Glacier Girl

Twenty five staff members required flight from your Presque Isle Air Base in Maine and headed for
that United Kingdom. Piloting six G-38s as escorts for 2 B-17s, the flight international expected stops
to refuel in Labrador, Greenland and Iceland in route to England. The road from Greenland to
Iceland needed the squadrons to fly-over mountains to the east coast of Greenland, across the
Denmark Strait and on the icecap to Reykjavik, Iceland.
Because the squadrons jumped on the icecap at twelve thousand legs, a heavy cover of clouds
obscured their view. They rose above the clouds to boost awareness. Conditions within the thin
atmosphere dropped to minus twenty degrees Fahrenheit. However ninety minutes from Iceland, the
planes joined a large mass of cumulus clouds and were pushed to climb another two thousand feet.
As one of the pilots dropped sensation in his fingers, he ripped the airplane's defroster as a resultis
mounting and applied it to heat his gloves to generate them warm enough to have the settings.
Because the trip evolved, their toes became too numb to have the rudder pedals.
Small P-38s fought to keep up connection with the B-17s as ice established on the wings. Radio
operators tried desperately to raise the airbase in Reykjavik or perhaps the temperature aircraft that
was allowed to be traveling an hour in front of them. As the temperature turned worse, and missing
any outside conversation, the squadron decided to go back to the airbase in Greenland and await
better conditions. An hour later, while they approached the east shore of Greenland, the elements
conditions became worse.
After ninety minutes of traveling in thick cloud cover, the squadron begun to run low on energy and
chose to search for a spot to area. Brad McManus, pilot of just one of the P-38s, decided to property
with wheels down. He hoped that landing on wheels might help him to remove again after more fuel
was fallen for the aircraft. Everything appeared to get nicely for that first several hundred meters.
Then abruptly, the leading landing gear failed through the ice as well as the plane turned over,
pinning the cockpit within the snow. McManus were able to minimize his way-out of his parachute
control and his safety gear as smoke filled the seat.
Watching the world from above, pilot Robert Wilson retracted his landing gear and slid into a
smooth stop on the ice. He raced the half-mile back again to the site of the accident to be sure of
McManus. Wilson's air billowed in wispy white clouds behind him as he leaped toward the smoking
from the crashed plane. McManus went from under among the wings of the downed airplanes and
said, "Didn't believe I Might make it, did you?" As the two pilots waved, the residual squadron
answered with slow rolls as well as other aerial acrobatics.
Onebyone the other G-38s stumbled about the snow. The T-17s remained aloft for almost another
half-hour, spending the rest of the fuel before joining another planes on the icy area. Not really a
single staff member was lost throughout the landings, but there was virtually no time to celebrate.
The crewman turned their target to emergency and relief.
The Lost Squadron
Rations were collected and split to last for 2 weeks. The men wore shades at all times to stop
snowblindness, and eliminated eating too much ideal as it could end up in sore throats. The team
hack sawed holes into both ends of oxygen bottles and joined them to engine manifold pipes, with oil
drained from applications and powerful through the unit on parachute straps the construction

became crude house heaters to beat the freezing conditions.

After three nights to the ice, one of many radio workers acquired a morsecode information to ensure
their condition and location. Later that time, excitement mounted as supplies were dropped by
parachute. The excitement waned while the staff people watched strong winds bring the parachutes
and also the materials farout of site on the horizon. As added efforts to offer supplies led to related
problem, the stranded airmen produced scavenging events to find the scattered items. When
materials were finally collected and organized, the crew members recognized having a square
dancing to the wing of 1 of the B-17s.
Back at the airbase, people coordinated items and made strategies to rescue the Lost Squadron.
Meanwhile, around the ice, the guys passed several more times hearing radio broadcasts from
England. Another favorite diversion was to sit on burlap bags and keep parachutes, rushing
oneanother as powerful winds pulled their parachutes throughout the ice. Fundamentally a ship,
skiing and dogsled team were sent to access the crewmen.
The P38 Pilots recovered personal affects, fired.45 slugs into automated gear to keep it from slipping
into the palms of Nazi scavengers, and prepared for that long trek to fulfill their rescuers. McManus
eliminated a time from his instrument panel being a memento. The men marched through knee-deep
snow and ice all night, finally collapsing at the edge of a ledge about the water's border. They took
turns watching over eachother because they rested. After they were found with a Coast Guard
Cutter, the men were treated to showers, single girls handbook Patti Stanger
dried clothes as well as a wonderful meal before being dispatched to new jobs.
Fifty Years Later

On July 15, 1992, 74-year old Brad McManus stood to the ice cap surrounded from the bits of a G-38
flown by his late friend Harry Smith. The plane was hidden under 268 feet of snow. The goal was to
rescue one of many airplanes from the Lost Squadron. Unique equipment was applied to look a pit
and melt the ice by circulating hot water and putting it out. It got multiple month to complete
digging the gap to the plane. It took twenty-five minutes to descend to the base of the opening,
where water tubes designed out a cave round the plane. After another four months, the airplane was
disassembled and carefully removed from the icy grave.
The process of fixing the R-38 has been considered "the finest restoration of any warbird ever done."
Several experts offered knowledge in products and companies for the effort. Among these initiatives,
T. F. Goodrich Aerospace in England rebuilt landing gear and brakes. A Pennsylvania firm fabricated
a fresh canopy. The Smithsonian Institution provided seven reels of microfilm and loads of
photocopies of age aviation maintenance and handbooks, pieces and repair manuals.
At the time of the publishing, Glacier Woman is at the Airplanes of Reputation in Chino, California,
where installing of modern avionics includes a navigation system, gyros and a stereo. The
Lightningis Allison V-1710 machines will soon be examined and additional fuel tanks attached. Once
the aircraft is prepared, it will be flown home for the Lost Squadronis homebase in Middlesboro,
Kentucky. Then it will retrace the first flight route from Presque Isle, Maine through Goose Bay
Labrador, Greenland, Reykjavik Iceland, Prestwick Scotland and to England for that 4th of July
Duxford Airshow. The objective of the trip will be to finish a journey started