Think you know the story of the attempted salvage of the downed B-29 bomber known as the Kee Bird?
Think again!
Thank you for checking out HISTORY X.
Many of you may know the story of the B-29 bomber known as the Kee Bird.
The crew ran short of fuel during a secret mission in 1946 above the arctic circle
and they were forced to make a belly landing on the frozen tundra in Greenland.
In 1996, almost 50 years later, the PBS show Nova
even aired a documentary about the attempted recovery of the Kee Bird
called "B29 Frozen in Time". It was fascinating!
But if we're just meeting for the first time
my name is Ken Stano and I am a WW2 historian, mechanical engineer, and pilot
and after recently reading the incredible book 'Hunting Warbirds' by Carl Hoffman,
I discovered there's a lot more to the story of the attempted salvage of the Kee Bird.
In fact if you have a fascination with the discovery, recovery and restoration of World War II aircraft,
then this book is totally for you.
I'll have a link to this book, as well as a link to the Nova documentary, in the description for this video.
I decided to create this series of videos to reveal many facts that,
for whatever reason, either they didn't have time for it, some of the facts couldn't be corroborated, whatever.
They simply couldn't be included in the Nova documentary.
But they're all here in Carl Hoffman's book.
While you are watching from time to time you will see these behind-the-scenes facts appear
on the right hand side of the screen.
Okay, this is Part One. Subsequent segments about this attempted recovery of the Kee Bird will appear
here on 'HISTORY X' as soon as they're available, so please consider subscribing to receive those notifications.
Thank you for checking out 'HISTORY X'.
Tonight on Nova. A. B-29 flying a cold-war spy mission crash-landed in the arctic.
Her crew was rescued, but the Kee Bird was left behind.
Nearly half a century later a new team wants to bring her home.
BOB: "Just like new again."
ROGER: "It'll fly." BOB: "You bet it'll fly."
But conditions are harsh. The work exhausting.
Their shared dream becomes a life-and-death drama as they struggle to free the B-29 frozen in time.
A C-141 lifts off from Thule air force base.
Once a vital staging post for the nuclear bomber fleet, Thule is now a relic of the Cold War
While its radar domes still probe the horizon, it is eerily quiet and almost deserted.
One of the most remote and isolated outposts of the United States Air Force,
it lies on the inhospitable barren shore of northwest Greenland; deep inside the arctic circle.
The climate is harsh and unforgiving.
Even in summer when the sun never sets it remains so cold that the sea is littered with icebergs.
Inland a vast unbroken ice cap stretches for 800 miles.
The weather changes hourly from bright sun to dark menacing storm clouds with gale-force winds.
250 miles north of Thule lies another relic of the cold war: an almost intact B-29 bomber.
This plane nicknamed the Kee Bird became lost and crash-landed while on a secret mission
The crew was rescued, but the Kee Bird would lie here abandoned for almost 50 years.
When the b-29 first flew in 1942 it could go higher and farther than any other bomber.
In the war against Japan it traversed the Pacific and crested the Himalayas.
The culmination of the B-29's military service was
when the Enola Gay dropped the atomic bomb on Hiroshima, ending the war.
Nearly 4 000 of these planes were built. But now less than a handful remain.
If the Kee Bird could be recovered from this arctic wilderness
it would be a unique treasure of aviation history;
probably worth a great deal of money.
Darrell Greenamyer, a former test pilot,
has been working on a bold plan to rescue the b-29 and fly it back home.
Darryl has flown higher and faster than most other living pilots.
He had once been a test pilot on the U-2 spy plane and its replacement, the SR-71 Blackbird.
In the 70's he built his own Starfighter jet from
spare parts to gain a low altitude speed record, which he still holds.
An accomplished pilot and engineer used to taking risks,
if anyone could pull this off, it was Darryl.
DARRYL: "It really is a unique opportunity. It may be the only airplane in the world that I can think of..."
DARRYL: "...that's been sitting somewhere for 50 years that you could actually get in and potentially fly."
DARRYL: "It's just in a far away place. That's that's the reason it's available."
Okay, one of the first things I learned when reading 'Hunting Warbirds'
was that there was a guy by the name of Gary Larkins
who was key to the attempted recovery of the Kee Bird.
Gary Larkins spent nearly his entire adult life recovering World War Two aircraft from all parts of the globe
and he had his eye on the Kee Bird for years.
