I visited the Glacier Girl hangar at Middlesboro during a vacation in 1998. (The real focus of the trip was the Cumberland Gap, Monticello, and Richmond--finding GG was pure serendipity.) The restoration was pretty far along even at that point, but the place was pretty dead--I was the only visitor there the whole time. They let you walk all around the plane, the guys working on it took the time to stop and explain things. At the end, I wanted to do my bit, so of course I bought a copy of the book about the "Lost Squadron's" recovery, etc., The best part was when the project manager, Bob Carlin (sp?), and the staff autographed the book for me. Just as I left, an older fellow arrived--obviously somebody who knew the operation inside and out. I later realized that it was Roy Shoffner (sp? again), who is the man with the money behind the whole operation.
An amazing, completely unplanned moment. Later that evening, I slightly marred the spell by having dinner at a very bad "Chinese" restaurant, which was redeemed by a late-night walk around the (very quiet) town of Cumberland Gap.