the number 4 engine. The entire nacelle is gone too and unless they took the time to unbolt the prop and leave it, someone has it

I believe some of the tail vanished too. You can see the tips of the other 3 props sticking out of the snow in the most recent picture though. All that zero time stuff sitting around like that...

Warbird Information Exchange

Kee Bird?

Who is online