11/23/2009

Frozen in time


GLACIER GIRL.....


Yes, the "Glacier Girl" was at the airshow. What a RARE sight to see!!!

The P-38, destined to be known as “
Glacier Girl,” was one of a flight of six Lightnings and two B-17 Flying Fortresses. These planes are now known as the “Lost Squadron,” which were forced to make emergency landings en route to England from America on July 15, 1942. All eight planes were left on the Greenland icecap...where inclement weather eventually buried them all beneath 270 feet of ice and snow.


Fifty years later, this single aircraft was recovered from the ice in 1992 after many years excavation. She underwent an intensive restoration process in Middlesboro, Kentucky beginning in 1993. After hundreds of thousands of man hours and millions of dollars, Glacier Girl stands now as the most perfect restoration of a World War II era warbird ever done and the most perfect P-38 Lightning in existence. Notice the ice tunnels in the photo!




This is how she looks today! We all stood in amazement as she made several fly-bys.

Glacier Girl is a Lockheed P-38F-1-LO Lightning World War II fighter plane. In 1942, the P-38 was the fastest fighter in the world, and they flew in both the Pacific and European Theaters during the war. After the war ended almost all of them were melted down for scrap metal.

Plans are to have the airplane on display at the Lost Squadron Museum in Middlesboro. It is uncertain how much it will be flown in the future, so I consider myself fortunately to have witnessed its appearance...

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