On Jan. 11, 2024, a special presentation by Bob Cardin, lead excavator and head of restoration, will tell the story of Glacier Girl.
Who: Glacier Girl, the famous WWII P-38 buried under 268 feet of ice for 50 years is now on display for the first time in a museum at the Lone Star Flight Museum. Glacier Girl is on loan from the Air Legends Foundation.
What: One of WWIIʼs most fearsome warbirds, this twin-boom Lockheed P-38 Lightning lay buried under arctic ice for 50 years and eluded recovery attempts in more than a dozen expeditions. Finally, in 1992, it was recovered. It would take another 10 years to restore the aircraft.
When: Now on Display through Jan. 31, 2024.
Museum Hours: Tuesday through Saturday, 10 a.m. – 5 p.m. & Sundays Noon-5 p.m.
Special Presentation by Glacier Girl expedition and restoration lead Bob Cardin, on Jan. 11, 2024 – Get event info and tickets here.
Where: Lone Star Flight Museum – 11551 Aerospace Avenue (at Ellington Field)
ABOUT GLACIER GIRL
Glacier Girl is the only rescued survivor of an entire squadron of P-38s and B-17s that attempted to cross over Greenland in 1942, during WWII. This aircraft was finally pulled piece by piece from under 268 feet of ice on August 1, 1992. Kentucky businessman Roy Shoffner financed the Greenland Expedition Society, a team formed by Patt Epps and Richard Taylor specifically for the recovery effort and brought Bob Cardin on board as expedition leader.
Ingenuity and endurance brought Glacier Girl back to the surface where she had crash-landed half a century before. The team created a device they called the “Super Gopher,” which circulated heated water through a metal cone to melt holes 27 stories deep and reach key sections of the plane. Then they began the long, dangerous process of dragging out the pieces, including the 3-ton, 17-foot-long fuselage. It took 20 minutes to lower each worker down to the aircraft in the claustrophobic 4-foot-diameter shafts. The final section emerged on August 1, 1992. The P- 38ʼs sections were in good enough shape for restoration. The team estimated it would take two years. It would take ten to reconstruct the plane. Glacier Girl has the only complete set of working P-38 machine guns in existence and is considered by many to be the finest warbird restoration flying. In 2006, Rod Lewis purchased what would become the signature aircraft as part of the Air Legends Foundation.
About the Lone Star Flight Museum
The Lone Star Flight Museum (LSFM) is a 501c3 aviation museum and STEM learning center with a mission to celebrate flight and achievements in Texas aviation as well as educate and engage our youth through science, technology, engineering, and math. Located 20 minutes from downtown Houston, Visit online at lonestarflight.org for discount tickets, memberships and more. Or call 346-708-2517. Follow us on Facebook and Instagram.
