Hidden Warbirds: The Epic Stories of Finding, Recovering, and Rebuilding WWII's Lost Aircraft - Hardcover

Veronico, Nicholas A.

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0760344094 ISBN 13: 9780760344095

Publisher: Zenith Press, 2013

Synopsis

Aviation historian Nicholas A. Veronico has been investigating and writing about aircraft wrecks for many years. His website, wreckchasing.com, is the go-to source for enthusiasts who want to know more about how to locate vintage airplane wrecks and then tell their stories. In this engaging new book, Veronico explores the romantic era of World War II Warbirds and the stories of some of its most famous wrecks, including the "Swamp Ghost" (a B-17E which crashed in New Guinea in the early days of World War II and which was only recently recovered), and "Glacier Girl" (a P-38, part of "The Lost Squadron," which crashed in a large ice sheet in Greenland in 1942). Throughout, Veronico provides a history of the aircraft, as well as the unique story behind each discovery and recovery with ample illustrations. Hidden Warbirds is aviation history at its best.

About this title

From the Inside Flap:

Shot down, crash-landed, or sometimes just abandoned, the warbirds of World War II, both Allied and Axis, rust away in strange and surprising locations—in lakes and oceans, glaciers and garages, jungles and swamps. Specialized teams compete to salvage these historic aircraft and, if possible, return them to flyable condition. In Hidden Warbirds, aviation historian Nicholas A. Veronico tells the stories of the pilots and planes as well as the recovery and restoration teams that get these aircraft out of the wilds and into the air. Remote and dangerous locations provide many challenges for salvaging the damaged and deteriorating aircraft. Whether sunken in swamps or perched on mountainsides, buried under snow or resting on lake bottoms, the teams struggle to remove aircraft in a way that will allow them to put them all back together later on. Incomplete wrecks can be combined into one airworthy plane, while surplus and fabricated parts finish the restoration. Often painted and named for specific historical aircraft, these recovered warbirds become stars of museums and airshows, the roar of their piston engines bringing the past back to life. Hidden Warbirds covers a wide range of aircraft, from U.S. bombers and fighters to Japanese Bettys and Zeros, discovered all over the world in locations like Alaska, Greenland, Lake Michigan, and Papua New Guinea. Each recovery demands its own unique approach, and Veronico interviews the men and women who solve the problems and save the warbirds. This work is illustrated throughout with two hundred photos, including archival photos from World War II as well as before and after photos of recovery and restoration.

Nicholas A. Veronico is a public affairs officer at the Astronomical Society of the Pacific for NASA's SOFIA Program and a past president of the Society of Aviation History. He has written more than two dozen books on U.S. aviation, including The Blue Angels: A Fly-By History, and runs the website www.wreckchasing.com.

From the Back Cover:

B-17s, B-29s, P-38s, P-51s—famous planes that once helped save the world during World War II. Now their skeletal frames—in jungle, snow, or lake—are eerie, ghostlike reminders of globe-spanning conflicts and the men and machines who fought them. From garages to glaciers, dedicated teams of aviators and historians rescue these aircraft wrecks from oblivion, rebuild them, and, often, take them back into the skies for the first time in over sixty years. From the famous P-38 Glacier Girl, rescued from under 250 feet of ice in Greenland, to the B-17 Swamp Ghost, recovered from a swamp in Papua New Guinea, aviation historian Nicholas A. Veronico covers the aircrafts’ final missions and then flashes decades forward to their discovery, recovery, and restoration. The comprehensive text is accompanied throughout by more than two hundred photos, most in full color, bringing these time capsules of World War II back to life.

About this edition

• Publisher: Zenith Press
• Publication date: 2013
• ISBN 10: 0760344094
• ISBN 13: 9780760344095
• Binding: Hardcover
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 256