Gary secured a special-use permit with the US government to utilize
Thule Air Force base as a staging area for the expedition.
The book also talks about how Gary hired a lawyer to get Denmark
to release its claim on the Kee Bird. Why Denmark?
Because the country of Greenland where the Kee Bird crash-landed is part of the Danish kingdom.
In 1992 the Danish Ministry of Foreign Affairs released its claim, opening the Kee Bird to whoever could take physical possession.
But that wasn't all. Gary also had to get a permit from the Danish Polar Center
to allow them to operate in Greenland.
So in the book they talk about how Gary Larkins had all the research.
He had written permission from the U.S. Air Force.
Gary gathered all the necessary permits from Denmark.
The only thing that Gary didn't have? The money to pay for an expedition this size.
Enter Darryl Greenamyer. Darryl had secured the funding from a neighbor, Tom Hess,
and offered to help Gary Larkins with the expedition to salvage the Kee Bird.
So why wasn't Gary Larkins ever mentioned in the Nova documentary?
The answer is simple... Darryl Greenamyer hated Gary Larkins.
Gary and Darryl did not get along at all, so Darryl eventually forced Gary out of the expedition and took over.
If you want to learn more about it, you gotta read the book. It's fascinating!
But getting the Kee Bird into the air requires more than skill and boldness.
The bulk of the heavy supplies and machinery that Darryl would need
has to be carried to Thule on the annual supply ship.
A 5-ton bulldozer will be needed to build a runway for the B-29.
Bulky new tires and propellers are also required,
along with four massive reconditioned radial engines.
All of this equipment has to be carried north over the 250 miles of desolate arctic landscape
that separates Thule from the bomber.
Darryl's solution is a 1962 Caribou; another of his salvaged wonders.
RICK: "It's basically a short-field, short-landing and takeoff airplane, and it's made for unimproved fields.
RICK: "They used it in Vietnam a lot. And it's, it's a pretty rugged airplane. It's ideal for this sort of thing..."
RICK: "...flying these engines in and it'll carry a pretty good load."
Rick Kriege, who had been Darryl's Chief Engineer for over seven years
is responsible for making his plans work.
With the Caribou's arrival in mid-July, Darryl's team is complete.
Cecilio Grande has been Rick's assistant for three years learning on the job.
Vernon Rich is a tool-maker and machinist
Bob Vanderveen, as well as being another pair of hands, is going to do the cooking.
Roger von Grote, a retired airline pilot and a distant relative of Baron von Richthofen,
will fly the Caribou.
Darryl and the others take off from Thule.
Okay about this 1962 Caribou...
Darryl found it in the Davis-Monthan Boneyard outside of Tucson, Arizona.
On the cross-country flight to Thule Air Force Base a cylinder blew on one
of the engines and they were forced to land in Las Vegas to make repairs.
Once they finally got airborne again
they were on their way to a refueling stop in Manitoba, Canada and they blew an oil line.
But for many of you that have seen this Nova documentary
you know that wasn't the end of the Caribou's maintenance nightmares!
Their flight takes them over uncharted mountains and glaciers 250 miles north.
It is a risky journey into the unknown where the chances of rescue are slim.
Finally they come to the valley where the B-29 came to rest.
They fly low over the valley floor.
Roger lowers the wheels and makes a brief touchdown to test how firm the surface is.
It seems fine, so they go around and come in to make a landing.
If anything goes wrong now the consequences could be fatal.
But they make it
CECILIO: "Fantastico!" ROGER: "Fantastico, yeah."
The relief and euphoria spills out as they examine their landing strip.
ROGER: "I hope we can get the thing turned-around in this soft dirt, you know?"
DARRYL: "Oh yeah, we can. In fact I felt this is the first really soft stuff we had. Look back there."
ROGER: "Like our VFR approach?"
The team begins to set up camp as behind them the B-29 gleams like new in the chill arctic sunshine.
A time capsule preserved in this remote valley.
Okay the team has successfully landed at the crash site.
In the next episode they tackle the repair work required to fly this B-29 bomber back to civilization.
We've also got interviews with the original crew that crash landed on the ice 75 years ago.
And of course, if you enjoy learning the behind-the-scenes facts and stories,
please consider subscribing because you're not going to believe what happens next!
My name is Ken Stano. Thank you for checking out HISTORY X!