B-29 "Kee Bird" Wreckage

 aircraft, wreck, interesting place, aircraft crash site

Wreckage of the B-29 “Kee Bird” (USAF s/n 45-21768) lies on this lake near Peterman Fjord in Greenland. The aircraft, part of the 46th/72nd Reconnaissance Squadron ran low on fuel and made a forced landing on this frozen lake on February 21, 1947.

In the mid-1990s an attempt to recover the aircraft was made with the idea of showing it on the warbird circuit in the United States. The aircraft had made a successful (albeit bumpy) landing on the frozen lake and had remained relatively intact at the site ever since. The USAF had also surrendered any claim to the B-29. It was believed that the ship could be put into flying condition, flown off the frozen lake and ferried to Thule AFB where further repairs could be made before flying back to the US. Over the course of three years several expeditions were made to the site to replace various components of the aircraft including engines and propellors. A crude runway was carved out of the ice via a bulldozer that had been ferried into the site via a DHC-5 Caribou. After many and great difficulties repairs were completed by early 1995. The aircraft was successfully started, however as it began to taxi into position for the takeoff attempt a fire broke out in the rear fuselage. The crew all escaped injury but the B-29 was destroyed, with the tail section breaking loose from the forward fuselage. The heat from the flames were so intense that the lake thawed out somewhat, leaving the aircraft partially submerged where it remains to this day.

The whole affair was sharply criticized by many in the warbird community as being ill conceived and risky. The argument being that the cost of restoring the B-29 to be flown off the lake could have been better spent simply disassembling the aircraft and airlifting sections of it back to Thule AFB, where eventual return to flying status could have been carried out in much safer conditions. Especially galling was the loss of four rare and newly overhauled Wright R-3350 engines, along with associated propellors and running gear. Before the aircraft sank the salvage crew is believed to have removed drain plugs from all four engines allowing oil and hydraulics to drain into the sensitive environment.

A PBS Nova documentary “B-29: Frozen in Time” chronicling the effort was first broadcast July 29, 1997. The 2002 book “Hunting Warbirds” by Carl Hoffman (ISBN 0345436180) also covers the effort in several chapters.

Though the wreckage cannot be directly seen in this view, photographs of the Kee Bird in her current state can be found at the link below.

www.ruudleeuw.com/images/search/116-b29-greenland.jpg

Site dedicated to the Kee Bird and the men of the 46th/72nd Recon Squadron.

www.b29keebird.net/main.html