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The Lost Squadron - Glacier Girl - What happened to the other aircrfat


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Hi all,

I came to remember the story of the "Lost squadron", when 5 (or 6) P-38s and 2 B-17s landed in Greenland in 1942 and eventually were covered by snow and had to be abandonned.

Snow turned to iced and aircraft were lost until the 90s when a P-38 (Glacier Girl) was recovered and later returned to flying condition.

I wonder if anybody knows what happened to the other aircraft. Were they found? recovered? tranferred? repaired?

Thanks for any information.

Cheers

Eric B.

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The Project to free even the Glaciar girl from the ice is so complex that only 1 plane was salvaged - this is the one currently restored and flying. The airplanes are covered by some 30-40 meters of ice if I recall correctly, so it is no small chore to free them from the ice.

Correction: 260 ft / 80 meters of ice

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Glacier_Girl

Edited by Niels
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Don't forget, GG was recovered over 20 years ago. The ice is now about 330 feet thick. There are five more P-38s and the remains of two B-17s still down there, but they're not coming up without a massive multi-million dollar expedition. I've heard that in monetary terms, GG is worth only a small fraction of what it cost to recover and restore her..and those costs have multiplied exponentially since then. Every couple of years I hears someone announce grand plans for a new recovery expedition, but nothing ever comes of it because they can't get the necessary financial backing.

Incidentally, a few bits were recovered from the B-17E "Big Stoop" during one of the early expeditions, including the top turret dome. This piece is actually flying again, currently installed on the "Movie Memphis Belle." She used to have a complete upper turret, but when the Liberty Foundation leased her for their touring ride program (to replace the Liberty Belle, which was destroyed a few years ago) they took the full turret out to provide more room inside for passengers. So the plane would still look fully armed, they put on an empty turret dome with some fake guns. Most flying Warbird B-17s are set up the same way. In addition to making it easier to move around inside the plane, it also saves several hundred pounds of weight.

SN

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Most of Glacier Girl had to be replaced. As the ice thickened, it spread. This spreading pulled the tails away from the nacelles with attached wires and cables cutting into the wing spars, among other things. She was chosen for the recovery effort because the pilot had stopped the engines before landing gear-up so the props were in great condition. THAT was the deciding factor on which aircraft to attempt to raise.

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Hi all,

Thank you dearly for your kind replies. I have tried some google search aroung the "Glacier Girl" and "Lost squadron" wording that mostly brought back information about the original P-38 only (I know GG is the original P-38 by the way).

I was not sure but so few information about the other aircraft of the same "Lost Squadron" flight led me to conclude that the other aircraft were not recovered what you basically confirm.

Thank you.

Cheers

Eric B.

Edited by Eric B.
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Incidentally, a few bits were recovered from the B-17E "Big Stoop" during one of the early expeditions, including the top turret dome. This piece is actually flying again, currently installed on the "Movie Memphis Belle." She used to have a complete upper turret, but when the Liberty Foundation leased her for their touring ride program (to replace the Liberty Belle, which was destroyed a few years ago) they took the full turret out to provide more room inside for passengers. So the plane would still look fully armed, they put on an empty turret dome with some fake guns. Most flying Warbird B-17s are set up the same way. In addition to making it easier to move around inside the plane, it also saves several hundred pounds of weight.

SN

A fellow I know who volunteered at EAA/Oshkosh working on "Aluminum Overcast" got me a tour of that B-17. The full- time mechanic there told me that the top turret mechanism was not installed because frankly too many of the passengers are too fat to squeeze past it. Weight savings for the plane had nothing to do with it, they actually are still in the process of restoring the B-17 back to exactly as it was during wartime. There are still little details they are adding here and there. The top turret is the only compromise they reluctantly had to make.

Edited by Scott R Wilson
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