Warbird Information Exchange

We've covered this subject ad nauseum. Alaskas heritage policy is law, the govenrment has little or no interest in recovering (as of yet) the wreckage. GOOGLE EARTH Atka Island, AK and see where it's located, @ 52 26 N and 174 58 W. thats smack dab in DEADLIEST CATCH territory so recovery would be a very very major effort. Anything removed from the wreck is probably from the natives utilizing parts as pans and scoops to ease their life there. Atka is a nasty volcanic rock sticking out of horrible weater and water conditions, I'll bet there no 'SANDALS' there, and any 'tourists' would stay until the freight was unloaded and leave as there is no where to spend the night, no hotel, no restaurants, and it could be a week before the airplane returns if the weather goes. to crap (which it can do in 5 minutes and last for days). The Island has what looks like a single, 3000 ft. narrow dirt strip. There is one very tiny native village and it's beyond a hard scrabble existance life there where if you can't lay in enough fish and seal meat during the very brief Summer to make it through the Winter, they'll find your corpse next Spring, if you could get one unspoiled, a gallon of fresh milk would cost around $25-30 a gallon as everything in Alaska goes as 'by the pound freight' and the further it travels the more it costs. The next rock West is Adak in the Rat Islands. The Island is closer to Beijing than it is to Los Angeles.

And save your efforts trying to contact Rosanne of the North, she is less popular in Alaska than just about anywhere else and has less than zero input to government.

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Don't make me go get my flying monkeys-

Does the Smithsonian have any pull with the government in a case like this? Isn't a Lib on their want list?

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All right, Mister Dorfmann, start pullin'!
Pilot: "Flap switch works hard in down position."
Mechanic: "Flap switch checked OK. Pilot needs more P.T." - Flight report, TB-17G 42-102875 (Hobbs AAF)

I am not a Sarah fan, and don't hate her either. However the one thing that she DOES have is publicity. That is what is needed. Amazing just what publicity both good or bad can get done.

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Chris Henry
EAA Aviation Museum Manager

I'm just saying she pretty unpopular back home and has less than zero pull in state politics, plus, if it don't come up as a positive for her on her radar...good luck pal. Have you looked @ GOOGLE earth to see where the Island is yet? It's NOT like walking down to the 7-11 for a squishie, it's as far from Dutch Harbor to Atka as it is from Denver to San Francisco and as far from Dutch to Anchorage as Denver to San Francisco again-nice dream but that's about all it will remain, a dream 'some day, some day' if ya ain't been there, you'll never comprehend the issues and distances involved. The B-24 @ Hill was in better shape and watch the video of what had to be gone through to get it off the plateau and into the recovery vessel, and how long has it been under on display restoration?

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Don't make me go get my flying monkeys-

Certainly the WIX brain trust aren't the first to have thought of this.

Here's a contact list of who's who at the Alaska Aviation Heritage Museum. Perhaps an e-mail would yield helpful info on any current or future recovery planning.

http://www.alaskaairmuseum.org/About/contact.htm

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It was a good idea, it just didn't work.

You can try, but I'll bet they just tell you to contact the legislature in Juneau as it's a state law not just someones 'hey! I've got an idea' moment.

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Don't make me go get my flying monkeys-

i'm all for emailing sarah. What would it hurt? Although she isn't the current gov. of alaska anymore is she? I'm wondering if a heavy duty chopper could lift the plane out, she can't weight that much cut in half right?

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" I am a nobody in aviation, but somebody to my family."

Well, it would be neat to see it recovered...if only.

...and I'm a HUGE Sarah fan...

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"Everyone wants to live here (New Jersey), evidenced by the fact that it has the highest population per capita in the U.S..."

Firstly, go to GOOGLE EARTH and see what sort of distances are involved and over what territory, and Rosanne of the North has no pull in Alaska and in fact, isn't very popular around the old home state anymore as has been mentioned a couple of times in this post already-along with IT'S A STATE LAW!!! NOT SOMEONES GOOD INTENTIONED IDEA. Those of you who have never been to Alaska cannot comprehend the vastness of the state coupled with the total aloneness of being even a few miles outside of any town, it's bigger that Texas and has a total population statewide about equal to Minneapolis, some people live two or three days by sled or quad from the nearest village which could be nothing more than a dozen houses and a 2500 ft rude dirt strip, and that village could be 250 miles from a 'town' which could be 2 dozen buildings and a 3500 ft gravel strip. Atka Island is just short of half way around the world from Greenwich @ 174+W.

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Don't make me go get my flying monkeys-

I googled it and I agree. It's almost in Russia! Chances of seeing it recovered from that island are pretty slim indeed

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Magister Aviation
It's all in my book

How did the tail section get separated from the main fuselage.

#1 - I agree that it would be a monumental undertaking that would cost enormous amounts of money...but not impossible. People are pulling chunks off of the Titanic and drilling steam tunnels into the Greenland ice for example...

#2 - Just because something is State Law doesn't make it impossible. There is precedence for waivers and challenges. It would be difficult, but not impossible. Again, political power, donations (we''ll give you X if allowed to...).

#3 - What's with the Rosanne of the North comments? Way off line and not pertinent to the discussion here (Doesn't even make sense)...

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"Everyone wants to live here (New Jersey), evidenced by the fact that it has the highest population per capita in the U.S..."

Winds like you cannot believe, the hurricane force winds combined with pretty much constant french choker rain and snows and willowas (a willowa is a snow/ice/ice fog storm so heavy and sudden that you absolutely can't see your hand held down around your waist and they do shut down traffic on highways and I mean RIGHT NOW if you try to move in one, you will have a very serious accident because there is ZERO visability, they detour aircraft, and can last for days on end) that's why there is no exterior paint on the airframe and the tail section is dislocated from the main wreckage.

That's why all you see in the 'Chain' like in the pictures in the posting, for flora is grasses, nothing else can stand up to the winds, cold, and darkness. Photos you may see of odd looking stunted evergreens in snowy pictures are black spruces and the growing season is so short, that tree could be 100 years old, seven feet tall, have a 4 inch base, and the growth rings are like rice paper in thickness, throw a chunk of one in a fire and it burns like newspaper, very hot and 'WOW!' fast.

Around Christmas time in Anchorage, the sun comes up like a balloon around 10:30 in the morning, tracks along level in the mid sky and is gone like a dropped melon about 14:45, out on the Chain there are about 6 weeks of 'Summer' and most of the time the weather is overcast and blowing no wonder alcoholism and suicide are the major occupations amongst natives their lives make 'Grapes of Wrath' footage look like a week @ the Embassy Suites.

Now, who's hungry for some seal liver stew?

The ROTN is what she is being reffered to by some of the very pragmatic folks in Alaska who have no time or use for folks who aren't living up to their expected levels, like airplanes in Alaska, if folks aren't what they seem or pulling their weight then their peer respect drops off.

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Don't make me go get my flying monkeys-

Might be easier to get "Lady Be Good" from Libya, than that one from US Government control!

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Aviation Illustration Website
http://shepartstudio.com/illustration/

APG85,
Just checked with a friend in Fairbanks and he says it's because both sound like each other and if you aren't watching the screen you can confuse one for the other, nothing political, just vocal tones.

peace?

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Don't make me go get my flying monkeys-