6 Mysterious Plane Disappearances and Unsolved Crash Investigations in Aviation History

The bizarre and unsolved disappearance of Malaysia Airlines flight MH370 in conjunction with the downing of flight MH17 make us take a look again at the list with the most unusual and mysterious crashes across the civil aviation history. There have been many accidents and incidents that sparked controversies, however, only a group of 6 will be emphasized hereunder.

Plane wreckage (public domain)

Plane wreckage (public domain)

1 – Amelia Earhart disappears during round-the-world flight
American aviation pioneer Amelia Earhart and her navigator Fred Noonan vanished on July 2, 1937 while trying to circumnavigate the Earth in their Lockheed Electra airplane.

Earhart, known as the first woman who performed a lone flight across the Atlantic, disappeared near Howland Island in the Pacific Ocean.
While most folks believe she simply ran out of fuel and crashed into the ocean, there is also the theory that she was captured by the Japanese who suspected her of spying for the US.

2 – Glenn Miller’s plane vanishes over the English Channel
In 1944, the legendary Glenn Miller gave a series of musical performances in England for allied forces deployed in this country.

Miller’s aircraft disappeared over the English Channel on December, 15 the same year while trying to get to Paris where he was scheduled to entertain the US soldiers from France.

Of course, many theories concerning the fate of Miller’s single engine plane have been released meantime. Some research investigators argue that plane would have crashed following an accidental attack carried out by allied forces.

Journalist Udo Ulfkotte wrote in the German tabloid Bild that Miller arrived actually in France, where he died of a heart attack in a Parisian brothel.

3 – Flight 19 and the rise of Bermuda Triangle legend
Bermuda Triangle’s legend was born after the disappearance of six aircraft in the afternoon of December 5, 1945.

A training mission formed of five TBM Avenger torpedo bombers led by flight instructor Charles Taylor, took off from Fort Lauderdale – Florida.

One and half hour within the mission, the pilots reported that they can not recognize landmarks on the surface. In a radio broadcast, Taylor said that both compasses on board of his aircraft failed working.

Despite huge efforts from the ground traffic controllers, the pilots could not find the way back and crashed into the Atlantic Ocean. All 14 airmen went missing.

Even stranger is the fact that a PBM Mariner plane which was sent searching for flight 19, disappeared as well. The PBM Mariner aircraft was carrying 13 crew members and investigators believed it exploded in mid-air.

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4 – Stardust and Morse code
When BSAA Star Dust aircraft, a civilian version of Lancaster bomber, disappeared during a flight from Buenos Aires to Santiago de Chile, a lot of unanswered questions were left behind.

Owned by British South American Airways (BSAA) and driven by Reginald Cook, a distinguished pilot in the Air Force, the aircraft left Buenos Aires at 1:46 on August 2, 1947 and was about to cross the Andes.

The plane did not reach its destination, but before disappearing, the radio operator managed to send an encrypted message using the morse code – STENDEC.

Over the years various theories have circulated about what happened to the plane and the meaning of the last message. Some talk about a UFO attack while others believe in a sabotage or deliberate explosion of the plane in order to destroy compromising diplomatic documents.
Star Dust was discovered 50 years after the crash by two Argentine climbers.

5 – Star Tiger plane disappearance in Bermuda Triangle
A second BSAA plane, Star Tiger, went off radar during a flight from Santa Maria in the Azores to Bermuda on January 30, 1948.

The flight took off in windy conditions and was carrying 25 passengers including a Second World War hero, Sir Arthur Coningham. The aircraft flew at low altitude to avoid the wind, but has never reached its intended destination.

It is believed that, given the low altitude flight, a strong gust wind might have pushed the plane into the sea.

6 – Mystery of Flight 191
Flight 191 does not involve just a single plane, but several incidents that took place over more than 40 years.

One of the most tragic accidents in US aviation history was the 1979 crash of a airplane belonging to American Airlines – Flight 191. It fell from the sky just minutes after takeoff from O’Hare International Airport in Chicago, killing all 258 passengers and 13 crew members.

Another “Flight 191” involving this time the experimental aircraft X-15, crashed in 1967 killing its pilot. In 2012, the captain of a JetBlue Airways plane operating already notorious flight 191, had a panic attack and had to be restrained by the passengers.

Some airlines are thought to have retired the flight number 191 most likely due to superstition reasons.

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