04.03.2009, 03:55
I read a report about the "Lost Squadron" some weeks ago - as far as I remember fall 2008, in a German magazine called "Geo", if I'm not wrong. They were on their way to Great Britain, some 6 P-38 or so, can't remember exactly, plus 2 B-17 to scout them. Half way on their way to Iceland they got a radio message that the landing strips on Iceland were closed due to bad weather - which was actually a fake message sent by a German submarine. They returned to Greenland, but the navigator made a mistake, and when they realized that it was already too late - they had to land on the ice. One of the P-38 tried it with the landing gear down, he ground looped, but the pilot made it without injury. The others belly landed. They managed to make a radio equipment work, and a few days later they were rescued by a ground team.
A few years ago an American wanted to recover one of the B-17. He found it some meters sunk into the ice, but the pressure of the ice had deformed the aircraft so much that it wasn't worth putting work into recovery. The much more stable airframe of the P-38, however, had resisted the ice pressure, so that the recovered one of them, which now as far as I know is that famous "Glacier Girl". The other P-38 stayed in the ice and are now sunken by several dozen meters into the ice. But there is someone - German, if I'm not wrong - who plans to melt a tunnel into the ice, disassemble the Lightnings and bring them back to life.
CORRECTION: It was not "Geo", but the "Stern", and the article ("Flieger unter Eis") was most probably based on the "National Geographics" documentation. Here's a link to a "Stern" web page including pictures and a film:
http://www.stern.de/computer-technik/tec...07942.html
The aircraft involved are 6 P-38 and 2 B-17.
A few years ago an American wanted to recover one of the B-17. He found it some meters sunk into the ice, but the pressure of the ice had deformed the aircraft so much that it wasn't worth putting work into recovery. The much more stable airframe of the P-38, however, had resisted the ice pressure, so that the recovered one of them, which now as far as I know is that famous "Glacier Girl". The other P-38 stayed in the ice and are now sunken by several dozen meters into the ice. But there is someone - German, if I'm not wrong - who plans to melt a tunnel into the ice, disassemble the Lightnings and bring them back to life.
CORRECTION: It was not "Geo", but the "Stern", and the article ("Flieger unter Eis") was most probably based on the "National Geographics" documentation. Here's a link to a "Stern" web page including pictures and a film:
http://www.stern.de/computer-technik/tec...07942.html
The aircraft involved are 6 P-38 and 2 B-17.