Warbird Information Exchange

So, what is being done with that 109? I remember seeing info and pics of it before a long time ago.... has anyone bought it? Or is it being restored where it is?

-David

Thanks so much for posting the Natl Geographic illustrating the B-24's. If you look close it is evident that the tails on the B-24's have been purposely been crunched from the fuselage. The Feb 9, 1948 issue of Life magazine has a full page photo of scads of A-20's and P-38's on Biak as well. As I commneted in my original note there were 3 contiguous airfields on Biak (Sorido, Boroke and Mokmer). Sorido airfield is now a naval barracks area, Boroke is an abandoned Dutch Airbase (modern hangers, quonset huts etc + a very derelict Hawker Hunter) and Mokmer is the Intl Airport with a 10K+ ft runway. Although Biak is located at the very eastern end of Indonesia access was easy in the 1990's. Garuda Airlines had a daily flight from LAX to Bali with fueling stops at HNL and Biak. Although the DC-10 was at capacity I was the ONLY passenger to deplane at Biak and again the only passenger to board on the return trip to LAX!

You're welcome on the NatGeo photo. I wanted my own copy for well over thirty years but had no idea of what issue it was in. Finally a friend let me go through his complete collection of post-WWII issues and we found it. It was like a holy grail discovery to me. (Weird, I know )

For the story of the Indian B-24 refurbishment, try reading this link: http://www.bharat-rakshak.com/IAF/Histo ... rator.html

Scott

B-25's and Lancs were unsuitable, but they went for B-24's? I wish :psyduck: worked on here because seriously, wow. Considering the US couldn't get rid of B-24's fast enough after the war was over you'd think that'd be a sign.

I wonder if the fact that the Liberators were essentially "free" to the IAF is the real reason that they didn't go with the Lanc or B-25. That and the fact that Libs and the engines were overhauled at RAF stations in India during the war may have been deciding factors since there were folks in-country with some experience maintaining them. Kind of a neat story of ingenuity and inventiveness, and they did use the aircraft hard for quite a long time, so it seems to have worked out well for the IAF. Thanks to them we have many more survivors today than we otherwise would have!

I must not have noticed the "free" part ^^''

i own 1 of the pilot seats of an india based b-24 that was initially bought by a very reputable aviation memorabila dealer, he got it from the late great dave tallichete. i had it restored & it's gorgeous!!

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tom d. friedman - hey!!! those fokkers were messerschmitts!! * without ammunition, the usaf would be just another flying club!!! * better to have piece of mind than piece of tail!!

What no pics???

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Long Live the N3N-3 "The Last US Military Bi-Plane" 1940-1959
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some on-line info on KB999 here :
http://www.lancastermuseum.ca/lancavro.html#indexkb999

I'm pretty sure it is gone as scrap metal by now. It would have been fairly accessible on the shore of Hudson's Bay.

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Bill Walker
Canadian Military Aircraft Serials
www.ody.ca/~bwalker/

Hey Bill,

Thanks for the link. As it turns out a lot of the info on KB999 is inaccurate. It actually crashed about 70 miles west of the shores of Hudson Bay in an un-named lake. Technically it's located in the southern part of Nunavut.

I spoke with the heritage minister for Nunavut and he was aware of the airplane and has an associate that knows of its exact location, but never mentioned the condition.

I kept digging and eventually learned that the salvage rights belonged to the Western Canada Aviation Museum. The did a survey of the crash location a number of years ago and determined that due to the condition of the airframe (or what was left of it), that any sort of recovery expedition would be too costly for what reminents they would actually be able to being back.

It's quite a sad end to an airplane that didn't look to be too badly damaged after the accident.

So that was about 8 months of searching, calling government offices, military offices, trying to get crash reports from the national archives, etc...

Cheers,

David

Is there just one picture of P-38's? Is there a story to go with it?

Mike

Let's see if this works...

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I don't get it.... it was fairly intact in the lake, what would have caused it to become so badly damaged that it wouldn't be usable?

The ice wouldn't have done it, at worst it would have crushed the fuselage, but that's assuming there's nothing but air in there. You only have to look at the Dyke Lake B17 to see ice damage; or failing that the Greenland B17's under a couple of hundred feet.

For a Lanc in similar conditions There's the remains of DV202 in the lake near Peenemunde, and I've seen pictures of it iced over.

Are the Western Canada Aviation Museum the same organisation that have the salvage rights for the Avro York?

Regards

Ric

Ric,

I think in this case it has been suggested the airframe has been rolled around, torn apart and crushed by the ice flows forming on, and floating around it in the lake, not just a thin layer of ice, or pack snow. It would be interesting to see images of the remains to confirm the stories about its condition.

not sure what the google earth coverage is in that area?

regards

Mark Pilkington

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20th Century - The Age of Manned Flight
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I realise this Mark, I just don't understand how... if there's water inside the aircraft that would freeze as well, which wouldn't move it that much. It may have shifted into deeper water, but I can't see it being crushed.

If 300 odd feet of ice won't crush a set of B17 wings, then I doubt a lake barely deep enough to submerge a Lancaster in would have fully crushed that.

I for one would love to see confirmation of this aircrafts condition... even if it is in pieces.

Ric