Only reality can be this tragic and cruel...
NOVA documentaries always seem to capture me, but this one literally left me with my jaw dropped in my lap the first time I saw it on TV. This film focuses on a group of men which attempt to restore a B-29, which crashed and was abandoned in Greenland during a secret mission during W.W.II. Their goal: to completely restore the B-29 on-site, and launch it from the nearby frozen lake bed. The technicalities of what they must accomplish to restore this airplane are mind-boggling. Most NOVA documentaries are very engaging, but besides being a technical chronicle of what these men accomplished in extreme environs, a tragic incident, and finally the jaw-dropping, dumbfounding conclusion, are what set this documentary apart from any other NOVA documentary I have seen. You simply will not want to believe what you are seeing, and I am not exaggerating! You will be on the edge of your seat cheering them on as they start the engines, taxi for takeoff on the frozen lake bed, and then... This is life. This is real ... This is a keeper.

A Journey of Dedication and Fatal Danger
Anyone who appreciates Aircraft, especially WW2 Vintage,this Documentary is a treat.Mother Nature played an extremely important role in this endeavor and I felt every feeling these Professional Mechanics must have endured throughout the entire film.I think it was Richard Crenna who narrated the documentary and he really did a great job explaining what the dangers of the mission were and the critcal timing available to the mechanic crew that tried to bring it back.

Doing the impossible - on a shoestring budget and no facilites = Ingenuity at it's best
A small team of men with a minuscule budget takes on a task that large aircraft companies would have to spend hundreds of thousands of Dollars - maybe millions of Dollars to do properly. It is field ingenuity and successful calculated risk assessment at it's best. This type of skill - long gone in many corporations, enables them to accomplish what they did. A study in brilliance and hard work, all under the most inhospitable conditions imaginable. This documentary chronicles human achievement at it's finest.

B 29 Wow
Well I veiwed the B-29 "Frozen in Time'' on PBS last evening& what an amazing feat was performed to put a piece of history back into the air.
It really was human endurance tested to the limit,i can't speak highly enough of the sacrafice of all involved with the trajic loss of the chief engineer&ultimatly the loss of the aircraft.
I was speechless.
Everyone involved in the project deserves a medal in my book.
Lifting propellers that way a ton onto splines with hands that are half frozen,this is pioneering stuff that legends are made of.
If you have never viewed any PBS Nova documentaries you are missing out on brilliant production.
I can't speak highly enough for these people.
All invovled deserve a medal.
I will certainly be purchasing this&other documentaries this is history/
Congragulations Nova.

Not just for aviation buffs
My husband and I first saw this documentary when it was originally broadcast on PBS years ago. It has remained vividly in our memories ever since. The human story here is so much greater than just the aircraft. I've shared this with people who know nothing about aviation and they have been moved by the people and their mission. This is our favourite Nova episode ... wonderful to see it available on VHS. A DVD version with extra footage and interviews would be really special!