Glacier Girl: P-38 Off to Britain

[GateXC]

Finishing up the mission, 65 years later...

http://thelede.blogs.nytimes.com/2007/06/22/plane-freed-from-a-glacier-sets-out-for-britain-again/

 

[J. M. Stovall]

That's amazing! When I first read about it I thought it would be too squished to restore to flying condition! Wow!

 

[Natty Bumpo]

Twin tail devil ping! What a story. I believe there are less than a dozen of these around today.

In 1980 I observed a pair of P-38's flying below the airliner I was in. We were over Mississippi and I just about came out of my seat.

 

[silhouette53]

It will be good to see this bird back where it belongs - in the skies once more.
I hope its trip to UK goes without hitch. A P38 is NOT a good plane to hit the ground in according to this snatch of film from an airshow somewhere

www.micom.net/oops/P38 crash.wmv

 

[Thunderbolt]

That's amazing! When I first read about it I thought it would be too squished to restore to flying condition! Wow!

There was a whole documentary on gacier girl on the history channel. The team went to get a B-17 originaly, but IT was too squished. They ended up with on of several other P-38's. It was an expensive undertaking, not just in the Lightnings restoration, but also in the expedition. Glacier Girl is the most historicly accurate warbird to date because it has the most original parts than any other, due to it being somewhat a time capsul(sp). Look it up, it is a facinating story. Somebody should go over there and snatch up the rest of those Lightnings!!

 

[Thunderbolt]

Well, that was demoralizing.

It will be good to see this bird back where it belongs - in the skies once more.
I hope its trip to UK goes without hitch. A P38 is NOT a good plane to hit the ground in according to this snatch of film from an airshow somewhere

www.micom.net/oops/P38 crash.wmv

I take it that guy didn't make it out alive. That was also a very nicely done Lightning too. I love air shows, and I've been to many, but thank God I've never had to see anything like that in person. I probably would stop going.

 

[silhouette53]

I didn't post that link without some thought about how it might be received. I was really quite surprised at how flimsy the plane must have been for it to virtually disintegrate on impact. I have no knowledge of the P38's construction - was it metal ? or like the Mosquito, wood & fabric ?

Must have had quite a lot of fuel in its tanks still for it to become a fireball like that. What it does illustrate is the horror of such a crash - and during the war there must have been hundreds if not thousands of such occurences.

Kind of takes all the 'glamour' out of the whole flyboy thing doesn't it ?

Forget the so called 'aces' - as far as I'm concerned, anyone who climbed aboard a plane in any capacity to go and face the enemy was a hero.

 

[Thunderbolt]

They were constructed of aluminum. Yep, they explode when hitting terra firma pretty well. I wouldn't say the P-38 was flimsy by the way it pops like a flaming water balloon when crashing, I think it is a characteristic of all aircraft. They have to be somewhat lite and flimsy in order to fly well. I've seen footage of MiG's and F-16's also exploding into nothing when hitting the ground. The X-22 prototype of the F-22 crashed and all was seen was fire. Also the airliner that hit the Pentagon on Sept 11 whas hard to find. Durring storms, we have to tie our aircraft down to keep them from being blown away, and were talking about C-17's!!

 

[Sweet Leilani]

Somebody should go over there and snatch up the rest of those Lightnings!!

Somebody has: www.operationbolero.org

fftopic: I saw an F-14 crash at an airshow in 2001. Both the pilot & the RIO were killed after they rode the plane to the ground trying to avoid some nearby houses. They were successful, but paid for it with their lives. I'll never forget that feeling or that image- it's absolutely horrible.

 

[Hondo]

I seriously doubt anyone lived (walked away) after that crash, the way the plane was acting, too fast, too low, and should never have been attempted

I take it that guy didn't make it out alive. That was also a very nicely done Lightning too. I love air shows, and I've been to many, but thank God I've never had to see anything like that in person. I probably would stop going.

 

[Hondo]

100 percent agree, I never want to see an airshow, but only planes on the ground, and for reals, takes all the glamour away, crashes or deaths I can do without. We lost enough heroes, want to see crashes? rent a movie.

I didn't post that link without some thought about how it might be received. I was really quite surprised at how flimsy the plane must have been for it to virtually disintegrate on impact. I have no knowledge of the P38's construction - was it metal ? or like the Mosquito, wood & fabric ?

Must have had quite a lot of fuel in its tanks still for it to become a fireball like that. What it does illustrate is the horror of such a crash - and during the war there must have been hundreds if not thousands of such occurences.

Kind of takes all the 'glamour' out of the whole flyboy thing doesn't it ?

Forget the so called 'aces' - as far as I'm concerned, anyone who climbed aboard a plane in any capacity to go and face the enemy was a hero.

 

[Teekay44]

The pilots clip board became wedged in the controls. That caused the crash. He was killed instantly. His name escapes me now but he was a experienced pilot.

 

[Micawber]

It will be good to see this bird back where it belongs - in the skies once more.
I hope its trip to UK goes without hitch. A P38 is NOT a good plane to hit the ground in according to this snatch of film from an airshow somewhere

www.micom.net/oops/P38 crash.wmv

The pilot was Michael "Hoof" Proudfoot and the accident took place on July 16 1996 during the Flying Legends airshow at IWM Duxford. I lived close to Duxford for quite a few years when I was more somewhat active in the historic aviation scene than I am now. I was present at the show the day prior to the accident and took video of the same manoeuvre. Several friends of mine witnessed the crash the next day.

Obituary for Proudfoot by Stephen Gray at http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_qn4158/is_19960719/ai_n14058532

 

[warbird]

I watched an F14 crash into a neighborhood, barely missing my office building at the time. The pilot was showing off and went vertical with full fuel and tip tanks. I suspect he popped out of the clouds into bright light and got vertigo. He lost control and got himself into a flat spin. He was starting to get control and actually avoided my building, which several of us were standing outside at the time smoking cigars, but he ran out of time. With all that extra weight, an F-14 is way underpowered anway, he had AB's on full and just hadnt had time to fully pull out and mushed into the ground slamming 3 houses and killing 4 or 5 people I can't remember. He could have ejected and not been killed if he had been willing to let it hit the office building.

I saw two planes crash at the Reno air races.

I've crash landed two planes myself.

 

[Alan Eardley]

The pilot was Michael "Hoof" Proudfoot and the accident took place on July 16 1996 during the Flying Legends airshow at IWM Duxford. <Snip> I was present at the show the day prior to the accident and took video of the same manoeuvre. Several friends of mine witnessed the crash the next day.

I too was there that day, Bro. And at Woodford in 1992 when David Moore crashed while displaying Rolls Royce's Spitfire. To counter it, I have attended a lot of airshows and left feeling nothing but elation.

Alan

 

[Marcus]

So I was sitting on the back porch today watching the kids play on their inflatable water slide and what do I see........P38 racing across the sky. Maybe 500-1000 ft up. Not two or three minutes later another (or perhaps the same one after she circled around). We have a small airstrip near us so at first the sound of the prop didn't seem out of ordinary, but you can certainly tell the difference in engine sound between a Cessna and a Warbird...it was pretty cool.