For you P-38 fans
From the Tampa Tribune
One Cool Plane
By CHERYL N. SCHMIDT
cschmidt@tampatrib.com
Published: Apr 14, 2005
LAKELAND - Ardice ``Robby'' Roberts of Tampa flew 145 missions in the South Pacific during World War II, all in his favorite airplane: a P-38 Lightning.
``Everyone who ever flew the P-38 just fell in love with it,'' Roberts said this week, discussing its unique design, twin-engine reliability and turbo power. ``It was so thrilling, I couldn't get over the power and the way it flew.''
They are beloved by many pilots and aviation enthusiasts, and one P-38 has a remarkable story of loss, recovery and rebirth. Now known as Glacier Girl, it is on display and flying today through Saturday at Lakeland's Sun 'n Fun Fly-In.
At one of Roberts' squadron reunions, J. Roy Shoffner, a Kentucky industrialist who financed the project to retrieve Glacier Girl, gave a talk and showed a film about the recovery of the airplane, which was buried 268 feet down in a Greenland ice cap.
``That was the most interesting film that I'd ever seen,'' said Roberts, 81. ``I couldn't believe that they could do something like that.''
It is unbelievable, even to Bob Cardin, the project manager for the recovery and restoration. He is at Sun 'n Fun with the aircraft and its pilot, Steve Hinton. Cardin also runs the Lost Squadron Museum in Middlesboro, Ky., the plane's home.
``I don't know of any other airplane that came from any situation like this,'' he said.
A 10-year restoration process came after the intense May to August 1992 glacier expedition - 11 prior recovery missions had failed. It all seems worth it now as they exhibit ``the only World War II airplane flying today with its original engine and propellers,'' Cardin said.
Several area P-38 pilots have traveled to Kentucky to see Glacier Girl, and some plan to see it again this week. They'll get reacquainted with Cardin, who keeps a book with their names and can recall many of their stories from their visits.
One of them, Joe Benham, 82, of Sun City Center, was Shoffner's flight commander when they served together in the Air Force in Alaska after the Korean War.
He vaguely remembers rumors during World War II about a squadron of six brand new P-38s and two B-17s that crash-landed in Greenland.
``I knew about it but had sort of forgotten until Roy Shoffner decided he wanted to fly one of those airplanes.
``I saw it right after they pulled it out of the ice; it was in miserable condition. They took it apart piece by piece and rebuilt it piece by piece. They've done a beautiful job.''
Benham, whose 30-year military career included flying P-38s in Panama during World War II, calls it ``the best airplane that we had flying. It has a hum all its own.''
A favorite characteristic was the twin engines, Benham said. Even if one went out, the plane ``usually got you home. ... It did well on one engine.''
Cardin estimates the total cost of recovering Glacier Girl at $6.9 million, not including the costs involved with flying or maintaining it.
For P-38 fans such as Tom Palmer, 79, of Tampa and his son, Steve, 56, who came from Atlanta to take his dad to see the plane Tuesday, the experience was priceless.
Tom Palmer was 17 when he enlisted for World War II, hoping to fly P-38s. Instead he was being trained as a bombardier when the war ended. Palmer developed a lifelong affection for the plane anyway and taught his children its facts and folklore.
As a child, ``the first thing I heard was, `Yes, sir. No, sir. P- 38,'' Steve Palmer said.
Watching Glacier Girl fly, the father and son pointed, cheered and waved their arms in excitement. ``Hot dog,'' Tom Palmer said, ``I've died and gone to heaven.''
As pilot Hinton taxied by afterward, Palmer smiled. ``This guy is high on my envy list.''