However, a navigational error on the B-17 led the formation far off course.
They were forced to abandon their aircraft, but fortunately, the entire crew safely returned to their base.
Lockheed P-38E Lightning “Glacier Girl”, in Chino, California.
This aircraft was trapped 50 years under the ice sheet of Greenland.
The airplane was nicknamedGlacier Girl.
Shifting ice patterns had taken the planes three miles from their original location.
A high-pressure steam probe revealed that they lay beneath 264 feet of solid ice.
The Gopher consisted of a 550-pound cone wrapped with copper tubing, through which hot water was circulated.
The team first tunneled down to one of the B-17s, but found the Flying Fortress was completely crushed.
Under the ice and ready to be hoisted to the top.
By then the society had spent about $1.5 million and had run out of funds.
Then Roy Shoffner, a Kentucky businessman, came along with the necessary funds to continue the expedition.
In 1992, the team melted a hole 25 stories deep so that reach the plane.
Then they began the long, dangerous process of extracting the plane, piece by piece.
The last section finally emerged on August 1, 1992, surprisingly in remarkably good condition.
It stood as a testament to one of the most exceptional restoration efforts ever accomplished.
The Glacier Girl at an air show at Langley Air Force Base.
Photo credit:Tech.
