Cross post: Recent B-29 Kee Bird Pix

[turretguy]

Hello,
A gentleman named Michael Hjorth posted photos of Kee Bird shot in September 2014 on the Wreckchasing.com message board. There are two videos as well as images of the inside of the wreck:

http://pacaeropress.websitetoolbox.com/ ... nd-7288134

I did not feel comfortable reposting someone else's photos. If a cross-post is unacceptable, please remove with my apologies.

Nick

[Richard Woods]

Michael has posted them on a number of aviation forums, the footage and pictures that he got of Kee Bird are just fantastic.

[Jesse C.]

Wow, it is worse than I imagined. Hope someone can get the remains out to at least contribute to restoration somewhere.

[Django]

20 years later… still such a shame.

[menards]

One would think those parts are valuable enough to go and be retrieved... cant it be floated, dismantled, and shipped out?

[maxum96]

One would think those parts are valuable enough to go and be retrieved... cant it be floated, dismantled, and shipped out?

It's my understanding that the Danish government will not allow anyone in to recover the remains due to the failure of Darryl Greenameyer to clean up the mess from his failed attempt to fly the Keep Bird out. Also keep in mind that the Keep Bird remains are in an extremely remote location necessitating a huge and costly effort just to try to bring any pieces of the aircraft out. Remember the difficulties it took for Greenameyer just to get there with his crew and equipment.

Also I suspect it makes no sense to try to recover the remaining pieces as anyone wanting to obtain a B-29 could simply buy the the one Aero Trader has had for sale for years. It is sitting disassembled in their storage yard.

[Richard W.]

While I understand how the Danes might be PO'd about the mess the last expedition made, I've never been a fan of the "let's punish the whole class" approach.

[Pogo]

I'm glad this came back up, what a fascinating bunch of pictures and video. Somehow it's more effective than the documentary was at helping me understand just how remote and desolate this place is.

[Scooby]

Brings back memories, I was in a Herc squadron from 1987-1994. Three times a year we'd deploy to Thule Greenland to re-supply CFS Alert.

We always flew a route that brought us over Kee Bird. We would do a flypast and photo op on each trip. I have many pictures of Kee Bird when she was in one piece.

[Pogo]

Any chance you could post a few??

[CoastieJohn]

One would think those parts are valuable enough to go and be retrieved... cant it be floated, dismantled, and shipped out?

It's my understanding that the Danish government will not allow anyone in to recover the remains due to the failure of Darryl Greenameyer to clean up the mess from his failed attempt to fly the Keep Bird out. Also keep in mind that the Keep Bird remains are in an extremely remote location necessitating a huge and costly effort just to try to bring any pieces of the aircraft out. Remember the difficulties it took for Greenameyer just to get there with his crew and equipment.

Also I suspect it makes no sense to try to recover the remaining pieces as anyone wanting to obtain a B-29 could simply buy the the one Aero Trader has had for sale for years. It is sitting disassembled in their storage yard.

The Greenland Home Rule is now running the permit process. I do not believe the Danes have any involvement in permitting anymore. One would need to get in touch with the Greenland office that approves and issues permits to find out what the latest is on any recovery possibilities.

[menards]

Its only 2500NM from NYC....15 hours flying time in a 180...who wants to go? lol...

[menards]

so what exactly burned? The fire seemed limited to the rear crew compartment, the FWD crew compartment, and the tunnel.... with the tail, and center section and wings surviving. was it the interior insulation?

[mdwflyer]

Watch the documentary, and decide for yourself. It had a fire in the aft fuselage bad enough to melt the fuselage in 2. It's not flying out, there's no road in or out. It's done.

How many million would you be willing to fund or fundraise to retrieve a few hundred thousand in engines and props? It's extremely sad what happened. It was a risky endeavour and they almost pulled it off.

Mark

so what exactly burned? The fire seemed limited to the rear crew compartment, the FWD crew compartment, and the tunnel.... with the tail, and center section and wings surviving. was it the interior insulation?

[Warbird Kid]

Full Documentary here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1u4YBwjQTds