Existing, restorable B-24 airframes

[george]

The great thread that Gary has on the CAF B-24 got me to wondering about possible existing Libs that have not been recovered.

Angaur boneyard: 3, plus parts for 4th
New Guinea: supposedly 5 resorable crashes
Canada: 1 project in storage
India: possibly 1 secret hidden away
Aleutians: 1, possibly 2

Any others?

[Mark_Pilkington]

Somewhere I have seen photo's of a complete B-24 forced landed and broken at the rear at the waiste gun points, sitting on a mountain plateau in Indonesia.

The Werribee B-24 Group in Australia have spare fuselage sections, wings and tail planes that would allow some of the recovered Canadian remains now in the USA to form a credible static rebuild.

regards

Mark Pilkington

[groundpounder]

is the b 24 restoration in australia going to be static or airworthy or both. from what i can gather it looks to be a very thorough job they are doing. this is the one that was recovered from alaska some years ago isnt it? if it is going to be only static it seems like a lot of work to be groundbound!!

[DaveM2]

Static, and no it was recovered in Australia, with some wing sections from PNG

Dave

[1969read]

all systems will be in working order so l have been told. jason

[daveymac82c]

Hey George,

You mentioned a B-24 project in Canada. What do you know about it? I am curious because I'm trying to track down a B-24 that I found on the warbird regirstry.

Cheers,

David

[george]

David - About 15 years ago, a crash-landed B-24 was salvaged in Labrador. It had sat there since 1944. When the salvagers had it ready to ship, and had done everything properly, some officials would not let them ship. So as I understand it, the Lib is still sitting at Goose Bay. A real tragedy, with no apparent rationale. It may have been flying by now; instead, its just sitting in storage.

[daveymac82c]

That B-24 in Goose Bay, can it not be shipped because it was deemed cultural property under Canadian Law?

What seems to be the hold up with it? Is it indefinitely staying in Goose Bay? Who has rights on it?

What condition is the airframe in?

Cheers,

David

[mustangdriver]

Any one know if the remains of the Lady Be Good can be used. I know it is sitting behid a police station in Libya or something, but I saw a largesection of the rear fuselage still intact.

[daveymac82c]

Ok, so I did some research and have found some new information with regards to the B-24 located in Labrador, Newfoundland, Canada.

Like mentioned, it was destined to be removed and transported to the US, but "the provincial government seized it, because at that time it was their property, even through Mr. Reilly purchased it from Crown Assets, he didn’t have a permit to ship it to the U.S." Thus the airframe remained in Goose Bay for quite some time. Recently the North Atlantic Aviation Museum in Gander, Newfoundland was awarded custody of the entire airframe and the previously recovered parts are being sent to their location in Gander, Newfoundland. These being the nose and tail sections and they intend on restoring those two sections. The museum has custody over the rest of the airframe still located at the crash site, but they are unable to recover it unless they are able to find a helicopter powerful enough to remove the larger pieces of the wreckage.

The Liberator was a member of #10 Bomber Reconnaissance Squadron and was RCAF 586. As an interesting side note, this exact B-24 was responsible for the destruction of 2 German U-boats during WWII.

For the whole article go to:

http://www.lportepilot.ca/index.cfm?iid=2067&sid=16132

Cheers,

David McIntosh

[tulsaboy]

Pardon my ignorance, but what/where is the angaur boneyard? I've seen it mentioned from time to time here in WIX, but haven't really heard any specifics. Are there really three B-24s there, and if so, what are the main reasons no one has recovered them? Cost? Politics? Both?

kevin

[george]

Kevin - Angaur is a small island near Peleliu. USAAC had a B-24 base there. There were some pictures of the boneyard floating around the internet a few years ago. I can't answer why they haven't been recovered, but I wish they would be.

[SaxMan]

Does anyone know the status of Don Whittington's LB-30 hulk at Ft. Collins, Colorado? Last I had heard, he was trying to sell it.

[george]

Thats a good question, SaxMan. Its perplexing, spending all the labor and money to dismantle and move it so far, then nothing done with it. I am pretty sure it was still intact when bought. The registry says it was owned by Lone Star before Whittington, but apparently it never got to Galveston. Can someone shed some light on what happened with this Lib?

[marine air]

I was taken behind the woodshed for suggesting that someone rescue and buy the Lady Be Good 'and use as a basis for a flying restoration.
My latest out of the box idea would be for someone to exchange it with the Libyan govt. for some oil industry equipment, bring it back and donate it to the Pima Air museum where it could be displayed in an outdoor desert crash scene. It could be restored to it's original crashed condition using only replacement pieces from crashed B-24's around the world.
Of course it would be okay with me if the Museum then released their gorgeous polished metal example, obtained from civilian sources, back to private ownership where it could go on the airshow circuit as the "Worlds only flying polished metal B-24".
Hows that?