[Milsurplus] Last flight of the LBG

[Todd, KA1KAQ]

On Apr 5, 2005 1:55 AM, Hue Miller <kargo_cult at msn.com> wrote:
> Do i seem to recall reading that crash damage crushed the Command equipment?

Hue - I haven't seen anything specific to this, but it's possible.
>From the pictures I recall seeing, the fuselage had its back broken
from the impact somewhere aft of the wing area. Still amazingly sall
damage for a four engine heavy that literally dropped out of the sky.

> The Libyan government hauled the whole kit and kiboodle off somewhere as a
> future tourist attraction. At least while outside it's in some dry climate. And with
> the process of normalizing political relations USA - Libya, the future is almost now.

The last report I saw was that souvenier hunters had taken many items
from the aircraft. There are pictures of it stored in a compound,
barely recognizable now. Looks like they picked it up with a bucket
loader and dumped it onto a flatbed. It would be nice to recover the
remains for preservation here in the states, if anything left is worth
moving.

<snip>
> if the military graves there are marked or if the sand and wind has extinguished
> any traces. -Hue Miller

I'd sooner expect them to have been removed by others. Remember that
very clear tracks were still visible from WWII armor and other
vehicles as recently as the late 50s. Provided they were located in an
area with little loose sand blowing around (as opposed to large
dunes), they could very well still be visible. Of course, the P-38s
and B-17s that went down in Greenland while being ferried to the UK
(Operation Bolero) were still visible from the air in the 1960s by
several reports, too - and we know just how buried they are now.
Different climate, but it demonstrates how much conditions can change.
268 feet of ice is a lot of accumulation, particularly in just some
25+ years.

~ Todd,  KA1KAQ