a few years ago now i watched a program on a b-29 that had been forced 2 land somewhere near the arctic circle . that was where it had stayed since the late 40s i think until they deceided 2 try and fly it out of there with new engines etc . they were behind schedule , the engines were fitted and running but they never got 2 fly it out. does anyone know the outcome of this story??? thanks in advance
This was a bit of a doomed effort. A guy died while they were getting the plane airworthy and when they actually started it up and were preparing to taxi ready for take off, a fire started in the fuselage and got out of control and they were unable to extinguish it, so the aircraft just burned.....
Yes, it was all rather sad and a book about it also appeared at the same time. I remember someone in the documentary commenting that it was rather like an 'Indian grave' - they should have left it alone... Here's a couple of pics taken during the attempted salvage.... http://members.aol.com/lwl72467/keebird.jpg
thats a sad old story. so the B-29 that was there and had sat there for 50 odd years untouched is still there but wrecked ?????? unbelievable......
yes martin thats the program i saw . the piks show them tryin 2 get it out of the water which they did eventually . the plane was in great shape considering......
I recall seeing the show on this and if I recall correct they were taxing to take off and the rough surface of the ice shook lose or sloshed gasoline of the auxuallery generator motor someplace in the rear of the fuselage and started the fire. The APU was either left running or was hot from running but the gas was ignighted and by the time they discovered the fire it was too large to put out and the plane burned. There is anouther show about people trying to raise up some P-38 Lightings in the Artic also and I think they were successful in getting out one but the people are in court over who "owns" the fighter and has control over it.
yea i remember that , with the p-38 . they called it glacier girl........it was way down in the ice with p-47s as well i think . i believe glacier girls flying now.......
I too saw the documentary about the B29 and watched the tape of the fire. What was annoying was the approach of these good ol' boys. The plane could have been easily dismantled and flown in sections to a site for reconstruction properly. Even at a late stage, the guys could have mothballed the mostly restored plane for another year. However, you couldn't help feeling they wanted to fly this plane from its polar resting place at any cost - that their romantic goals were more important than saving the plane. The sickening result - a rare authentic B29 with a great story lost forever. I felt it was reckless/ bordering criminal behaviour what they did to this wonderful aircraft, which deserved better funding, and a more professional crew and advice.
I agree with you there, Black Cat - the team involved seemed to have more enthusiasm than good sense and the presence of TV cameras often doesn't help... Saving aircraft such as this needs highly skilled expertise ; one couldn't help comparing this effort with the rescue of B29 'It's Hawg Wild' from China Lake via Davis-Monthan and over the Atlantic to Duxford in 1980, where it can be seen in fully restored condition to this day.
The team, headed by Darryl Greenameyer were experts in repairing and flying aircraft Greenameyer holds the world record for piloting the fasted pistoned engined aircraft (at least last I knew). What happened with Kee Bird was that during their taxi out to the end of the improvised strip they had made (which was fairly rough for obvious reasons) the APU in the rear of the aircraft broke loose and started spraying avgas all over the rear inside of the fuselage. The hot APU exhaust set it on fire and the plane burned.
Well, cut them a bit of slack. The B-29 is a fairly complicated aircraft having on the order of a quarter million parts in them. They concentrated on making it flyable. Their focus was on the engines, propellers and, flight controls. The Caribou they used to fly into and out of the sight was barely able to land or take off half loaded due to the field conditions. On one trip they nearly crashed trying to bring in a small bulldozer to make the runway they were going to fly out on. Their plan was a fairly good one. The Kee Bird was in very good condition considering everything. The mechanic that died suffered from complications from cancer he didn't know he had and had been flown out for medical attention.
Agreed, I'm being a little 'grouchy' about this. I just feel that trying to fly a 55-year old derelict multi-engined aircraft out of a hostile environment is 'grandstanding' to a certain degree. A great achievement if they pulled it off, bl**dy stupid if they didn't. I just know , for example, how very careful those of us who are concerned with Mosquito restoration are. Every step is evaluated to ascertain any risk to the original airframe. When working on even minor parts, I constantly remind myself that, if I mess up, there just aren't any more bits lying around ! But I guess there are still quite a few B-29s at China Lake....if it had been a Lancaster, you'd see me really annoyed !
The ill-fated B-29 expedition has just been discussed on the 'Avi8' forum and the following link is interesting : - http://shop.wgbh.org/webapp/wcs/stores/servlet/ProductDisplay?productId=11154&storeId=11051&catalogId=10051&langId=-1
