WWII aircraft found frozen into Greenland ice cap for nearly 50 years, then a recovery team try to start it

A recovery team tried to start this WWII aircraft after it had been frozen into a Greenland ice cap for nearly 50 years.

Kee Bird was a World War II era B-29 bomber that spent decades frozen in the Arctic.

In the 1990s, a team set out to repair and return it.

But after half a century lying undisturbed in the ice, could it be made airborne again?

After 50 years frozen in Greenland, could this WWII aircraft fly again?

On February 20, 1947, the Kee Bird departed off from Ladd Field, Alaska, on a top-secret Cold War reconnaissance mission toward the North Pole.

This was the era of US-Soviet tensions, so the plane was going to look for evidence of Soviet military presence in the Arctic.

However, bad weather and malfunctioning instruments proved to be a combative combo.

Running low on fuel, the pilot made a successful emergency ‘belly landing’ onto a frozen lake in Greenland.

Fortunately, all 11 people onboard survived and were rescued three days later.

The Kee Bird was left behind, where it would stay for the next few decades.

Test pilot Darryl Greenamyer led a private team to recover the plane, arriving at the site in July 1994.

Things got off to a good start, when the team replaced the engines and the tires, and installed a new power system.

However, the mission got put on hold when the chief engineer passed away due to illness, and winter weather forced a halt of the mission.

They returned in May 1995, nearly a year after they’d first arrived.

Clearing the ice for a makeshift runway, the team prepped themselves for takeoff.

However, during a taxi test, a makeshift auxiliary power unit fuel tank broke loose.

As fuel leaked, a fire broke out and the entire plane was engulfed.

With the aluminum airframe melted, the recovery was declared a total loss.

What remains of this ill-fated plane three decades on?

Over the years, the charred remains have sat on the Greenland ice.

As the ice thaws and refreezes, the heavy engines and airframe slowly sink into the lake bed.

There’s something undeniably tragic about the whole thing – that such a WWII aircraft of this prestige is doomed to rot in a distant land.

There are abandoned planes all around the world.

For example, there are millions of dollars’ worth of planes sitting across Nigeria’s airports, costing an absolute mint to maintain.

Then there’s this Lockheed plane hanging out in an African desert, which has become something of a tourist attraction.