Lake Mead B-29

[DoraNineFan]

"I'd argue that only a small percentage of park visitors are scuba qualified."....

Phil

i dont think some are getting the point. 20 years ago the bomber was in 300 ft of water. Today its in 85 feet of water. In a couple years is will be on dry land, less than a two mile hike from the Echo Bay gas station.

Meaning that the Park Service will have to fence it off. But the paint taggers and souvenir hunters will still climb the fence.

[bdk]

Lake Mead is a source for drinking water for Las Vegas and L.A.

And yet it is being drained dry? Nobody is concerned about millions dying of thirst? Water levels have been a political football for decades. Mono Lake was in the same position years ago. Lake Mead draws a lot of tourism money. It will not go dry!

[Lon Moer]

If someone has the millions of dollars for this level of restoration project,
Planes of Fame has a B-50 fuselage and a pile C-97 'parts'.
...that would be a lot easier project than removal from the reservoir would be.

[phil65]

If someone has the millions of dollars for this level of restoration project,
Planes of Fame has a B-50 fuselage and a pile C-97 'parts'.
...that would be a lot easier project than removal from the reservoir would be.

But not as much fun...

Phil

[lucky52]

I wonder if that headset is still hanging on the yoke where the pilot left it ? If it is it won't be for long.

[airnutz]

I wonder if that headset is still hanging on the yoke where the pilot left it ? If it is it won't be for long.

Yoke? What yoke?

[marine air]

It would make sense for the Park Service or whomever the owner is, to give away the salvage rights to an entity that will retrieve it out of there and clean up the site. Then, the investor ( a museum) pays to have it retrieved , shipped to their location and put on static display. NO ONE, repeat NO ONE, is seriously wanting to restore another flyable B-29 at this time. For much less you could buy a flyable Mars or Connie for example. (Or a really great twin mustang!) Maybe there is one of these new collectors that would like to add a B-29 to their collection.

[phil65]

The government isn't willing to pay to have it removed as a military exercise or something like that ?

Phil

[p51]

Nobody is concerned about millions dying of thirst?

If you refer to people here, this is a warbird forum, not a public reservoir forum...

[DoraNineFan]

The government isn't willing to pay to have it removed as a military exercise or something like that ?

Phil

Well, I think that could also open the door for the govt. to bid it out as contract for salvage and scrapping too. Cheaper and no liability.

[marine air]

You don't want the government removing it as a training exercise. It will be completely destroyed. You want Tara Lyssenko and his guys with decades of experience. That's who the government uses when they want it to be brought up as intact as possible. The Navy tried to raise the last PBM-5 Mariner and broke it into several pieces and gave up. It's still on the bottom of Lake Washington and is an environmental hazard. It was to go to their museum in Pensacola. You want private investment with the understanding they remove it and keep it. That's the only way the financial numbers might work for a private investor.

[bdk]

Nobody is concerned about millions dying of thirst?

If you refer to people here, this is a warbird forum, not a public reservoir forum...

Haha! And drought is not of great concern to those in the Pacific Northwest either! I'll invite you to my new public reservoir forum as soon as I create it.

[JohnB]

Somehow I don't think anyone is "...dying of thirst" anywhere near Lake Mead.
Note that Vegas has 70 golf courses, Phoenix has more than 200, I don't think any are in artificial turf.

Add to that the thousands of outdoor pools (which have a lot of evaporation), not to mention the dancing water fountain on the strip and the Venetian Canal boat attraction (where the water is cleaner than in Venice), somehow, I don't think anyone is too concerned.


Of course Vegas encourages the consumption of non-water based beverages.

[bdk]

Somehow I don't think anyone is "...dying of thirst" anywhere near Lake Mead.
Note that Vegas has 70 golf courses, Phoenix has more than 200, I don't think any are in artificial turf.

Add to that the thousands of outdoor pools (which have a lot of evaporation), not to mention the dancing water fountain on the strip and the Venetian Canal boat attraction (where the water is cleaner than in Venice), somehow, I don't think anyone is too concerned.

Lake Mead and Lake Powell upstream are the largest human-made reservoirs in the US, part of a system that provides water to more than 40 million people, tribes, agriculture and industry in Arizona, California, Colorado, Nevada, New Mexico, Utah, Wyoming and across the southern border in Mexico.

[menards]

Somehow I don't think anyone is "...dying of thirst" anywhere near Lake Mead.
Note that Vegas has 70 golf courses, Phoenix has more than 200, I don't think any are in artificial turf.

Add to that the thousands of outdoor pools (which have a lot of evaporation), not to mention the dancing water fountain on the strip and the Venetian Canal boat attraction (where the water is cleaner than in Venice), somehow, I don't think anyone is too concerned.


Of course Vegas encourages the consumption of non-water based beverages.

The whole point of this thread is captured in this post. Noone cares about the diminishing resource providing water. to millions of people. You are watching real life "who moved my cheese" play out for everyone. No one will be concerened until they goto the spigot and nothing comes out. Until then, golf courses are watered, pools are filled, new suburban housing tracts continue to be built. Water level is dropping, and the B-29 will soon be very near, then actually on, the surface. Since this is a warbird forum, the concern is preservation of whats left of the bomber. From what I have read the quagga mussels have already taken a toll, causing the tail to fold over. The bomber sits at 970'. Las Vegas is sucking water from 860'. The lower the lake gets..the faster the lake level drops. It will be an interesting development over the next couple of summers for sure. I liked the one proposed idea that the b-29s remains are recovered preserved and displayed as it sat on the bottom of the lake for so many years.