Hi guys
some things
You only have to look at the pics - she will not fly again except as a replica with minimal original content. There are better basis around if you want one to fly.
Certainly bring her back and sympatheticaly restore her for static and use as much as possible of the original and put her on display - she is too historic to me to use as patterns etc. Sure Glacier Girl was 80% but that was because it was well preserved and intact - this was a banged up aircraft cut up with saws and thrown on trucks by people that didn't give a toss - a lot of difference here
Just so everyone else knows what we are talking about........
"LADY BE GOOD"
At 2:50 p.m. on Apr. 4, 1943, 25 B-24Ds of the 376th Bomb Group took off from their AAF base at Soluch, Libya, for a high-altitude bombing attack against harbor facilities at Naples, Italy. All planes but one returned safely to Allied territory that night--the one which was missing was the Lady Be Good.
Almost 16 years later on Nov. 9th, 1958, several British geologists were flying over the desolate, sun-baked Libyan Desert. At approximately 400 miles south of Soluch, they spotted an aircraft on the sand. A ground party which reached the site in March 1959 discovered the plane to be a B-24D. The "Lady Be Good" had been found.
Evidence at the site indicated that the crew had become lost in the dark on return from Naples and had flown over their base and southward into the desert. As their fuel supply became depleted, the nine men aboard had bailed out but had disappeared while attempting to walk northward to civilization.
Intensive searches were made for clues as to the fate of the crew and in 1960 the remains of eight were found, one near the plane and the other seven far to the north. Five had trekked 78 miles across the tortuous sand before perishing and one had gone an amazing 109 miles. In addition, they had lived eight days rather than only two expected of men in this area with little or no water. The body of the ninth man was never found.
Numerous parts from the "Lady Be Good" were returned to the U.S. for technical study. Also, some of the parts were installed in other planes, aircraft which then experienced unexpected difficulties. A C-54 in which several autosyn transmitters were installed had propeller trouble and made a safe landing only by throwing cargo overboard. A C-47 in which a radio receiver was installed ditched in the Mediterranean, and a U.S. Army "Otter" airplane in which a "Lady Be Good" seat armrest was installed crashed in the Gulf of Sidra with 10 men aboard. No trace was ever found of any of them; one of the few pieces washed ashore was the armrest of the "Lady Be Good."
The ill-fated crew of the Lady Be Good from the left: 1st Lt. W.J. Hatton, Pilot; 2d Lt. R.F. Toner, Copilot; 2d Lt. D.P. Hays, Navigator; 2d Lt. J.S. Woravka, Bombardier; T/Sgt. H.J. Ripslinger, Engineer; T/Sgt. R.E. LaMotte, Radio Operator; S/Sgt. G.E. Shelly, Gunner; S/Sgt. V.L. Moore, Gunner; and S/Sgt. S.E. Adams, Gunner.
The Lady Be Good as it appeared when discovered from the air.
Aircraft parts were strewn by the Lady Be Good as it skidded to a halt amid the otherwise emptiness of the desert.
The Lady Be Good Stained Glass Window from the Wheelus AFB Chapel.
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