Fremont Street crowds can warm up to Glacier Girl

Eric Leake

Friday, Nov. 5, 2004 | 4:05 a.m.

WEEKEND EDITION

November 6 - 7, 2004

Of all the guests at the Fremont Street Experience Patriot Party, Glacier Girl has undoubtedly traveled the farthest.

The World War II warplane, a P-38 twin engine fighter, left Maine in 1942 and was lost and buried under 268 feet of ice on the Greenland ice cap. Fifty years later it was recovered and restored.

Glacier Girl landed Wednesday at North Las Vegas Airport. The plane will be the star of the Patriot Party, which began Friday and continues through Nov. 14 at the downtown pedestrian mall.

Bob Cardin, project director to rescue and restore Glacier Girl, said he is very excited to bring the plane to Fremont Street.

"We flew all the way across the country just to be here for that," he said of the plane's first trip west of the Mississippi River.

He said Glacier Girl had no trouble making the trip from her home at the Lost Squadron Museum in Middlesboro, Ky., and that she "flies perfectly, just perfectly."

Cardin told the story of Glacier Girl's icy burial and resurrection.

"The plane was being flown to England to fight in World War II, and it ran into some bad weather and ran out of gas," he said. "There were 25 men in the landing and all the men were rescued, but the planes were abandoned on the glacier."

The planes -- six new P-38s and two B-17 bombers -- became known as the Lost Squadron.

"They got covered up with snow and they were lost until we went and recovered one that was 268 feet under the glacier," Cardin said.

"We melted a hole straight down on top of it, melted a cave around it, took it apart piece by piece and brought it to the surface."

Cardin and his team resurrected Glacier Girl in 1992 and began restorations.

Glacier Girl will be on display throughout the Patriot Party on the corner of Third and Fremont streets.

"This plane is truly remarkable," said Lisa Robinson, Fremont Street Experience marketing director.

This is the first Patriot Party on Fremont Street, planned as a 10-day tribute to veterans and military personnel. The party coincides with the 50th anniversary of Veterans Day and the 60th anniversary of D-Day.

"It's fortuitous that they fall on the same year. We are so pleased to be able to celebrate these great heroes with this free party," Robinson said.

"It's not just for veterans and troops, it's for people of all ages."

Patriot Party is planned as an extension of Aviation Nation 2004, the Nellis Air Force Base air show slated for Nov. 13 and 14, and is sponsored in part by Boyd Gaming.

Patriot Party events will include performances by Crawford's Vintage Dance Orchestra Nov. 12 and 13, nightly showings of the "American Freedom" light show on the street's canopy, and appearances by World War II aviator Raymond "Hap" Halloran.

Halloran was shot down over Japan and taken prisoner. After the war he eventually returned to Japan several times and even met the Japanese pilot who downed his plane.

Halloran will serve as co-marshal of the annual Veterans Day Parade Nov. 11 along Fourth Street.

All Patriot Party events are free and open to the public. For more information, visit www.vegasexperience.com or call 678-5777. Glacier Girl may be found on the Web at www.thelostsquadron.com.