On 27 June 1942, B-17E
serial number 41-9032 named
My Gal Sal—part of the
342d Bombardment Squadron of the
97th Bombardment 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 aircraft was 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. In 1965, with USAF cooperation, the Society of Automotive Engineers sent a representative to the crash site to gather various materials from
My Gal Sal, such as hydraulic fluid, navigational equipment, and rubber. The team wished to understand the long-term effects on the materials from harsh environment of the Arctic and applied these findings to such military programs as the Titan and Minuteman ballistic missiles being maintained in underground silos. In 1995
My Gal Sal was recovered from the ice, although high winds and the movement of ice over the 53 years since its abandonment had damaged the airframe, separating the tail section of
fuselage from the rest of the aircraft and causing additional damage throughout. The plane was restored to a static configuration at
Cincinnati-Blue Ash Airport (ICAO designation: KISZ) in
Cincinnati, Ohio, and is now part of the collection of the
National World War II Museum in
New Orleans,
Louisiana. ==See also==