B-29 Superfortress Wreckage from Cold War Captured in Recent Photo

Bethany Whitfield

Thursday, June 05, 2014 at 09:22 PM ET

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** B-29 Superfortress Kee Bird** NASA

Key Takeaways:

NASA's P-3 Orion recently photographed the remains of Kee Bird, a B-29 Superfortress that crash-landed on a Greenland ice sheet in February 1947.
The B-29 met its fate during a Cold War reconnaissance mission to the North Pole, though all 11 crewmembers survived the crash and were rescued.
Today, the Kee Bird's wreckage lies partially submerged after a 1990s recovery attempt was abandoned when the aircraft caught fire.

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A recent photo captured by NASA’s P-3 Orion shows the remains of Kee Bird, a B-29 Superfortress that crash landed on a Greenland ice sheet in February 1947 during a Cold War spy mission gone awry.

The new image was taken during a flight for Operation IceBridge, a program that records changes in the Earth’s ice over time. NASA researcher John Sonntag says Kee Bird’s resting place between Humboldt and Petermann Glaciers, two key study locations, makes it a common sight during scientific aerial missions in the area.