The Lost Squadron: A True Story

In 1942 a squadron of new U.S. warplanes (two B-17 Flying Fortresses and six P-38 Lightnings) were forced by foul weather to land on Greenland's vast glacier. The stranded airmen were rescued 11 days later (a story in itself, told here), but the planes had to be abandoned. This entertaining, large-format book, for which Hayes (No Easy Answers) interviewed participants in the search for the last squadron and veterans of the 1942 forced landing, illustrated with some 300 color photos, tells how the ``lost squadron'' was located by radar four decades later under 260 feet of ice. One Lightning was brought to the surface in 1992 and transported to a hangar in Middlesboro, Ky., where it is undergoing reconstruction. The effort, funded by private investors, required eight expeditions over a period of 11 years. More than a technical chronicle of a unique archeological project, Hayes's text also recounts the organizational and emotional dynamics of the venture and the tensions that occasionally erupted in physical violence. For aviation enthusiasts and armchair adventurers. (Nov.)