I need a pick-me-up:

http://www.starbucks.co.jp/en/images...s/frap_cup.gif

that's just plain wrong. damned funny, but wrong :D

P38 flies again
 

The sun 'n fun air show just started in Lakeland, Florida.
Galacier Girl is there, she is the P38 lightning that was recovered from beneath about 260ft of ice having been part of a lost squadron that ditched there in the early 1940's. She , of coarse was completly rebuilt and is nearly perfect. I got to see her fly, what a beautiful plane-- and great sound. I think there are only 3 or 4 of these still flying. Here is one picture during the airshow. http://forums.pelicanparts.com/uploa...1113408750.jpg

That's really cool. I didn't realize any of those P-38s were recovered, let alone restored. What's up with the wing on fire and the fire and smoke???

The plane, and the story behind it, is wonderful.
The smoke is from pyrotechniques used during the airshow. The blast is actually some distance from the plane- you tend to lose perspective with long lenses- this was shot at 370mm. No fire on the wing, it just looks that way. I actually got goosebumps when I got to touch this plane- she is almost a pretty as the grid girls :)
Gary

Wow, that P-38 is a piece of history. Great shot.

Der gabelschwanz Teufel ("The fork-tailed devil") has been my unattainable dream since early childhood...

Oh man, now that's ART! :D

. . it needs to be titled.
maybe .. ..

A new design; for a new era.

or

It's the newest design; so don't complain"

or

So what if Wal-mart buys Chinese products, it was the best deal.

gabelschwanz.... I dated her!

Funny - she was my first wife...

was I dating her at the same time??

Huge fan of the P-38. Does anybody know if there are any P-61 Black Widows still flying? I'd heard not...

JP

http://www.maam.org/p61.html

GIYF!

For you P-38 fans

http://media.tbo.com/photos/trib/200...l/0414glc5.jpg

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.''

There is a great book titled "The Lost Squadron" that chronicles the recovery attempts for the Greenland P-38 and portions of one of the B-17s. A friend and local mechanic who wrenches on my MGs was on several of the recovery expeditions and has some amazing photos taken on and under the ice. What finally worked, as I understand it, was a rig that melted their way down to the aircraft while pumping the water out of the hole. That was one deep hole (almost 300 ft) that you had to be lowered through on a harness to get to the aircraft; the Lightning was then gradually disassembled and brought in pieces back up through the hole.

These aircraft still had live ammo on board, of course, since they were abandoned during wartime (the Norden bombsights on the Fortresses were retrieved, though, so they would not fall into enemy hands). My buddy has some great photos of where he and the team pulled one of the 20mm cannons off the P-38 and rigged it to remotely fire at an empty oil drum out on the ice. Thing worked like a charm after 50 years under the ice.

Keep on reading The Tampa Tribune boys...your helping out a worthy cause...........me!

talk about too much time (and money) on your hands :D