2009

January/February 2009: About 200 members of the association take part in one of the two winter camps at Airport Schönhagen (www.edaz.de). It is freezing, the fields are covered in snow. Just right! We sleep in tents, and catering, after being announced as being only simple fare, is unexpectedly luxurious. Only a few participants of these winter camps are deemed as not being team players. Participation in these winter camps is a condition for travelling to the recovery site on Greenland.

March 2009: The supporting organisation (The Association for the Recovery of Historical Vehicles / Verein zur Bergung historischer Fahrzeuge e.V.) has a new board. Formal meeting of all members takes place at Kassel Airport. Elected are: Frieder Weisse, Willi Horka and Sebastian Rothammel. The resigned members of the board are now free to concentrate fully on the recovery project Lost Squadron Recovery.
April 2009: The AERO in Friedrichshafen is one of the most important trade exhibitions for general aviation. Assisted by the federal states Brandenburg and Berlin the WoRAG Worldwide Recoveries AG puts up its stand to present the recovery project. Often the stand is beleagered by visitors. People are eager to buy shares or to actively participate in this adventure.

August 2009: End of August members of our support association met for an extraordinary meeting. After a couple of setbacks concerning the planning of our greenland-project a new board has been elected. The new board is: Martin Franke, Oliver Buss and Willi Horka. After the change of leadership one of our sponsors reconsidered his withdrawl and joined in again.

September 2009: We have been invited by Speyer Technical Museum (www.technik-museum.de). September 26th two members of our planning group will give a lecture on our recovery project. Local media will file reports and people seem to be keen to hear facts about the recovery of the vintage planes from Greenland. If we manage to inspire the audience we might find some more supporters to get the planes out of the ice.

2008

March 2008: Safety first! The world leading company for safety equipment, a company named DRÄGER (www.draeger.com) will support the recovery project with safety products and services.

December 2008: Visit to Nuuk, the capital of Greenland. Delays on the airport of Kangerlussuaq during travel due to foul weather. In Nuuk we have a short meeting with the prime minister, we visit the chambers of parliament, have a long discussion with the ministry of environment. Shortly afterwards we are handed the document which defines the conditions under which we are allowed to proceed with the recovery of the airplanes. A few days later the so-called area allotment is issued that defines the area in which we have the right of recovery.

2007

February 2007: Another trip to Tasiilaq/Greenland. Travelers this time: Marion Althaus, Kay Andersson and Dieter Herrmann. Means of transport are evaluated, hotels contacted. Officials renew their guarantee for supporting the project.

March 2007: Two members of the foundation (Manuel Brux and Oliver Buss) travel to the west coast of Greenland. They check transport routes for equipment and contact authorities.

September 2007: Hellgeth engineering (www.hellgeth.de) is a company that refits and overhauls track vehicles of the type „Hägglunds BV 206". Hellgeth will support the recovery project with Hägglunds at very special conditions.

September 2007: Third meeting at Schönhagen airfield. This time „our" chefs take care of catering. A significant test for their work in Greenland. And it works perfectly. The project groups work on their plans for the various tasks lying ahead: recovery, conservation, transport, maintenance, provisioning the camp.

2006

February 2006: The equipment needed to melt the cavern around the buried planes will be provided by KÄRCHER (www.kaercher.com). They will support the project with know-how and technology.

April 2006: The company for equipment for outdoor activities, VAUDE (www.vaude.de), will provide tents, clothes and other gear at very special conditions.

May 2006: „Lost Squadron Recovery" is represented with a counter at the ILA (Internationale Luftfahrt Ausstellung / International Air Fair) in Berlin. The stand is supported by Motorpresse Stuttgart. (www.motorpresse.de). Thousands of visitors gain information on the recovery project.

September 2006: Second meeting of Members of the association on the airfield of Schönhagen, again with strong support by the operating company. Meanwhile the association counts about 400 members.

September 2006: The working clothes for the actual recovery will come from Sweden. FRISTAD (www.fristads.se) will supply us with overalls made especially for arctic regions.

2005

March 2005: An information evening with press in attendance with financial help and the staff of „Berliner Flughäfen" (Berlin airports) (www.airport-berlin.de) attracts 200 visitors at the airport of Berlin-Schönefeld (SXF).

September 2005: Meanwhile the association has 250 members. The first annual plenary meeting takes place at the airfield of Schönhagen (EDAZ), south of Berlin. Members set up project groups that start planning the different tasks to be tackled in Greenland.

October 2005: Meeting with the CEO of the Swiss watch maker FORTIS (www.fortis-watch.com) in their German branch. FORTIS will support the recovery works. Conditions will be agreed on later.

2004

February 2004: Realizing that a salvation project of that size needs a legal platform, nine people meet to set up a registered association. The „Verein zur Bergung historischer Fahrzeuge e.V." (Association for recovering historical craft) is founded. The association is recognized and legalised by the German authorities. The group of founders decides to name the salvage project „Lost Squadron Recovery".

May 2004: First journey to Tasiilaq/Greenland for research. Allan Greisen, Kay Andersson (later a member of the association's board) and Dieter Herrmann have talks with he chief of the county, mayor and leading members of the tourism organization (www.eastgreenland.com). All these meetings are absolutely positive. The people of East Greenland will support the project. Their hope is that media interest will boost and support tourism.

June 2004: First possible sponsors are contacted. A company named GESAT (www.gesat.de) is among the first to support the recovery project. GESAT will take care of the satellite communication to and from the recovery site in Greenland. Kässbohrer Ltd. In Laupheim/Germany is visited. The promise is made to provide a PistenBully (www.pistenbully.com) at very special conditions.

2003

Spring 2003: First meeting with Lasse Rungholm. Dieter Herrmann and Marion Althaus meet at Lasse's house near Aarhus in Denmark. Lasse confirms he didn't succeed in building a recovery project, passes all the available documents to Dieter and wants to lead his recovery crew from now on. He provides a lot of information concerning the aircraft, their position and the situation in Greenland.

Autumn 2003: Lasse suggests a meeting with Allan Greisen. Allan lives not far away in Odense/Denmark, is a professional scuba diver, did a lot of work in Greenland, worked on the recovery of the first P-38 and localised the planes again in 1999. The meeting takes place half way between Lasse and Dieter in Flensburg/Germany.

1992 - 2003

1999: Rumors say that the Danish group gave up. Reason for that: Lasse Rungholm could not manage to find sufficient funding for the project.

1995: First phone call between Lasse Rungholm and Dieter Herrmann. Lasse confirms his plans to get the planes out and recommends to gain more information from his Internet site (www.lost.dk). (Page not existing anymore!) Dieter is still planning to produce a TV documentary. Lasse explains: „The highest bidder gets the rights to do TV work at the recovery site." Dieter is not amused at all, temporarily gives up the TV project but watches the planned recovery from a distance.

1994: First contact between Dieter Herrmann and members of the recovery crew from 1992. Dieter plans a TV documentary on further possible recoveries. The Americans suggest to get in touch with Lasse Rungholm. Lasse is a Danish lawyer, pilot and adventurer. He is planning recover the remaining Lightnings.

1992: After a long effort and many disappointments a group of Americans make it: The first Lockheed P-38 „Lightning" is recovered from the ice of Greenland.