Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: THURSDAY, October 5, 1995                   TAG: 9510050029
SECTION: VIRGINIA                    PAGE: C-5   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: JACK DORSEY LANDMARK NEWS SERVICE
DATELINE: PORTSMOUTH                                LENGTH: Medium

AFTER YEARS IN DEEP FREEZE, WW II BOMBER TRAVELS AGAIN

If so, it will be the oldest of about a dozen B-17s that are still capable of flying.

Even after a half-century of being frozen, its metal is as shiny as when it was built. The blue-and-white star, insignia of a U.S. military aircraft, is visible on the right side of its fuselage. The silhouette of a witch's face between two bombs stands out.

It is, say its salvagers, possibly the best preserved B-17 ever discovered.

The bomber was one of four making their way to England in 1942. They had taken off from Goose Bay, Labrador, heading for a refueling stop in Greenland. ``But it was closed out with bad weather,'' said Gary Larkins, director of recoveries for the Institute of Aeronautical Archaeological Research, based in Sacramento, Calif. The plane landed on a glacier. Its 10 crewmen were rescued, but the plane remained.

Hurricane-force winds had flipped it over and broken its back years earlier. In the '60s, when it was discovered, the plane had been in near-flying condition, Larkins said.

``What happened was that the ice melted away all around it,'' he said. ``Soon, it was on a pedestal 30 feet tall, as if mounted on somebody's desk in the air because the sun couldn't melt the ice under its wings.''

It was perfectly preserved in the dry, cold air. Its tires still held air. Hoses were pliable. The engines turned. There is no rust or corrosion.

``The wings are beautiful,'' Larkins said. ``The upper gun turret [valued at $40,000 alone] is in brand new condition. The guns and gun mounts are there, all the kinds of stuff you can't find now.''

Larkins, along with George Carter and Rafid Tuma, both of Baltimore, are veteran divers, pilots, riggers and salvagers who have searched the world to recover such aviation relics.

The crew has been to New Guinea to pluck a P-38 ``Lightning'' plane from the jungles; drilled 265 feet below the ice in Greenland to recover another P-38, one of six from the ``Lost Squadron'' of World War II; and in 1993, led a recovery expedition to the northern tip of Greenland to recover the B-29 ``Kee Bird.''

This is the 57th plane the nonprofit institute has recovered since 1975, turning most over to military museums across the country.

``My Gal Sal,'' after a half-million dollar restoration, will find its way, it is hoped, to the 8th Air Force Museum in Savannah, Ga.

``It will be the oldest flying B-17 in the world,'' promised Larkins.

The chores for Larkins' crew in Portsmouth this week are mundane compared to past adventures. But readying ``My Gal Sal'' for the last leg of its journey to the West Coast still is exciting, they say.

``My Gal Sal'' will not be the last cold weather find for the group. Larkins has permits from the Norwegian government to inspect six more wrecks. ``There are probably 60 planes still up there,'' he said.