[Milsurplus] Digest, Vol 123, Issue 3 ( Glenn Miller plane )

[Todd, KA1KAQ]

On Wed, Jul 9, 2014 at 2:53 AM, Hue Miller <kargo_cult at msn.com> wrote:

> A friend of the friend I visited there,
> said his uncle ( I believe  ) managed a military mess on the U.K. side of
> the channel. The officer who was to fly with Glenn Miller came to this
> man and said he needed some operating capital to help get things done
> on the France side of the channel. The mess manager came up with a
> few pounds of coffee for the officer to take - it would, I believe, be
> maybe
> even more effective than money. After the Glenn Miller plane disappeared,
> the mess manager was extensively interviewed ( by MPs ? ), looking into
> every possible angle to try to account for the disappearance.
>

A few years back there was an article somewhere as well as a documentary
that claimed to explain the disappearance. A WWII bombardier told how his
group had aborted a mission either due to wx or mechanical failure and was
headed back to England. Apparently there were designated areas over the
Channel to dump bombs in such circumstances. This fellow claimed as they
dumped their load of bombs, through the clouds below they caught site of a
small plane of similar/same type as used for the Miller flight heading
toward France. They saw bombs strike the plane and sever a wing, then
watched it spiral into the water. This was reported when they returned.

Consensus at the time was that the small plane had wandered off course into
a restricted area due to bad wx. Offered as proof was the logbook from
bomber, same day/date and approximate time that Miller's plane was heading
to France. No idea what ever came of the investigation, if there was one.
The logbook gave a location albeit from thousands of feet up, so
theoretically a search could be made. The fact that the English Channel is
basically a junkyard of WWII aircraft would probably complicate things but
it seems in this day and age with many improvements in sonar technology,
someone should be able to find the wreck before there's nothing left to
find.

~ Todd,  KA1KAQ/4