Almost Perfectly Preserved’ WWII Fighter Discovered in Sahara Desert — 70 Years After Disappearing

The Blaze ^ | 05/10/12 | Becket Adams

[AngelesCrestHighway]

It’s not quite the same as the opening sequence to “Close Encounters of the Third Kind,” but it’s awfully close.

The Daily Mail reports that a Polish oil company worker, Jakub Perka, has discovered an “almost perfectly preserved” Kittyhawk P-40 that crash-landed in the Sahara Desert in 1942.

“Despite the crash impact, most of the aircraft’s cockpit instruments are intact,” according to the report.

[ops33]

Canopy appears to be closed.

[Clay Moore]

Interesting that the prop was feathered yet under a lot of power when he hit the ground. Loss of oil pressure?

[Vinnie]

Several yrs. ago I was in the waiting room of a medical lab waiting my turn.
An old couple walked in. The man wearing a ‘P-51’ emblazoned ball cap.

I went over sat down next to him, thanked him for his service and started talking about the plane.

He told me he loved flying the P-51 but his real love was with the Thunderbolt.
His turn for blood work came up and I talked to his wife for a few minutes.

She told me her husband had told her that if he could have he would have married that P-47.

[freedomlover]

I just found it on Google Video for online viewing

http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=7574338161920794843&hl=en

[freedomlover]

http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=7574338161920794843&hl=en

[AngelesCrestHighway]

Thanks for the direct link to the original story. Many more pictures here. 200 miles to the nearest town?....Jeez!

[Boiler Plate]

Wasn’t there a movie made about that B24?

[Mr. Lucky]

Next time any of us think we got problems.....think of Sgt. Copping's last few days in earth. May God have rested his soul.

What you said.

[Clara Lou]

Darn. Idaho is a long way from Texas.

[AngelesCrestHighway]

I don’t recall a movie about the B-24 Lady Be Good. Many documentaries were done. Sole Survivor used a B-25 Mitchell bomber.

[Buckeye Battle Cry]

I remember that movie!

[Disambiguator]

Darn. Idaho is a long way from Texas.

Yes, but it's a friendly place. :^)

[Boiler Plate]

I remember that movie as well. The one line I recall was one of the ghosts listening to a Dodgers Baseball game on the radio the “recovery crew” had brought and puzzled by how “they moved Brooklyn to Los Angeles” as though the entire borough had been transported out west not just the team.

[tophat9000]

Perfect post for this thread this board

Pilot Ronald Regan does a P40 Warhawk recognition film

http://www.criticalpast.com/video/65675043014_Japanese-Mitsubishi-A6M-Zero_P-40-Warhawk_Pilot-Ronald-Regan_recognition-and-similarity

[cuban leaf]

As I read this thread, I keep thinking of the Twilight zone episode, "King nine will not return".

[AngelesCrestHighway]

Thanks!....I bookmarked it for later...

[rlmorel]

Great pics...gonna have to check that episode out, it has been a long time.

[AngelesCrestHighway]

I remember that Twilight Zone episode also...
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/King_Nine_Will_Not_Return

[cuban leaf]

It’s one of my favorites. It has some excellent plot twists and, as with so many TZ episodes, a great ending.

[cuban leaf]

—I remember that Twilight Zone episode also...
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/King_Nine_Will_Not_Return

Hey Thor, the wiki article says the TZ episode was inspired by the discovery of the Lady Be Good B-24. Is that the one in your post?

Looks like this has gone full circle. Discovery inspires show, 53 years later, another discovery harkens back to show.