Greenland retained 99.7% of its ice mass in 20th Century!!!

That team dug down through more than 200′ of ice for a P-38 F model aircraft. The P-38 F was the first operational model of that very advanced for it’s time fighter aircraft but still had plenty of problems. Even in those early days of WW II the P-38 had a longer range than any fighter the allied powers had. Long enough to ferry it from Goose Bay to Greenland to Iceland to Scotland. Even if it did have to fly through some of the least predictable bad weather on the globe. And those doing the ferrying weren’t specialists. They were the fighter jocks that would take the aircraft into combat when they reached N. Africa where US forces would first face. So a B-17 with it’s four engines and dedicated navigator and more capable radios with dedicated operator would act as a mother ship for a gaggle of P-38s. Remember this was in the day when navigation was done by dead reckoning, terrain association, star sightings/sun lines, and radio beams.
The reason why Glacier Girl was under the ice in the first place and why some other P-38s, B-17s, and C-47s remain under Greenlands Ice because the U-boat scourge impelled the US to ferry P-38s to Europe and then down to N. Africa. At the beginning of the war the P-38 was the most advanced fighter the US had . It was deemed essential by George Marshall and the planners of ‘Torch” (the invasion of N. Africa) that at least 100 P-38s be available to support the initial operations with more needed later. But the US accelerated ship building programs were not yet exceeding losses to the U-boats and wouldn’t until early in 1943. Meanwhile the supplies needed to keep going to the UK and Russia while at the same time the US was trying to launch an invasion of N. Africa with multiple Divisons including an Armored Division which required massive amount of transport. And at about the same time launching it’s first offensive thrust in the form of “Watch Tower” putting the first Marine Div. to be reinforced on Guadalcanal and Tulagi in the Solomon islands.
It was deemed that a 10% loss of aircraft and crew was acceptable for this ferrying operation. That’s how desperate the situation was. As it turned out losses of all types of aircraft was under 5% with most of the crews being rescued. In fact the ferry operations were judged to be such a success that plans were made to ferry 4,000 P-38s to Europe. But by May of 1943 the Allies had won what Churchill termed “The Battle of the Atlantic” . U-boats would still take their toll but were being sunk in greater numbers and sinking less Allied shipping tonnage while at the same time the US Ship building programs were taking effect. (In the years of 1944 and 1945 the US launched more total tonnage of all types of vessels than the combined total from all other nations of the world.) This fact plus the advent of developing racks that fit on the decks of tankers to carry fighter and some types of light and medium bomber aircraft made it possible to ship enough of the aircraft instead which was much safer and economical so from then on only the larger aircraft continued to be ferried.
The P-38 was the ONLY US fighter aircraft that remained in production as a front line fighter from before Pearl Harbor through VJ day. It was the type flown by the top US WW II aces, Dick Bong and Tommy McGuire. I find it Ironic that men would go to the great trouble and expense of digging down through 100s of feet of ice to recover a P-38 F when at the end of WW II one could buy a brand new surplus P-38 L model which was a far more advanced and reliable aircraft for $1,200. Now days there are less than 20 P-38 fighters of all models still flying which makes it a very rare beast and that is why it was worth recovering Glacier Girl.

Where Santa lives?