Glenn Miller Airplane Claims

INACCURATE REPORTS

During August 2020, The Daily Express of London published a report about Glenn Miller’s disappearance with the headline “World War 2 Mystery: Glenn Miller’s plane could be found within a three-mile radius.” The article says that the team at the aviation archeology group TIGHAR “and Dennis Spragg, who authored the book Glenn Miller Declassified. suspect that the vessel may lie within a three-square mile radius of the English Channel” — where an anonymous fisherman claims to have pulled up the wreckage of the Glenn Miller airplane during the 1980s. This is not an accurate description of my opinion. Other media reports erroneously suggest this claim has “solved” the Glenn Miller disappearance.

GLENN MILLER DISAPPEARANCE

Media reports have claimed the possible discovery of the Glenn Miller airplane in the English Channel by TIGHAR since early 2019. This means potentially the remains of an Eighth Air Force Noorduyn C-64 “Norseman,” serial number 44-70285. Coincidentally, it is the only C-64 missing in the European Theater of Operations of World War II. The airplane disappeared on December 15, 1944, around 15:00 BST with Major Glenn Miller aboard. As a result, and as Glenn Miller’s authorized biographer and archivist, these reports about the Glenn Miller disappearance are of great interest to me However, the Daily Express headline is misleading. To my knowledge, TIGHAR has not discovered and verified the remains of the airplane. Rather, they are targeting their search to a three-mile area off Portland Bill to “solve” the Glenn Miller disappearance.

ACTUAL STATUS OF INQUIRY

Several years ago, it was my pleasure to help TIGHAR. They were interested in locating the wreckage of Major Glenn Miller’s airplane and I welcomed their search. Moreover, they concur with Glenn Miller Declassified. The C-64 airplane disappeared over the English Channel due to a combination of pilot error, mechanical failure and/or severe weather conditions. The required air transport corridor that the pilot normally flew was between Langney Point (Beachy Head) and either St. Valery or Dieppe, France. Whereas, Portland Bill, where the fisherman snagged what he reports was a C-64-type airplane, is about 150 miles or 240 kilometers west of Beachy Head. This does not “solve” the Glenn Miller disappearance.

IMPACT AND IMMERSION

I continue to welcome TIGHAR’s inquiry and don’t wish to rule anything out. However, the “three mile” area is well west of the air transport corridor that Miller’s pilot normally flew. It is possible that the pilot was quite far off course. But it is not probable that the aircraft was mostly intact when the fisherman claims that he pulled it up. But then he inexplicably threw it back in! However, the Norseman was more likely to have disintegrated on impact. Moreover, it is more likely this happened on course between Langney Point and France. Firstly, under any circumstance, after forty years of immersion, the report of an intact airplane was highly unlikely. Secondly, after seventy-six years of immersion, virtually impossible. There is also the question of the airplane color: factory silver-matte, as reported by the fisherman, or theater olive-gray, as testified by 1944 witnesses.

THERE IS NO MYSTERY

Consequently. this realistically means that what anyone can find is debris. This potentially consists of the Pratt & Whitney engine, part of the aluminum cabin and some of the steel frame. The fabric and lightweight Sitka Spruce wood wings and fuselage are long gone. Therefore, there is no mystery about Glenn Miller’s disappearance. But, if the debris can be located, it is important to note that the engine was unique to the C-64. In addition, airplane #44-70285 is the only C-64 that went down in the English Channel. Certainly, the task of finding the Glenn Miller airplane is a long shot. But there is no harm in verifying all claims, however improbable. Someone might someday find the remains. I await TIGHAR’s progress in their effort to find the Glenn Miller airplane.

Here is a link to my new, comprehensive interview about the Disappearance of Glenn Miller with the MacArthur Memorial in Norfolk, VA:

For further and accurate information about Glenn Miller, you discover the truth in my critically praised and definitive biography Glenn Miller Declassified. In conclusion, you can listen to authentic music of Glenn Miller on our weekly Star-Spangled Radio Hour podcasts. His great music lives forever. You can also contact me at https://www.dennismspragg.com or e-mail me at dmspragg@msn.com.