World War II Database

In the fall of 1942, at the peak of his career, American musician Glenn Miller joined the US Army, providing servicemen with entertainment. On 15 Dec 1944, he boarded a Noorduyn UC-64A Norseman aircraft - the model unique in that the design featured steel tubing fuselage with a specific type of a Pratt & Whitney Wasp engine - on a journey to Villacoublay, France. The aircraft disappeared over the English Channel. Three days later, when the rest of his band arrived in France, his band mates were surprised to find that Miller was not there to meet them; it was only then that Miller was reported as missing. Meanwhile, to avoid a decrease in morale, prior recordings made by his band were used for radio broadcasts without any announcement of him being missing.

In 1987, a fisherman snagged a wreckage in the net of his trawler; he recorded the coordinates, and released the wreckage back into the sea. Through knowledge gained over the course of decades, he became convinced that the wreck was Miller's aircraft. He was eventually placed in touch with the Philadelphia-based International Group for Historic Aircraft Recovery (TIGHAR), which is now making a determination whether to conduct a physical search of the seabed based on this claim. If the wreck could be identified as a Noorduyn Norseman aircraft, then it would certainly be that of Miller's, for that it was the last aircraft of this type still with an unknown fate.

For more information:
People: Glenn Miller’s Airplane Possibly Found Decades After Famed Bandleader Vanished During WWII
BBC: Glenn Miller Possible crash site investigated by US team
WW2DB: Glenn Miller

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