Glacier Girl

I remember the program (the network escapes me) that documented the effort to recover that plane from the ice. A fascinating story with a happy result. Who knows where the next one will turn up?

My daughter and I have followed this story for years on the Glacier Girl. We saw her fly at the CHINO CA air show. My late husband was also one of the WWII pilots involved.

Good report by Ned Potter, on the net and live with Charlie Gibson,my favorite newscaster. The P-38 was a great airplane, called the Lightning. Always wanted to fly one in WWII but got the B-24 in the Pacific instead. In the Pacific the Lightning was used by 5 AAF pilots to find and shoot down the Japanese commander!

Wow. I'm truly impressed. The P-38 has always been a favorite of mine. My great grandfather fought in WWII. He didn't live past my 5th birthday, but I would have loved to talk to him, hear stories. I was the first military pilot in my family, and have always been fascinated by this plane and WWII planes in general. Great story Ned. And SO many thanks to those who fought, and gave their lives to save the world. I salute all of you.

Lawrence

Never heard the Glacier Girl story before. Where's hollywood?

You know, it is surprising a movie hasn't been made about it yet. Since hollywood simply loves to take history and twist the hell out of it in most cases. Would be an interesting movie anyway.

I remember when these guys first started the restoration. My Dad inspected and certified this plane to fly. My family went to KY when it was there with Bob, and it is truly a sight to see. The feeling you get when you see this plane and then all of the pictures along with it, it's overwhelming.

There's so much fun stuff out there! Good news to tell. Thanks for telling us all about this one. What a lift! :) And yes, it reminds me, too, of all those in the whole peace effort of WWII that made my life (born 1960) so much nicer.
THANK YOU THANK YOU THANK YOU THANKS !!

We were in cental Germany in early 1945 when a flight of P-38's started circle over head. Our ground ID were out of date by a couple of days. The planes peeled off and the rockets were fired towards us. We went down in our fox holes and watch the rockets streak just over our heads. The the rockets hit something in a sunken road just ahead of us. When the planes waved their wings and left. We went to the sunken road and three German Tanks were on fire.

I saw a P38 fly over my ranch in Cochrane Canada. I was a young lad and had to go back to work milking cows. Then I became a landman and peeved alot of people off and destroyed many a career.

hello!are you OK?

I was working in the Parachute Dept. at PI Army Airforce Base in 1942 and at my 50 Class reunion our main speaker had been a part of the finding of the Glacier Girl. It was all so interesting to me and glad to hear more about it. Thanks.

I saw your report on Friday's WN and thought it to be a truly wonderful story with a happy ending! What an uplifting (in every sense of the word) story to begin the weekend!

Great work, Ned! The P-38, also known as the twin-tailed devil by its adversaries in WW2, is indeed a beautiful plane -- and one of the first "masterpieces" of aviation created by Kelly Johnson and the Lockheed company, both responsible for such wonders as the U2 and SR-71 spyplanes and the B2 stealth bomber.

I'm glad there are people out there who understand the importance of "rescuing," restoring, and sharing these important pieces of history!

More importantly, I'm deeply appreciative that there were -- and still are -- men and women who stood in the face of evil.

Thank you, thank you, thank you!

I am glad to see that a piece of history was shown on the news. I wish it would have included a little more information about the people that made this all possible. It would have been nice to give credit to the people of a small town called Middlesboro, KY that have worked so hard for so long to see this dream come to reality.

I too saw the piece on WN Friday evening. I have to say the piece was good and bad. I am from Middlesboro, Ky., where Mr. Shoffner had so painstakingly restored the glorious Glacier Girl. I was dissappointed in the fact that "A group of enthusiasts" was all that was mentioned about the recovery efforts. If it hadn't been for Mr. Shoffner and the other men involved, the plane wouldn't be out flying today. I wish the journey to be a success and am proud to say that Glacier Girl was restored and flew for the first time (in 50 years) in MY hometown of Middlesboro, Kentucky.

Note from Ned--

My apologies to folks in Middlesboro. I actually wrote a section for the World News piece about the restoration efforts led by the late Roy Shoffner, who put money--and years--into making the plane airworthy. It came out when we had to shorten the piece, and I feel badly about that. There's more at the Lost Squadron website.

My uncle, Clarence Parizek was one of the Soldiers of the Lost Squadron. When visiting my Grandmother's home in Dysart, Iowa as a children, my siblings and I would read uncle "Shorty's" leather-bound diary with total fascination. We unfortunately never met him, as he died during the war, in a plane that crashed into the Baltic Sea. Although his body was never recovered, I visit his gravesite every Memorial weekend. From what we understand, he was often referred to by his fellow crew members as "pops" because he was older than most of them. He died at the ripe old age of 28. We each treasure our copy of his diary and he has a warm spot in all of our hearts.

I wish there was more, and in most cases, anything written about the actual men who made up the "lost squadron" in many of these articles, stories, websites who were the true heroes.