Keebird

I’m sure the crew was just wiped out with fatigue….it’s pretty obvious in the video. Being tired has recently been proven as being the same as being under the influence of alcohol. Mistakes start to happen. It’s a bloody shame.

John

Anyone want 4 perfectly good 3350 engines and 4 useable props? You know where to look….just hop on over to Greenland.

M

IIRC the engines were recovered soon after, I think they were only on loan for the flight ?

Engines and props

These would certainly help speed up the project to get “DOC” back into the air quicker! Any news on the proposed recovery of these items?
I imagine that given the time that has passed since this accident, the remains of the aircraft may have sunk by now?

Anyone want 4 perfectly good 3350 engines and 4 useable props? You know where to look….just hop on over to Greenland.

M

[QUOTE=Mark12] An unnecessary loss in my view.

Couldn’t agree more Mark12, although hindsight is a great thing.

Here’s a photo I found on the web showing the remains of Keebird.

Septic.

Bloody depressing viewing by the way.

Keebird video

I have a copy of the original CH4 TV programmes (with the adverts cut out!)which were called Treasure of the Humbolt Glacier. The first one was transmitted on 22.4.95 with the tragic update (and resume) a year later on 7.4.96. I have no way of copying them but if you’d like to borrow (and/or copy) them let me know. I’m hoping to be at Duxford tomorrow so I can bring them along too.I will have a look in the shop though as I’d like a copy of it on one tape. Hope this helps

According to the copy I’ve got, they were using the frozen lake as a runway to fly the B29 out when it caught fire. The remains will have gone to the bottom of the lake when it melted the next summer.

An absolute tragedy, given how close they were to flying it.

The ‘lake’ was only local summer snow melt and a couple of feet deep. They flew in a mini dozer to prepare a take off run.

Great television, but the ‘lash up’ with the fuel barrel and pipework in the back of fuselage was surely an accident waiting to happen…and it did. An unnecessary loss in my view.

Mark

Hi Andrew-O

I believe it is still there and in the same state it was left – there have been some attempts to get at whats left over the years- could be wrong but thats what has been on the net over the past few years and in some of the mags

John P

According to the copy I’ve got, they were using the frozen lake as a runway to fly the B29 out when it caught fire. The remains will have gone to the bottom of the lake when it melted the next summer.

An absolute tragedy, given how close they were to flying it.

Matt Jackson told me that he sat there and watched the Kee Bird burn, with all his tools in the back. They just about made it out of there.

“Sure miss those tools…” M. Jackson

Nobody died during the fire, but one of the team members did die shortly after the mission returned from something which happened on the expedition. If I recall correctly they said (on the Nova show) it was blood poisoning of some sort. However, I also heard from someone connected to the expedition (can’t remember who sadly) that the chap who died had been injured during the mishap with the carribou transport. When the nose tire came off, and the aircraft slewed to a hault rather rapidly, the cargo apparently shifted, and it was this that injured the chap who later died. I have no way of knowing whether this is true for sure or not, but it is an interesting (and very sad) story in and of itself. I just wish that they’d managed to get Kee Bird out in one piece… at least it would have been a fine memorial to the dedication of the poor fellow who died.

Richard

Hi TJ – you could be correct – I’m a long way from my copy of the book but at least nobody died –

Regards
John P

sad accident although I believe nobody was hurt which was a blessing
Regards
John P

Didn’t one or two of the crew get some serious burns during the accident? Or am I quite lost here???

T J

Gnome

Very sad story – yes it did catch on fire whilst at the end of preperations to fly it out – sad accident although I believe nobody was hurt which was a blessing – I won’t go into what happened which was pretty silly in retrospect but if you read the book you will get the story. Damage was largely to the fuselage which is pretty well wiped out but a hell of a lot remains which could be incorporated into other rebuilds I would have thought.

Regards
John P

What happened to Keebird – did it catch on fire, or something like that?

Hi all

With regard to Keebird – what happened to the mooted recovery of what was left that was proposed on a few occasions – surely the remains would benefit some of the other restorations either happening or stored?

regards
John p

Thanks Guys,

My reawakened interest in Keebird stems from a recently purchased bargain copy of ‘Hunting Warbirds’ by Carl Hoffman.

Septic.

Documentary was done by PBS here in the States, and is available from the station who made it’s website. I’m sure it is NTSC so I’d guess you PAL folks would be out of luck or perhaps need to find an NTSC VHS machine. Regardless, here’s the link:

http://shop.wgbh.org/webapp/wcs/stores/servlet/ProductDisplay?productId=11154&storeId=11051&catalogId=10051&langId=-1