Shemya in the Aleutians

[The Inspector]

The often shown footage of the P-38 making like a drag boat while taxiing was shot during 'good' weather during the 'Summer' @ Adak.

As mentioned before, another really good book with a lot of back story into decisions and planning in the Aleutians is 'The Aleutian Warriors' a history of the 11th Air force & Fleet Wing 4 by John Halie Cloe

[george]

Regarding the thread title, an article written on Shemya about 15 years ago described not only a Warhawk airframe still at the abandoned WW2 fighter base, but also a cave underneath a radar site that was still full of WW2 material. Plus the dump apparently contains many buried Lightnings, as well as other fighters and bombers. But the island is a top-security site, and is off-limits, so no retrieval of the planes or parts is possible. I remember that the author said to not even consider trying to go there.

This is probably the only untouched WW2 aircraft dump left, and will most likely remain that way.

[The Inspector]

And all that stuff is 'Holy Grail' stuff to the state of Alaska and cannot be touched or taken because it's considered to be 'State Heritage' material.

[The Inspector]

I'm sure there is some sort of agreement between the U.S. Gummint and the state about military articles and legacy stuff laying around 'The Great Land', pretty much if it's anything from pre historic Caribou skeleton bones up to the 2011 CORVETTE that just went in the Lake, it's not accepted nor proper nor permitted for you to even contemplate recovering, removing, or absconding with so much as the teeniest piece. A friend (who is an Instructor @ an A&P School here) looked into trying to recover and restore the PIPER CRUISER he and his folks were in when he was about 9 and his dad crashed it in bad weather. Title was never surrendered but the State legal goon squads threatened him in obscure ways about even thinking about doing that, including jail time for 'disturbing historic relics held in trust by the State of Alaska'.

[The Inspector]

Take your rain gear, Juneau is a rainy place, and you'll be there a long time arguing with the States preservation council and the states Attorney General's Office-------
A few years ago a group of Japanese folks erected a really ugly stainless steel 'star' on Attu (I believe) as a memorial to fallen Imperial Troops who fought there without permission or even notifying the State. A U.S. veterans of the Aleutians Campaign group wanted it removed and went to court---------- the states position is 'it stays'

[Dan Jones]

Make a contribution to Sarah's campaign if she'll intervene and negotiate.

Dan

[Chris Brame]

All right, Alaska, if you want the stuff so badly at least dig it up and build a museum for it! Makes the friendly folks in PNG look good in comparison.

armyjunk2, can you do a higher-res scan of Searchin' Virgin and see if the data block is decipherable?

[Kdmoo]

Read this one not too long ago. Really good book about the Ventura & Harpoon missions over the Aleutians.

[The Inspector]

Seattle's KCTS TV one of our PBS stations did a program on the recovery of bomber 31 a few years ago, GOOGLE KCTS.org and see if they have it in their gift selection.