MORE random pics......

[djmcmath]

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

[BlueSkyJaunte]

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

[island911]

Originally posted by Steve Carlton

Oh man, now that's ART!

. . 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.

[targa911S]

gabelschwanz.... I dated her!

[JeremyD]

Originally posted by targa911S
gabelschwanz.... I dated her!

Funny - she was my first wife...

[targa911S]

was I dating her at the same time??

[Overpaid Slacker]

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

JP

[BlueSkyJaunte]

There are only two complete Black Widows left and they are in museums. One is in the Smithsonian and one is at the Dayton, Ohio Air Force museum. However, a P-61B is presently being restored to flying condition at the Mid-Atlantic Aviation Museum in Reading, Pennsylvania. You are cordially invited to view the restoration project from the museum's web site.

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

GIYF!

[Steve Carlton]

[JeremyD]

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.''

[typ550]

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.

[targa911S]

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

[ronin]

Originally posted by Steve Carlton

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

[johncj8989]

[johncj8989]

[johncj8989]

[Steve Carlton]

Anyone know of a link to that "Holy Schmoly" Porsche commercial where the guy comes out of a coma and hits the road in his 550 in the present day? I'd love to have that...

[pwd72s]

Originally posted by Steve Carlton
Anyone know of a link to that "Holy Schmoly" Porsche commercial where the guy comes out of a coma and hits the road in his 550 in the present day? I'd love to have that...

You REALLY want that???? Not that I can supply it, but I thought the commercial itself sucked. A prime example of trying to sell today's crap based upon yesterday's products.

[bell]

Originally posted by gchappel

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.

i saw a special on that a while back, very interesting on how they dismanlted the plane and brought it "piece by piece" to the surface.
great stuff

[Steve Carlton]

Originally posted by pwd72s
You REALLY want that???? Not that I can supply it, but I thought the commercial itself sucked. A prime example of trying to sell today's crap based upon yesterday's products.

Boxster crap? I disagree. Here's the commercial I was talking about:

Holy Schmoly