Unexpectedly interesting! I don't think much about WWII. Perhaps is scares me in a way, as I'm not sure our current American population has it in them to pull off another trick like that. Can we buckle down and get going when the going gets tough? Not sure. Not sure.
But this is a story about aviation ingenuity and the admirers of such. After the war was declared over, the thousands of planes built in such a short time here in the US- mostly by housewives, were considered junk. And treated as such, they quickly disappeared in junk yards, smelters and sunk in the drink. Very few survived intact, and by the time collectors started to care, those few survivors were very valuable. The rare warbird in the backyard already snatched up and in a museum or private collection left seekers of the planes looking for hidden treasure. This book covered the story of the existing warbirds, but then tells us the stories of recovering crashed beauties. Much of the book details the recovery attempt of the Kee Bird, a B29 bomber that crashed in Greenland, nearly perfectly preserved. Greenland isn't green. It is harsh and mercurial and inhospitable. And the men that devoted themselves to bringing her back faced more than they had bargained for; lying on the tundra with some bent props, a shiny fuselage, clean paint and mostly functioning, the Kee Bird looked like she could just take right off....
There are a few vulgar words. Men living by themselves for weeks on the tundra don't necessarily filter. But, this is a book that might open new windows of interest for the reader. Aviation Ingenuity. American Determination. Good book.
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