Author Topic: Interesting story  (Read 534 times)

Offline Laurie

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Interesting story
« on: December 22, 2006, 08:51:06 PM »
see this link, its a interesting/slightly sadening story.

about plane that ditched in sahara  and was found 29 years later....
http://www.historynet.com/air_sea/aviation_history/3029921.html

Offline Irwink!

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Interesting story
« Reply #1 on: December 22, 2006, 09:28:45 PM »
Interesting - very similar to an account I read years ago about the discovery of a crashed B-24 in the Libyan desert sometime in the mid 60's. The crew survived the crash and tried to walk out. Most of their mumified remains were found one by one as they had left markers along the way. The B-24, Lady Be Good as I recall, had been on the return leg of a bombing mission and gotten lost.

Offline Slash27

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Interesting story
« Reply #2 on: December 23, 2006, 01:31:43 AM »
Quote
Originally posted by Irwink!
Interesting - very similar to an account I read years ago about the discovery of a crashed B-24 in the Libyan desert sometime in the mid 60's. The crew survived the crash and tried to walk out. Most of their mumified remains were found one by one as they had left markers along the way. The B-24, Lady Be Good as I recall, had been on the return leg of a bombing mission and gotten lost.



I think Ive read that. Didnt they have some really bad luck the whole mission? Something about it being cursed and someone had recovered the arm rests from the bomber after it was found and used them in a cargo plane only to crash after they were installed.



Thanks for that story too Laurie.

Offline Platano

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Interesting story
« Reply #3 on: December 23, 2006, 03:29:41 AM »
Quote
That night Lancaster finished his last drops of water and lay down to die.



wow... thats sad :(
Army of Muppets


Fly Luftwaffe.

Offline Irwink!

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Interesting story
« Reply #4 on: December 23, 2006, 06:05:38 PM »
Quote
Originally posted by Slash27
I think Ive read that. Didnt they have some really bad luck the whole mission? Something about it being cursed and someone had recovered the arm rests from the bomber after it was found and used them in a cargo plane only to crash after they were installed.


I seem to recall the thing about the armrests too. The people who discovered the wreckage were geologists scouting potential oilfieds. They landed near the wreck and their radio was malfunctioning. They were able to scrounge parts from a radio onboard the bomber which was the same model and get theirs working I believe. Of course I could always google it  I read the book sometime in the 70's.

Offline Apeking

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Interesting story
« Reply #5 on: December 23, 2006, 06:35:51 PM »
There's a website about the Lady Be Good here. The outbound flight from North Africa to Naples was frustrated by strong winds and sandstorms, so the crew ditched their bombs and came home; although the navigator put them on the right course, the winds made him misjudge the distance, and the bomber flew over its home base in the darkness and kept going into the desert. The crew bailed out in pitch darkness, with no idea where they were. One of them was killed when his parachute failed, but the others survived eight days in the desert. All but one of the bodies were recovered in 1959/60; Staff Sgt Vernon Moore remains missing. They walked far enough to have got back to base, or to a nearby oasis, but they walked in the wrong direction.

There's a photograph of the bomber's remains, taken in 1959 - it looks to have made a decent belly-landing of its own accord, although the crew would not have known this before they bailed out. If they had found the bomber they might have been able to bolster their water supplies, although I doubt the bomber had enough water to last until 1959!

Surprisingly, the anecdote about the armrest appears to be true. There's even more thorough coverage here . As is typically the case, Wikipedia's entry is a poorly-formatted mishmash of the above.
« Last Edit: December 23, 2006, 06:45:11 PM by Apeking »