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Plankowner
Posts: 9165
Location: Upper lefthand corner of the map. | Subject: 65 year old airplane found
Story Here |
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Admin
Posts: 2297
Location: Renton, WA | Subject: RE: 65 year old airplane found
You can share your next birthday cake with it !
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COMSUBBBS
Posts: 2561
Location: Rapid City, SD | Subject: Amazing!
You're talking about my generation's history. I wonder how many more planes, ships, subs, etc., from WWII are "hiding in plain sight"?
Cora
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COMSUBBBS
Posts: 2561
Location: Rapid City, SD | Subject: Yup!
About 10 years or so ago, my son and his (must have been about 7 year old son) climbed a mountain range either in Wyoming or Montana where most of a WWII plane was still where it had crashed into this mountain. They didn't just stumble upon the plane - it had already been found by other hikers in recent years, so they knew that it was there, that's why they climbed that particular mountain.
When they told me about it, I researched and found a book about this plane crash. Not all of the crew had died on impact. In fact, when it was first found, there was a skeleton leaning against a tree (probably had fallen when he became a skeleton), and in a semi-circle around where this man was found, was a lot of his personal belongings.
The original "finders" also found a billfold with cash and family pictures that had dropped over the ledge where the plane was found. Now, I'm kinda depending on memory, but when the find was located and the Army Air Force was notified, they did remove bodies and armament from the plane, but in the ensuing years, other climbers had removed (stolen?) parts of the plane that could be carried down the mountain, but there was still enough "stuff" laying around to tell the story.
The plane must have been there for 55 years before it was discovered. It had been flying in a (what do you call a group of military planes that are traveling together?), and they were flying from the west coast to (could have been Ellsworth), or a base further east when this plane dropped out of the pack. Because of weather, it wasn't missed for a while by the men flying the other planes. I hope I'm telling this right.
Plain sight? Yes, if search planes had gone over that area thoroughly, why wasn't it spotted shortly after the accident? Maybe the life of at least the man against the tree could have been saved.
What happened - I read the story, but can't remember how it was stated - that revealed the airplane in the story here on the BBS? It couldn't have been buried too deeply in the sand, and as was stated, the pilot survived that crash. Why the break-down in communication, that caused it not to be removed? At the time it crashed, it must have been in plain sight.
Hope you understood all that; not sure I do.
Cora
Edited by Corabelle 2007-11-17 4:42 PM
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Great Sage of the Sea
Posts: 877
| Subject: RE: 65 year old airplane found
Anybody remember Kee Bird?? It was a reconnaissance B-29 that went down in Greenland in 1947. Since I'm partial to B-29s, I've followed the story of this one. The 29 was later found to have crash-landed on what was then an ice sheet.. about 10 years ago, Kee Bird was found...and a bunch of guys flew up to Greenland, with refurbished props and engines, lowered the landing gear.. they had restored the 29 to flying (ferryable) condition and had all four engines going.. they were about to take off when a fire in a rear fuselage APU started...and burned the plane... I cried when I saw that..so did my father.
Kee Bird is still up there... some planes aren't meant to come back.. |
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Master and Commander
Posts: 1107
Location: Tucson AZ | Subject: RE: Amazing!
Corabelle - 2007-11-16 5:22 AM
You're talking about my generation's history. I wonder how many more planes, ships, subs, etc., from WWII are "hiding in plain sight"?
Cora
'Plain sight' is a relative term, Vic.
I know that at the end of WW II thousands of tons of equipment was simply jettisoned into the Pacific and the various lagoons therein; trucks, jeeps, tanks, artillery, planes, weapons, you-name-it.
With the exception of occupying forces, we just wanted to get the f*** out of Dodge, so to speak, and freeing up room for carrying troops home was perceived as more important than bringing back equipment of dubious value - now that the war was over. |
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65 year old airplane found
