floatplane - taking off frozen lake

Dan,

Actually the airplane that came to a stop in the whiteout over
Greenland was a B-17 (My Gal Sal). That began a very long rescue
effort (some months) in which a number of people died getting the crew
out.

What you may be recalling is that the legendary Bernt Balchen (first
person to pilot an aircraft over both poles, Byrd's pilot across the
Atlantic in 1927 and over the South Pole in 1929) landed a PBY, gear
up, on the ice pack a number of times during the rescue (he also
successfully took off). He also landed on a temporary lake that formed
on the ice pack due to melting ice.

All the best,
Rick

Cub Driver wrote:
On Mon, 5 Dec 2005 22:50:29 -0800, "Seth Masia"
wrote:

My buddy Buzz Fiorini used to fly his C180 floatplane over to Sun Valley and
land on a snow-packed meadow. Did it regularly, for years, with no damage.

During WWII in a whiteout, a PBY Catalina was flying over the
Greenland ice cap at 10,000-plus feet when the crew realized that
though the engines were developing full revs, the plane wasn't moving
any longer. They'd landed on the snow. They piled out and ran around,
laughing. Then they realized that, no, they weren't going to take off
again.


-- all the best, Dan Ford

email: usenet AT danford DOT net

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