But the B-29 is only part (albeit I faintly remember seeing the Nova TV documentary many years ago about the attempts to recover a World War II B-29 that had crashed in Greenland but that was still relatively intact. Here's the gripping story about that effort, the clashes of personalities (who's in charge?), numerous swashbuckling and obsessive characters, time pressures as horrendous arctic weather approaches, balky repair equipment, disappearing foodstuffs ("Who are we going to eat first?"). I faintly remember seeing the Nova TV documentary many years ago about the attempts to recover a World War II B-29 that had crashed in Greenland but that was still relatively intact. Hunting Warbirds takes us to the heart of one of the most fascinating obsessions of our time.more In this superbly crafted narrative, Hoffman turns the warbird craze into the stuff of high drama and awesome adventure. He meets a retired Midwestern carpenter who crammed every inch of his yard with now-precious warbirds during the lean years when they were considered junk attends an air show where crowds go wild at the sight of four of the fourteen air-worthy B-17s flying in formation speaks to pilots and mechanics, millionaire businessmen and penniless kids–all of them ready to drop everything in pursuit of these fabled planes. In this riveting adventure of man, machine, and history, Hoffman literally crisscrosses the country to track down the key players in the high-stakes warbird game. Fifty years later, with collectors paying upward of a million dollars for salvageable World War II planes, two intense fanatics, legendary test pilot Darryl Greenamyer and starry-eyed salvage wizard Gary Larkins, hatched the extraordinary idea of launching an expedition to Greenland to restore the Kee Bird, bring it back to life, and fly it out. For nearly half a century, the almost perfectly intact warbird lay abandoned on a lake of ice–but not forgotten. The crash of the Kee Bird B-29 Superfortress made banner headlines in 1947 when a team of Air Force pilots pulled off the near-miraculous feat of locating the wreck in Greenland and snatching its stranded crew from the teeth of the arctic winter. These warbirds are now worth literally anything–fortunes, families, even lives–to the people who search for them. The crash of the Kee Bird B-29 Superfortress made banner headlines in 1947 when a team of Air Force pilots pulled off the near-mir “Winged treasure” they call them–the lost remains of the great American fighter planes and bombers that won World War II. “Winged treasure” they call them–the lost remains of the great American fighter planes and bombers that won World War II.
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