Return of the B-24 Lady Be Good?

[gwb123]

With all of the coverage of Libya in the news lately, it got me wondering if we will ever see the return of the remains of the B-24 Lady Be Good to the United States, or at least the consignment of it to a museum?

 

Apparently, I am not the only one thinking this as the topic is appearing on aviation websites:

 

http://forum.keypublishing.com/showthread.php?t=111417

 

I'd read years ago it was being stored at an airbase in Libya. Sure enough the following website has photos of it taken in 2009:

 

http://www.rommelinlibya.com/ladybegood/lbgphotos.html

 

WARNING: These photos are not of the pristine aircraft that was discovered lost in the desert in 1958.

 

For those who are not familiar with the story of the ill fated aircraft, please see:

 

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lady_Be_Good_(aircraft)

 

As noted on the Aviaiton site, the fate of this wreckage is probably the least of anybody's problems and concerns at the moment.

[ehrentitle]

Yes, I saw the second link. The aircraft has been picked over by military expeditions and souvenir hunters over the decades. I'm sure the Libyan's didn't help when they drug it out of the desert in sections.

 

The Quartermaster Museum at Fort Lee has a display with items from the Lady Be Good crew members in its Mortuary Affairs gallery. Most of the items that were on the crew that were military issue were retained by the Army and several are on display in this exhibit. Here is a link to the QM Museum webpage on LBG:

 

http://www.qmfound.com/lady_be_good_b-24_bomber_recovery.htm

[Jack's Son]

Thank you for bring this up.....but I don't think anyone is surprised!

No respect for the dead, the living relatives or history.

[ThompsonSavage]

I could be wrong, but is this a 4-bladed prop?

 

http://www.rommelinlibya.com/ladybegood/8278.jpg

[retiree1986]

I could be wrong, but is this a 4-bladed prop?

 

http://www.rommelinlibya.com/ladybegood/8278.jpg

It appears to be a 4 bladed prop yes,,,which after looking at the original wreckage pics leads me to believe the prop

is not of the lady be good but something else added to the wreckage

[Sabrejet]

There are also some wrecked tanks, British and German, rusting away out in the former WW2 desert battlefields. The British used US -supplied Shermans, Grants and Stuarts as well as British Crusaders etc.

[Ponycar07]

check this movie out - Sole Survivor (1970) -William Shatner (the story of the plane ¨Lady Be Good¨)

 

http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=75...=en&view=3#

 

 

 

 

Steve

[Cobrahistorian]

Looks like a cuffed prop, so it could be from a P-47, P-51 or B-26.

[GIl Sanow]

If I recall correctly, there are some artifacts from the wreckage at the USAF Museum at Wright-Patt --saw them last fall, but don't recall the details. I know there wasn't much on display.

 

G

[Dirk]

As Kevin pointed out the aircraft has been well picked over and was left to collapse on itself after the main Air Force recovery efforts were complete. Not sure it would be worth bringing it home now. The Air Force Museum does have things from the aircraft.

[bobgee]

check this movie out - Sole Survivor (1970) -William Shatner (the story of the plane ¨Lady Be Good¨)

 

http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=75...=en&view=3#

Steve

 

Thanks for the link. Interesting dramatization of "Lady Be Good"

Bobgee

[ikar]

I remember the movie but forgot what it was called. Shame they wrecked a B-25.

[ehrentitle]

If I recall correctly, there are some artifacts from the wreckage at the USAF Museum at Wright-Patt --saw them last fall, but don't recall the details. I know there wasn't much on display.

 

G

 

 

It's been several years since I've been there, but I believe the USAF Museum has a landing gear and a propeller and entire engine of the Lady Be Good as well as other parts that were brought back for evaluation by the Air Force.

[earlymb]

There are also some wrecked tanks, British and German, rusting away out in the former WW2 desert battlefields. The British used US -supplied Shermans, Grants and Stuarts as well as British Crusaders etc.

 

Not exactely rusting away in that desert! I think they'll survive in a better condition than most of the stuff found on the Eastern front.

 

Greetz

 

David

[gwb123]

There are also some wrecked tanks, British and German, rusting away out in the former WW2 desert battlefields. The British used US -supplied Shermans, Grants and Stuarts as well as British Crusaders etc.

 

 

I remember reading a lot of those were shipped out in the 1950's as scrap metal. I wonder what is left out there.

 

One thing that still is out there, which might hamper any recovery efforts, is hundreds of unexploded mines. I also read that after the war there were a number of efforts to fully clear the mine fields. However, with the shifting sands it was highly hazardous, and it was halted after a number of fatalities.

 

Those tanks may just have to stay out there...

[El Bibliotecario]

As a lad I read of the aircraft's discovery in the paper--this was before Al Gore invented the internet. I was so young that I had to look up the big words, but as a builder of model airplanes, I knew what a B24 was. I recall a followup story where a puddlejumper 2 seater liasion plane from Wheelus AFB landed at the crash site. The crew noticed the seat cushions in the B24 were better than those in their aircraft, and swapped. The small plane later crashed.

 

Rod Serling subsequently did a TWILIGHT ZONE episode based on the Lady Be Good, with Robt Cummings(who was taught to fly by Orville Wright) and a B25 standin. I think Serling would have done better to base his story on the jinxed seat cushions.

[ram957]

King Nine will not return...Here's the Twilight Zone episode

http://www.123video.nl/playvideos.asp?MovieID=836902