My Gal Sal (aircraft)

My Gal Sal was the nickname of a World War II B-17E-BO Flying Fortress whose pilot was forced to land it on the Greenland icecap. Many years later it was recovered and taken to the USA to be restored. It is one of only three intact B-17E's in existence.

On 27 June 1942, B-17E, 41-9032 - part of the 342nd Bomb Squadron of the 97th Bomb Group - was one of 13 B-17s flying the Labrador-to-Greenland leg of a ferry flight to the United Kingdom as part of Operation Bolero, the military build-up in Europe. Inclement weather broke up the flight; five B-17s returned to Labrador, while the remainder continued on to Greenland. Over Greenland three of the aircraft were forced to land by the weather, including My Gal Sal.

The airplane's propellers lodged in the snow, rendering the engines unable to run so as to operate the generators to power the radio. The crew cut the propellers off of one of the engines so that the engine could run, powering a generator so as to provide power for a radio used to call for aid. A rescue airplane subsequently landed on a frozen lake bed 26 miles away. The crew of My Gal Sal then hiked to the rescue airplane, after camping in the B-17 for nine days. The Norden bombsight was also recovered, by means of a dogsled mission approximately one month after the crash.

The aircraft were abandoned, not to be seen again until a 1964 overflight by a USAF reconnaissance aircraft. At that time, My Gal Sal appeared to be intact. 31 years later, My Gal Sal was recovered from the ice, although high winds had flipped the plane completely over and damaged it. The plane was restored to a static configuration at Cincinnati-Blue Ash Airport (ICAO designation: KISZ) in Cincinnati and is now part of the collection of the National World War II Museum in New Orleans, Louisiana.

On July 15, 1942, six P-38Fs of the 1st Fighter Group and its B-17 escort were also forced down on the Greenland icecap by inclement weather after unsuccessfully attempting to fly to Iceland. One of the P-38s has been recovered and restored as Glacier Girl.