cooper9411 wrote:
Steve Nelson wrote:
I was trying to figure out exactly what is being sold, then finally found this in the "Item Specifics" section:
Quote:
There are 5 P-38F Lightning airplanes in the ice cap. You will get one as is. It needs total restoration.
The selling price is $6,000,000
6 million American dollars.
Exactly who "owns" the aircraft these days? I assumed they were technically the property of the Danish Gov't, who could grant or sell salvage rights as they saw fit.
Y
SN
You assumption is correct. 6 million would be more than enough to not only salvage the remaining 5 P-38's but possibly even parts/pieces of the 2 B-17's. Just my opinion!
Having personally been involved in going up there 3 times and seeing "the money" for those CG missions that went up there....it ain't cheap and it ain't easy. I would suggest $6 mil may not be enough to do the P-38's.....forget the B-17's. What will make or break the $6 mil ceiling is how quickly you can (1) confirm finding each one and (2) how quickly you can get each one up and transported while not compromising safety. The equipment, tech personnel, pre-planning, transportation to/from, time on the ice and post-mission stand down will melt the Visa card(s) faster than an ex-wife. If you have to search for a single plane, that costs money. You will need to know your daily costs just to be there. How many days it takes is the unknown variable. Every day on the ice costs money in good weather or bad weather, searching, confirming, melting, disassembly, hoisting, transporting, etc, etc. Then you will have support people back in the states and/or Kulusuk to coordinate comms, overnight parts/pieces, unscheduled logistics, etc. Your workable weather window is also short. Maybe early June thru earlier October. If using them, Air Greenland ($$) has been closing up charter flights around Oct 1st unless you make arrangements.
There are several ways to skin the cat if you have deep pockets. If I was going to tackle that 5 plane idea, I would do it in two phases. Phase 1 would send up a skeleton crew first to confirm the location of each plane. By confirm I mean GPR it, melt to it, take pics that confirm 100% it is a P-38, then repeat the process for the next plane until all of their locations are confirmed 100%. From my perspective, until you can confirm a plane, you're going on the premise you think you know where it's at based on your homework. If it isn't there, you struck out and have to keep looking or go on to your next spot. Once (if) you have confirmed all 5 planes, you then think about Phase 2 which is an all out effort to extricate the airframes. That may take place the following year depending on how long it took you to confirm all 5 airframes and at what level (and where) you pre-staged. There is a gamble no matter how you approach it. The idea is to do it smartly and minimize your risk...ie...your money and people. As someone who has done many salvages worldwide once told me....if this was easy, someone else would have already done it. He was right.
Who owns the airframes up there? The Greenland folks will consider whomever has an approved salvage permit for that location will get the plane. Can't speak for other countries but if a military service considers a crash a war grave, then one would have to clear any recovery thru that service. MIA's will always take precedence. JPAC does not get involved in airframes salvaging. For the nearby Duck, that site is a war grave and Greenland will not issue any permits to salvagers (contractors) unless they are approved by the CG or JPAC.
Whoever has an approved salvage permit (there's one other type too) from the Greenland folks will be able to keep any P-38's that are dug up. As long as the salvager pays the money and follows their rules, the permit folks do not care who it is. If you have the permits for that area, I don't think the permit office will issue different salvagers permits for the same site. As I recall, that second permit (can't recall the name of it...grrr) is a claim to the site. Unless it changed, I want to say the permits were for two years. If you do not follow their rules, they can void your permit at anytime. That's in the fine print.
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