You may have seen some of the media coverage on this case, of late. Basically, after the successful recovery of the LA-9 Additional Remains in August, 2004; CAPT Tom Sparks and his team, immediately started work on a proposal for the George One Antarctica Recovery. The only issue that could not be addressed adequately was the sinking or drilling of a four foot shaft through ice and snow to an approximate depth of 110 - 125 feet to the buried crash site of the George One. The families were told that this was the reason the George One Recovery could not be approve in 2004; however, it was also indicated that if technology would enable a safe recovery in the future, then Navy would consider the recovery at that time. Low and behold, an article was ran in the Air and Space Magazine, as you know, and Mr. Lou Sapienza happened to read it. Now Lou was one of the team members who successfully recovered the Army P-38, referred to as the 'Glacier Girl', from a depth of 268 feet on a glacier in Greenland in 1992. The aircraft was photographed, dismantled, hoisted to the surface, crated and shipped to Kentucky, where it was renovated and flown in 2002 and now can be seen in the Loss Squadron Museum in Middlesboro, Kentucky.
Mr. Sapienza and other team members have volunteered to assist the Department of the Navy in the recovery of the three Sailors, whose remains were buried in a temporary gravesite just off the starboard edge of the wing, just above the area where the service member's names were painted. As the George One and her sister PBM(s), the George Two & Three, were participating in Rear Admiral Richard E. Byrd's 'Fourth Antarctic Expedition', literally photographing the Antarctic coastline, we are fortunate to have photos of the George One Crash site, to include the wing/names.
There were six survivors, including the Captain of the USS Pine Island (AV-12), who was accompanying the flight as an observer. The survivors spent 13 days at the crash site before being rescued; however, due to the medical needs of the survivors and extreme weather conditions, the remains of the three crewmembers buried in a temporary grave (ENS Lopez, AD1 Williams & ARM(AC) Hendersin), could not be recovered. The technology is available and volunteers are ready to assist the Department of the Navy in this recovery effort; however, Navy is dragging their feet again, much the same way that they were doing with the LA-9 Additional Remains Recovery. I am sure that the George One families could use all the help they could get right now. SECNAV will be making a decision shortly - probably next week on this issue.
George I Mishap Status 
