1st FG P-38 On Exhibit
Beginning in 1977, at least a dozen different groups attempted to locate and recover one of the eight aircraft abandoned on the Greenland ice cap after the forced landing of 15 July 1942. One of the B-17s was located and found to have been crushed by the glacial forces. A P-38 in restoreable condition was then located in 1988 approximately 268 feet below the surface. Efforts to bring it to the surface began in May 1992, culminating in the recovery in October 1992 of P-38F-1-LO 41-7630, last flown by 1st Lt. Harry L. Smith, Jr., 94th Fighter Squadron.
The P-38 was subsequently restored to flying condition over the next ten years, dubbed Glacier Girl by its new owner, the Lost Squadron Museum, and flown on 26 October 2002. The P-38 (civil aviation number N17663) was stored at the museum's location in Middlesboro, Kentucky, until its sale to a private individual. A scale model kit of Glacier Girl was released by Academy Plastic Model Co.-Model Rectifier Corporation (Kit No. 12208) in July 2006.
Read more about this topic: 1st Operations Group
Famous quotes containing the word exhibit:
“Literary confessors are contemptible, like beggars who exhibit their sores for money, but not so contemptible as the public that buys their books.”
—W.H. (Wystan Hugh)