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Middlesboro, Ky. – November 18, 2005 - It took a decade to get her in shape, but what shape she’s in!
The Glacier Girl, the twin-engine P-38 “Lightning” fighter that was recovered from beneath the Greenland ice cap in 1992, is fully restored and amazing audiences with her story wherever she goes, including those who saw the airplane fly at EAA AirVenture Oshkosh 2005, this past summer.
The story of this amazing airplane starts during World War II when a group of airplanes as part of Operation Bolero became lost over Greenland on a flight between the United States and England. The pilots landed on the ice cap and were rescued. But the airplanes remained and were eventually covered and frozen in ice. There they remained.
Glacier Girl’s recovery and renovation weren’t easy. Workers painstakingly removed the plane from 250-feet of ice in 11 major pieces. How? By creating ice caves, starting with a four-foot hole in diameter. Then they cut five more holes and connected them to get the biggest parts out.
Once out, however, the work really started. Ten years and $5 million later, Glacier Girl comprises 80 percent original parts, project manager Bob Cardin says, with workers repairing as many crushed parts as possible.
The fabricated parts were made with care, trying to keep them as close to original as possible. For instance, one broken clasp was bonded together, and then measured by computer to make a duplicate. The font for the printing on the panels didn’t exist, so they developed one that was close by sending in the original panels, which were then scanned in a computer and from there, created the alphabet for the new Glacier Girl font.
Still, Cardin says he never became frustrated with how long the restoration was taking. “I had the right attitude. Today’s progress was built on yesterday’s progress. I worried about only one day at a time.”
Cardin says the most rewarding day for him was when they first started the engines. “At that point, it actually became an airplane to me rather than just pieces of an airplane. After all those years, it was finally alive and breathing.”
The plane finally took its first flight on October 26, 2002, and has less than 100 hours on her.
Glacier Girl is currently housed at the Lost Squadron Museum in Middlesboro, Kentucky.
About the P-38 “Lightning”
- Kelly Johnson designed it in 1937 and it took its first flight on Jan. 20, 1939.
- It was first delivered to the U.S. Army Air Corps in 1941.
- In its time, it was the fastest aircraft in the American military, with a top speed of more than 400 miles per hour.
- It is also visually memorable, with its twin engines and twin tail booms earning it the nickname "Fork-tailed Devil" among enemy forces in the Pacific Theater.
- Of the more than 10,000 P-38s built, only 11 remain airworthy today. Of those, only two are still flying, one of which is Glacier Girl.
Operation Bolero at a glance
- Major Gen. Henry Arnold, of the Army Air Force, came up with a plan to ferry P-38s and B-17s to England from the United States, traveling over the Greenland icecap.
- Under the plan, hundreds of planes were moved to England as part of the massive build up on forces in Great Britain.
- But on July 15, 1942, two squads of P-38s and a B-17 were on their way to Iceland when they were forced to land on the Greenland ice cap because of bad weather. Most of the planes were damaged when landing, but their crews were not injured.
- Weeks later, the crewmembers were rescued by ski and dogsled teams.
- From 1977 until 1992, 12 different groups tried to locate and recover one of the lost aircraft. The Greenland Expedition Society, under the sponsorship of J. Roy Shoffner, was the first to succeed. Eventually, Shoffner became sole owner of the project and dedicated his effort to complete the P-38’s rebirth. Shoffner, 77,died on Sept. 24, 2005, just two weeks after his birthday.
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Glacier Girl in 1992 shortly after it was recovered from under the ice in Greenland. The aircraft was first on display at the EAA Convention that year.
After an extensive restoration, Glacier Girl is flying again, thrilling audiences at air shows around the country.
The Lost Squadron Museum
See Glacier Girl Fly
Glacier Girl at EAA AirVenture 2005
What’s original?
Nearly all of it. “In fact, Glacier Girl is more of an artifact than an airplane,” says Project Manager Bob Cardin. For example, the airplane has its original engines, landing gear and propellers; Glacier Girl has the only complete set of P-38 guns, which workers fired on the glacier using the original ammunition from 50 years ago; the airplane is also painted in with the same Sherwin Williams paint that it wore when it was delivered from the factory!
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