WB-29 44-62214 "Lady of the Lake"
Comments
Holger KranichWhat a pitty! It tears my heart in two! How can someone do this to a plane?
Bart Goesaertinteresting history, will you build it as she is in the pit, or in a more worthy condition?
Micah MarshI plan to do both, to give a then and now style diorama, of her on a snowy runway, and next to it in a water filled gravel pit.
Patrick HagelsteinAgreeing on Holger's remark that it is sad to see a beautiful planes decayed that way, it also has a certain serenity to it. If well executed that submerged diorama can be a spot of calmness and peace in a model collection. Looking forward to this!
Micah MarshHardest part is figuring out whats still left on the aircraft below the surface, been gathering information from Eielson AFB, and talking with there base historian to get a good idea.
Micah MarshUse to be stationed at Eielson AFB, I always remember going to visit the old girl, and would like to have a diorama that retells the story of crucial aircraft of the Cold War. That proved the Soviets had nuclear weapons.
wilkyThat article was obviously written some time ago because of the references to weather observations.
Rather than to truth about Nuclear weapons detection
Micah MarshYeah it's an older article, the project that the gallery is link to talks of how secretly the weather gathering was a cover up to allow the air craft to gather air samples to see of radiation.
Łukasz GlińskiVery interesting project, following.
Should you have 2 engine cowlings left after all, I'd gladly buy them for one of my projects 🙂
Micah MarshCan do, the aircraft in general after its crash on the runway was gutted for any usable parts then dragged to the gravel pit were it lies now
Łukasz GlińskiLong time no news, but I was just wondering - would you still be able to sell 2 engine cowling from this set? 🙂
Album info
Boeing WB-29 44-62214 "Lady of the Lake" Eielson AFB, Alaska.
History:
B-29 Superfortress 44-62214 entered service with the United States Army Air Force in 1944, one of almost 4,000 of Boeing’s state of the art World War Two heavy bombers to roll off the production line. The Superfortress was later converted to a long-range weather reconnaissance aircraft, redesignated WB-29. Secretly she flew between Alaska and Japan, detecting evidence of Soviet nuclear testing in 1949. Lady of the Lake was the aircraft that detected the first evidence of Soviet atomic testing in 1949 – despite the US belief at the time that the Red Army was decades behind in nuclear weapons technology. But after she was damaged beyond economical repair in a ground accident 1954, 44-62214 became a hangar queen and was cannibalised for parts.
There’s no known record of the aircraft being towed from storage at Eielson AFB to its watery grave nearby, but it’s likely that the move took place in 1955 or 1956. Of course, the result is the same:
