| | '''"Glacier Girl"''' was the name given to a Lockheed [[P-38 Lightning]] fighter aircraft recovered from several aircraft which crash-landed in [[Greenland]] in 1942, and were subsequently covered with nearly 270 feet of ice during the following fifty years. | | '''"Glacier Girl"''' was the name given to a Lockheed [[P-38 Lightning]] fighter aircraft recovered from several aircraft which crash-landed in [[Greenland]] in 1942, and were subsequently covered with nearly 270 feet of ice during the following fifty years. |
| − | On July 15, 1942 six P-38s and two [[B-17 Flying Fortress|B-17 bombers]] took off from Presque Isle Air Base in [[Maine]] headed for Great Britain as part of [[Operation Bolero]], the buildup of military aircraft in Europe in the first few months of [[World War II]]. On the flight were a total of 25 men. Bad weather over Greenland, as well as poor visibility, caused the flight to expend so much fuel that they would not be able to reach [[Iceland]], nessecitating an emergency landing on the ice in Greenland. All the men survived the landing and were rescued within four days, but the planes themselves could not be recovered. | + | On July 15, 1942 six P-38s and two [[B-17 Flying Fortress|B-17 bombers]] took off from Presque Isle Air Base in [[Maine]] headed for Great Britain as part of [[Operation Bolero]], the buildup of military aircraft in Europe in the first few months of [[World War II]]. On the flight were a total of 25 men. Bad weather over Greenland, as well as poor visibility, caused the flight to expend so much fuel that they would not be able to reach [[Iceland]], necessitating an emergency landing on the ice in Greenland. All the men survived the landing and were rescued within four days, but the planes themselves could not be recovered. |
| − | In July, 1992, a recovery team had assembled on the crash site, which by that time had drifted a mile during the preceeding fifty years. A boring drill called a "gopher" was used to melt a four-foot shaft of ice down to where one plane was located, about 268 feet, allowing men to climb down the shaft, disassemble the plane in sections, and attach it to a hoist. What was recovered took several years of reconstruction and replacement of parts damaged by the weight of the ice, until she was able to fly again on September 17, 2001. | + | In July, 1992, a recovery team had assembled on the crash site, which by that time had drifted a mile during the preceding fifty years. A boring drill called a "gopher" was used to melt a four-foot shaft of ice down to where one plane was located, about 268 feet, allowing men to climb down the shaft, disassemble the plane in sections, and attach it to a hoist. What was recovered took several years of reconstruction and replacement of parts damaged by the weight of the ice, until she was able to fly again on September 17, 2001. |