A question

[terveurn]

Why not just recover an early B-17

The RAF buried B-17 40-2066 at RAF Benbecula on 11 September 1943

How about recovering the remains of B-17B 38-216 from Ragged Top Mountain, Nevada

[DryMartini]

Well, a glib answer would be that it is easier to build one from scratch
in the time it would take to get permission from 4 dozen government agencies
restricting what, how, and when you can do things on government land.

And since I know nothing about the UKs laws on excavation on a former RAF
base, now an active airport. I do know about digging around airports here in the
US, and that is bad enough...