"Glacier Girl"

There was a feature story in Aeroplane monthly magazine a month or so ago on the first public flight of 'glacier girl'. Amazing pictures and very well written indeed.
The views of the vets who were there made good reading too. Sadly thats probably as close as I'll get to seeing her, you're a lucky man!

History Channel (in the US) also did a story on her. It was interesting how they melted the P-38 out of the glacier with hot water.

they had the hot water "auger" on display. Would melt 2 feet of ice per hour. History channel is doing another story...probably the same one as the one on her maiden flight... tomorrow night i believe, or possibly next Monday. one of the guys working there said it cost about $38,000 per hour to fly the thing...all things considered...hangar rent, gas, employees, the museum open 7 days a week, and i guess the insurance is getting to be outrageous. I will definitely be there in Sept to see her in the air again.

There's a web link to a site related to the first flight with downloadable Mpegs of the flight, including audio. Not as good as being there, but it'll do for now. Just go to Google, type in Glacier Girl and go! - Ed

I used to be an aircraft fueler here in BTV..Burlington Vermont which is an international airport due to being so close to canada and also having a US Customs entry site.

I was called in one evening to fuel an aircraft...A C-47.My boss called me because he knew I liked warbirds.I went to the airport,hopped into fuel truck,drove over to customs ramp.

It turned out that the C-47 was from the Greenland expedition.inside it was one of the P-38 booms from prop to rudder.I got to climb inside and check it out...amazing.After I finished fueling I asked for a Greenland Expedition T-shirt with the P-38 on front.They gave me one which I still own today.

there little museum there Vermont is really neat...and they dont even charge admission. I did buy a shirt, a model, and a 50 cal. bullet. You would love to see what they did to it up close and personal.

Anyone know if they "rescued" the other P38s and the two B17s that also belly landed on the ice? Greg

I saw the special on TV and there was some hint that someone might try to get another plane at a later date. I personally don't see it happening again due to the condition af the aircraft under the ice. They found a B-17 before they found the "Lady", but it was as flat as a board. IF someone has a huge amount of money, it might happen again.

they will never try to get the other B-17..they are just too fragile to be intact under those conditions. I dont think Shofner will go after another...he doesnt look like he is in the best of health. I talked to Bob Cardin when i was there Saturday. He is one of the two full time employees there...real nice guy, and was very helpful in answering questions. Quite a story tonight on the History Channel, and you can be sure i will see the "Girl" fly in September at the air show

Somebody did get "My Gal Sal", one of the B-17E's that was up there. It's currently being restored, and I'll see if I can find the web site again.

The site is: http://www.ultimatesacrifice.com/

Huskerguy, if you have a digital camera, you can down load the pics onto your computer, then copy it into the FSM site. Or you can scan a pic, then copy it onto the site.

http://thelostsquadron.com/under1.html

I say the story on the history channel last night and I am amazed that they even tried to get those things out of their.
Now that they have developed a way to get down their I wonder if their going back for the other planes?

I read in a mag back in 84 that the pilot who flew the Girl was the one who inspired the group to go look for the lost Squadron of Greenland, and in 94 the Smithsonian had an article stated that someone finally retreved her from the ice, after about 3 and some odd million dollars later, but the mag also said that the plane was to fly before the turn of the century and that's the last I heard of her until now, thanks for the up date I wish I could see her fly too, but I'm stuck here in Iraq wishing to be hitting all the great airshows this season back States side

flyer...i have a digital camera, and the pix are downloaded to the computer, but what the heck do i do now??? i dont know siccum about puters.

Rebel...My Gal Sal was never UNDER the ice, but stayed on top of the glacier. Bill Carden, project manager for the Lost Squadron said both of the 17's under the ice were crushed beyond any hope of any kind of restoration.

I watched the History Channel show and it was awesome. That P-38 was better than new, just perfect. What a thrill to see the wheels leave the ground!

One of the pilots on that flight was at the Mid Atlantic Air Museum's WWII Weekend air show last month. I was volunteering for the show, so I didn't get to talk to him. :(

Regards,

-Drew

Yep. The 170+ mph winds broke her up pretty good. I knew that there was at least one '17 still under the ice, but like you said it's trashed. Are there two under the glacier? As an interesting note, my dad was still in the USAF at the time that Glacier Girl was recovered. He was coming home from remote assignment up in Thule and rode home with one of her wings.

what the first article I've read was the pilot who convenced the group in the '80's he told them there were 6 P-38's and 1 B-17E that was used for navigation purposes to get the Lost Flight to England but got hit by a blizzard and were force to land do to low fuel in the 38's and the 17 flew for appox 3 hours more to get Air Sea Rescue to find them with no avail, then about 6 days later another flight of 38's & 17 flown over and radioed for their rescue and the planes were written off as war losses and forgotten until the '80's and then they were found by BP or Exxon Oil corp using groung penatrating radar but they were moves 50 miles from last position do to glacer flow, and now we have the Girl + they stated that there are 4 others in the same shape as Girl but it'll take about the same amout of funds to get them out, the Team is waiting for the word to go