P-38G 42-13400 sat abandoned in Attu Island’s remote Temnac Valley for 54 years before a recovery team finally removed its surviving wreckage in June 1999. The Lockheed P-38 Lightning had come down on January 1, 1945, after both propellers struck the terrain during an extremely low training flight, forcing pilot Robert Nesmith to make a wheels-up landing.
But recovering P-38G 42-13400 was not as simple as lifting an intact fighter. Wartime salvage crews had already removed the outer wings, armament, turbo-supercharger equipment, and other reusable components. Over the following decades, the remaining structure settled into mud, vegetation, and muskeg.
By the 1990s, preservation specialists believed enough of P-38G 42-13400 survived to support a major static restoration. After years of negotiations, permits, delays, and one failed recovery effort, final approval arrived in 1999.
The recovery team excavated buried sections by hand, dismantled the weakened wreckage into manageable loads, and prepared each section for helicopter hoist operations. HH-60 Pave Hawks from the Alaska Air National Guard then carried the aircraft out of Temnac Valley.
Back at Elmendorf, P-38G 42-13400 underwent an extensive aircraft restoration using surviving Attu structure alongside period P-38 components recovered earlier from Amchitka. Roughly 12,000 labor hours later, the abandoned wreck had regained the unmistakable shape of a Lightning.
This is the extraordinary aircraft recovery story of P-38G 42-13400.
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And after an extensive restoration they put it outside on display exposed to the elements!
I was really enjoying the video until you started using images of other P-38’s.
Very repetitive narration
Man, nice to bad it can't fly 🤔😵💫😜😁😳🥸 !
Yet another example of what could have been an interesting SHORT piece ruined by a brain numbing, repetitive monologue saying the same few facts in ten very slightly different ways. Unwatchable after 5 minutes.
The props appear to be same rotation, ie. clockwise when viewed from front. The P38 had props that rotated in opposite direction, so engines and props were different on either side. But I can understand that counter clockwise rotating parts are a bit scarce these days. However, nice to see the bird rescued – but is it gonna stay outside?
Awesome story and well produced! Thanks!
I gotta say, hearing how Nesmith crashed had the 'inner' me (certified Aircraft Mechanic in a distant life) thinking of another probability. (I know nothing of 13400 before this video, so my educated guesses are based off this video only) Physics included….
It was much more likely that he saw a long flat pretty green field (The Lightening was capable of rough field landings), he chose to land…..and forgot to lower his gear. 'Shutter' would be the props then 3 separate airframes ripping in to the ground hard enough to bounce back into the air… But now with no thrust, and maybe half his original 120 knot approach speed gone (compounded by his engines idled back and full flaps set for landing)… I doubt lowering the gear was ever an option at that point. Pulled up into stall and pancaked 13400 to her resting place.
I think she probably got there because he got stupid……. Not reclaiming her makes for an easily closed investigation as well.
Hey! If nothing else, I think my story is more fun! 😜
Still glad they got her out! It is a shame she didn't get indoor or under cover seating in a nearby museum. Outdoor displays are so hard on aircraft.
Good Vid! And Thanks again!
…….and then…….they left it outside again…..😳
My father was in the 54th in 45 and 46 and very well may have flown that plane. He and his friends made this 8 mm color film in 46. https://youtu.be/0GlsYxIdWs0?is=5tslNR8AOwBOvwtE