Recovering a local B-17F Wreck

[Eli Josephs]

I've been entertaining this idea for a few months now, and want to get some input about how realistic this may be. I decided to make this post while I'm still thinking about how to start my crazy B-17 project.

In the mountains near me, are two B-17 wrecks. In one, all crew members died- A clear no-go. The other, however, most of the crew survived. I beleive 3 of the 11 were lost, 2 on impact and one afterwards. It is located in Pingree Park, Colorado.

here is the no-go crash: https://www.alltrails.com/explore/re...ingree-park--2

here is the one I've been wondering about recovering: https://m.gazette.com/b-17-wreckage-...rticle/1522683

I discussed this on another forum but never came to a definitive conclusion. This is B-17F 42-30891. It has very little of the fuselage left- Bulkhead fragments, and part of the tail enclosure. A large portion was removed by locals in the 50s for scrap.

This is a local hiking destination, but parts of the wings, and unusable parts such as radio equipment and aluminum that is mangled beyond repair would be left. A very small portion of the wreck is useable. This is the section that would have to be identified in order to get a replacement data plate for registration, etc. and be used as the base for the restoration.

Here are some pics http://imgur.com/a/1la6d


If it turns out that this wreck is not practical (which is most likely) I'm also interested in 42-29563, a B-17F trainer that crashed after crew bailed out. It was buried mostly intact, and no casualties. http://www.aerovintage.com/229563_crash.pdf