On Jun. 27, 1942, the pilot of a B-17E named "My Gal Sal"  was forced to make a belly-landing on the Greenland icecap while on a flight from the U.S. to England. He made an excellent landing, the only damage to the plane being bent propeller blades. Once the downed plane had been located, Col. Balchen set out for its location in a PBY amphibian and landed on a lake about 25 miles distant.

He and a Sgt. Healy then began walking to the B-17 across treacherous crevasses, snow bridges, drifts, and ice-cold rivers and pits of slush. It took them hours to reach the airplane and its 13 crew members. After a night of rest, Balchen and his companion led the 13 survivors slowly and carefully back to the lake where they boarded the Catalina and took off for Bluie West 8. The rescued men had been marooned for 10 days.