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During the summer of 1998 UAS and company traveled
to Labrador to locate a Boeing B-17 downed on a frozen lake December 24th,
1947. In addition to location analysis
of the wreckage was performed to determine the feasibility of recovery and
restoration.
Robert Mester:
Dear FAMILY AND FRIENDS
You have not heard from me in awhile. I have been in the backwoods of Northwest
Labrador looking for a B-17 W.W.II 4 engine bomber lost during a forced landing
on Dec. 24, 1947. The trip was
great! We found the submerged aircraft
in 20 feet of frigid and fast moving water.
We were able to locate the aircraft even though it had moved over 10
miles from its crash site on Dyke Lake in Labrador. The aircraft floated on a chunk of ice during the spring ice
break-up of 1948. Skill, good
equipment, great staff and thorough research made this location and
identification possible. The area is
breath taking. It’s remoteness provided
a beauty that I have seen only once before, the Aleutian chain. It sterility from civilization tend to cleanse
the soul. There were 4 search personnel
and 5 project personnel. The project personnel were the same guys that
recovered the P-38 from Greenland; top-notch people and a pleasure to work
with. My team consisted of Crayton Fenn, Steve Ladd, and Dal
Neitzel. Dal is
a video-photographer and produces documentaries, but Crayton Fenn recruited him
as an additional side scan team member when he wasn’t otherwise busy.
The weather was not bad but often
terrible. Not cold but often
freezing. The wind was dead calm, (and
the mosquitoes ate you alive), but very gusty. You can figure out by now that
the weather changes more in this area than I have ever experienced before. At night the Aurora Borealis was unable to
be described with words, it was mystical and primeval. I shall never lose the images that night nor
forget the spirit it awakened inside me.
I regret not recording the sites on film or digital tape but something
inside told me maybe it is best not to attempt to record or recreate such an
event.
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We arrived on a Tuesday the 29 of July in
Labrador a place called Shefferville.
This is actually on Quebec but in Shefferville. We flew the whole expedition in a W.W.II
C-47 restored and owned by Don Brook, Project manager. Once in Shefferville we reloaded all the
equipment into Dehavalian Otters, these are seaplanes. Then we flew SE to Dyke lake and set up camp
at an old fishing camp no longer in use.
This is about 1 mile from the reported crash site of the B-17 on the
frozen lake – December 24th, 1947.
By Labrador law we hire two local guides. One is an Inuit Eskimo named Don Mitsuk, great guy and a real
pleasure to be around. The other guide
was Don’s 17-year-old Labbie (Labaradorian) sidekick named Gary. They fished for our meals and were a great
amount of help, cooking, lifting, and filling the role of local
encyclopedia. They were helpful in all
manners.
We spent 8 days in locating and diving doing
video and stills photography to determine if this aircraft is financially
worthy of recovery for restoration. It
was a great trip and I will attach some images from the expedition.