P-38's to be recovered in May 2005

Originally posted by Bruce
The final cost of Glacier Girl was somewhere over 6 million USD, including recovery etc.

Can they really justify the expenditure of getting them out??

I suppose there will be some economy of scale, but these will be a very expensive restoration project….

What is the current market value of a P38? – I reckon no more than $2m in airworthy trim.

Bruce

I think when it comes down to such rare airframes and the possibilty of owning a flyable aircraft which is a high percentage original then the value goes up,Besides if they are willing to spend there money this way good luck to them,its their money or there backers money.There may not be another chance to retrieve these aircraft and i would rather see sometime in the future that another p38 has taken to the air somewhere than to hear these Aircraft are no longer possible to retrieve.

Didn’t it say on the TV programme that the B-17(s) were completely flattened? IIRC, that’s what they went for in the first place.

I suppose it’s easy to be highly optimistic about what you will achieve etc when starting out on a venture like this – the original group were planning on bringing up two P-38s, but in the event, were lucky to get one.

I don’t think anyone would seriously take this project on as a money making venture – definately a labour of love.

Who knows, maybe they have developed a clever new way of getting down there and bringing the whole aircraft to the surface – maybe they have industry support, sponsorship etc. They can certainly do it (and I think it is worth it – where else will you get such an original early P-38 – god my mouth is watering and i have little interest in anything American) and I really hope they pull it off. Part of me would love to be down in the belly of that glacier with them.

The final cost of Glacier Girl was somewhere over 6 million USD, including recovery etc.

Can they really justify the expenditure of getting them out??

I suppose there will be some economy of scale, but these will be a very expensive restoration project….

What is the current market value of a P38? – I reckon no more than $2m in airworthy trim.

Bruce

My understanding is that the B-17’s are, sadly, ecconomically unviable for a speculative recovery, particularly due to their known poor condition. Early P-38’s, complete, albeit a bit crushed here and there are an entirely different proposition as their end value could justify recovery, particularly two or three machines in one expedition.

Definitely possible, given that the first few expeditions (and a good proportion of the total expenditure) only established where they actually were, and now that is known, it will cost substantially less to extract further P-38’s from the ice. I assume that Epps and co. do not have exclusive rights on the site.

The Forts are completely gone, anything that could be fetched up would just be small reference pieces – although having said that, a mass exhumation of skin panels would generate quite a bit of cash from collectors – I’m sure that there would be thousands of takers at, say, $250 per hand-sized section. Then there’s instruments, hand wheels, all kinds of other ephemera.

Good luck to ’em, I say!

At least one of the B-17s had been ground apart as Ant says.

Still, whateve metal you do recover will be in better nick, corrosion wise, than anything from on land or under the sea!

Supposedly quite a lot – they were even able to use 40% of the original skin! Definately worth it, but extremely hard work and very very expensive.

They pushed their luck first time round i think they should leave it at that, because at the end of the day how much of the original is in GLACIER GIRL?.

I hope they do go after the forts – they are nice early ones, but it’s very unlikely. They will be lucky to pull up one P-38 – it’s an enormous effort. Having spent last weekend dismantling Whitley bits in the open in semi-artic Norfolk they have my deepest sympathy 😀

Does the new recovery plan include the Forts?As I understood it,they were both badly twisted and crushed by the movement of the ice over the decades,thier large size meaning that the tail was caught up in one flow and the nose in another etc,pulling the machine apart.I can’t imagine there is much to be gained by recovering the B17’s.
The P38’s on the other hand seem to be a very tasty proposition.Good luck to all involved!

The two B-17’s were ‘navigational aids’. The navigators in them being responsible for getting the flight from A to B. IIRC, one B-17 was lead nav and the other one a back-up in case the lead went tech and had to turn back.

The aircraft damaged in the landing, was the first Lightning that made a wheels down landing and turned turtle. The pilot got out OK. All the others landed wheels up and were almost undamaged.

I, for one, support the mission…the planes are just so much scrap metal to the glacier, but upon recovery they take on a whole new level of importance when in the world of men. Hope it all goes as planned.

Mark

I also say good luck to them.

What’s the story with the 2 B-17’s ?

They say on the website only one aircrat was damaged in the forced landings but don’t distingush which one.

to make the return journey plus the recovered aircraft is by the use either of helicopters, or ski-planes, or both.

There was a Herc fitted with skis, but I think it’s been retired now. What else would be big enough for this particular job?

I take it this is a different mission to the one used to recover Glacier Girl?

Well, well, well!

It was maybe to much to expect these aircraft to be left alone on the glacier once they were found.

I wish them all the best, and hope they can increase the population of early Lightings by five and early B-17’s by two. However I think it will be easier said than done:rolleyes: