Another Piece of the Puzzle
Another piece of the puzzle of “My Gal Sal” has been found. The history about the original sighting of the remains of “My Gal Sal” in 1964 were sketchy. The following report from the young man, Airman Richard Reinsch, tells the story.
MY GAL SAL –
DISCOVERY
PROLOGUE
Recently I sat re-reading a long misplaced Life Magazine article titled “The Saga of My Gal Sal” which chronicled the history behind a crashed B-17, its crew, and the return of the pilot and his rescuer to the crash site. Out of curiosity I went on the Internet to see if anything might be on the web relating to My Gal Sal or the article. I was greatly surprised to find Bob Ready’s web site and more astonished to see that that venerable old warhorse had been recovered from its icy grave and was being restored as a memorial to our lost airmen.
Since I’d never seen any mention of the specifics of her rediscovery, and knew I’d played a minor part in it, I sent off a very brief account of the circumstances surrounding the discovery to Bob Ready via email. Honestly believing that this was not new information I did not expect a reply. However, the next day I got a reply to my email that resulted in a phone conversation with Bob. He stated that the exact details of the discovery had been a big mystery until now. He in turn asked that I write up the account, as I remembered it, in more detail. This then is the story of that chance rediscovery as best as I can recall.
Subsequent to the wheels-up landing and rescue of the crew of B-17E My Gal Sal, the Flying Fortress lay virtually forgotten atop the Greenland ice cap for some 22 years until a set of unrelated circumstances resulted in her rediscovery.
In September of 1964 a maximum search effort was ordered by Headquarters ARS (Air Rescue Service) to search for a possibly downed Mooney M-27. Piloting the Mooney was Max Conrad, also known as “The Flying Grandfather”. Apparently he had not reported his fix at a checkpoint during the flight, or it had gone unheard leading to the possibility that he had gone down on the southern Greenland ice cap. Max Conrad, a retired USAF officer was renown for his round the world flights setting endurance records in small aircraft, such as the one being searched for.
The 54th Air Rescue Squadron stationed at Goose AB, Labrador was tasked for the search and on September 20th most of the Squadron HC-54D Skymasters departed Goose AB for Sondrestrom AB in Greenland. We arrived after dark, the sun having set early in that Latitude. We approached Sondrestrom by flying up the fiord in between the shear rock cliffs guided by the onboard search/weather radar and navigation aids. After landing we readied the aircraft for the following day’s mission.
The search effort began the next day in –20 degree F weather with a high, gray overcast. The HC-54’s began flying search patterns back and forth across the ice cap. In addition to the flight crews I was one of 27 maintenance and Pararescue personnel in the deployment. As an A2C (E-3) Airborne Radar and Navigation Aids technician my job was to maintain the aircraft during the search effort. Sometime during the first week I ended up flying with one of the search aircraft as a Scanner (Observer). Whether this was because we were short of personnel, or the offer was made to act as a scanner to relieve the normal crew (staring at brilliant white ice for 6 –8 hours is very taxing), I don’t recall. At any rate I ended up flying one search mission on one day; the fateful day it turns out.
At some point during that day, after flying repeated patterns at a relatively low altitude, I spotted something dark on the ice cap from my position at the port side blister. I called the pilot on the intercom and reported a sighting. Acknowledging the report the pilot made a left bank and dropped down in altitude to get a better look. On the second or third pass to starboard of the wreck we recognized it to be a B-17 and took down the tail number. Realizing that this was not the target we were searching for we continued the pattern without spotting anything else the rest of the day.
After about a week into the authorized thirteen-day deployment word came back that the object of our search had made a landing in the States. I can’t recall the details but that cut short our mission. We returned to Goose Bay and life continued on as usual.
The tail number of the wreck that we’d found was forwarded to Hq ARS I was told later, and after that I forgot all about it. That is until an article came out in Life Magazine in November 1964 that related the story of the plane we’d spotted. I saved the article from Life because I thought at the time that it was a bit remarkable and that something I’d had a part in had become worthy of a magazine spread.
The article lay lost somewhere amongst my many files for some 37 years and I hadn’t given any thought to it until I recently came across the tattered pages a few months ago. That rekindled my interest in the events of that day and the beginning of this narrative.
And now, with all this being said, there are still many unanswered questions concerning this particular event in time. (See Questions Seeking Answers)
ADDENDUM
Below is a photocopy of the TDY Authorization for that search mission with the list of personnel deployed. The mind forgets some things and fogs over others as time goes by so if you were part of that mission and can provide more details and/or can add to this account, please do so; for history is only as good as the truth behind it. My email address is: rreinsch@bellsouth.net
QUESTIONS SEEKING ANSWERS
1. Who (e.g., Squadron Commander, pilot, Squadron Admin Officer- who?) reported the discovery of My Gal Sal to Hq ARS?
2. How did Life Magazine get the story?
3. How did Life put the story together in such a short time frame?
4. How did USAF put together the return flight of Stinson and Balchen to the crash site?
5. What was the tail number of the HC-54D that found the crash?
6. Who were the other members of the Flight Crew on the HC-54 that found the wreck?
7. Was the initial sighting mine alone or was it coincident with another crewmember. (e.g. the pilot since he was on the port side also)
8. What was the date and day of the week of the sighting?
9. What was the exact date the search was terminated?
10. What ever became of Max Conrad?
PHOTOS
Of the HC-54D’s stationed at Goose I can verify only five out of six (?):
42-72665 42-72536 42-72527 42-72703 0-49073
Does anyone know the tail number of the other one?
Below are photos of three of them – 703, 527, and 073.
My sincerest appreciation to Bob Ready for not only this opportunity to be a minor part of his project, but for his interest, dedication, financing and ardent desire to honor those who made the supreme sacrifice so that we may all enjoy the freedoms purchased at such a high cost.
Respectfully,
Richard P. Reinsch Jr
AF14830249 (Discharged 2 Jun 67)
We will be publishing new photographs on the restoration within the next two weeks.