WWII plane found in Africa

[MT Gianni]

P-40 found in North Africa.
http://www.vintagewings.ca/VintageNews/Stories/tabid/116/articleType/ArticleView/articleId/357/language/en-CA/Original-Kittyhawk-HS-B-Discovered.aspx

[MtGun44]

Very interesting! In pretty solid shape except for the crash damage. It
seems as if there should be records of who was flying and whether
he made it or not. My bet is that he did not. That is totally unforgiving
desert and imagine how far out it has to be to never have been found
until now.

They found a B-24 - "Lady Be Good" in the Libyan desert some years ago.
Bad situation. They were returning from a raid on Europe and had the misfortune
to have a huge tailwind. They got over their base with a short range
homing transmitter way before they expected and they had flown
past it by the time that they tried to home in on it. DF steering cannot
tell if the signal is in front or in back, only that the antenna is pointed
at the station. They continued on at night, thinking they were heading
towards it when they were heading away into the desert, until fuel ran out.
All perished in the desert, after surviving the landing.

I wonder if anyone will ever spend the money to go and get it?

Bill

[gandydancer]

Thanks MT Gianni. I really enjoyed that. GD

[41 mag fan]

Amazing how after 7 decades they still uncover and discover lost aircraft and bombs, and other stuff pertaining to WWII

[Frank46]

Isn't there a ship from WWII still loaded with bombs and ammunition somewhere near the Thames river?. Seem to remember something along those lines. Supposedly sank or was sunk and never had the munitions removed. Frank

[JeffinNZ]

HUH! I would have had a pair of guns and all the ammo out of that old bird prior the military arriving.

[fecmech]

That airplane( the P-40) and it's story in Robert L Scott's book, God Is My Co-Pilot is what started me in my aviation career. I read his book as a boy and have been involved with aircraft ever since. My father worked at the Curtis Wright plant here in Buffalo NY on P-40's before he was drafted in 1943. I've been an aircraft mechanic in the Air Force, Army and for two airlines and the P-40 has always been a special airplane to me. I love the sound of that Allison V-12 on a high speed low level pass, to me there's nothing that sounds better. I still remember in the book, Scott flying his P-40 near MT Everest's peak and quoting from the poem High Flight:

"And, while with silent, lifting mind I’ve trod

The high untrespassed sanctity of space,

Put out my hand, and touched the face of God"

[flhroy]

http://www.time.com/time/video/player/0,32068,32015456001_1915688,00.html

[DIRT Farmer]

My thanks to the guys still out looking for the crash sites. A few years ago my uncle's brother and his crew from their B-24 came home from the crash site in New Gennia, he is buried a mile from the house he was raised in, the family at least knowes where he is.

[Firebricker]

Very interesting. I hope they can make sense of this from records and maybe give a family closure. Or better yet find out the pilot made it out of the desert but unfortunately that's probably not the case. FB

[Hardcast416taylor]

Very interesting! In pretty solid shape except for the crash damage. It
seems as if there should be records of who was flying and whether
he made it or not. My bet is that he did not. That is totally unforgiving
desert and imagine how far out it has to be to never have been found
until now.

They found a B-24 - "Lady Be Good" in the Libyan desert some years ago.
Bad situation. They were returning from a raid on Europe and had the misfortune
to have a huge tailwind. They got over their base with a short range
homing transmitter way before they expected and they had flown
past it by the time that they tried to home in on it. DF steering cannot
tell if the signal is in front or in back, only that the antenna is pointed
at the station. They continued on at night, thinking they were heading
towards it when they were heading away into the desert, until fuel ran out.
All perished in the desert, after surviving the landing.

I wonder if anyone will ever spend the money to go and get it?

Bill


I always liked "Twilight Zone" version of finding the lost bomber in the desert. This show was run back in the early `60`s after the "lady Be Good" was discovered.Robert

[beagle]

Interesting. I noticed a lot of sand blast affect from wind and sand. Once upon a time, I had a M98 Mauser that had come out of North Africa. The receiver and part of the stock had been exposed and was well polished by sand. Nature does have its way with things./beagle

[sliphammer]

The crew of the Lady Be Good safely bailed out except for the navigator whose chute didn't open. They had assumed they were over the ocean - at night the sand dunes look like ocean swells - and the life rafts were missing in the aircraft. The B 24 landed itself with minor damage. The army team that investigated the wreck, in 1959, said the coffee in the thermos was still warm and tasted good. All the bodies were located, over a period of years, except for one. One man had gone ahead and he was found about 25 miles from the others. He had walked in what was called a sand sea, with each step your foot would sink more than a 12" into the sand. It's an incredible story.