The Day The Music Died
63 years ago on this date, a a single-engined Noorduyn Norseman UC-64 bearing the United States Army Air Force Tail Number 44-70285 took off from the runway at Royal Air Force Twinwood Farm on a flight to Paris. On board was Major Glenn Miller, on his way to entertain troops who had liberated the French capitol. The aircraft and Glenn Miller were never seen again. The world lost a great talent.
By NortonPete, Saturday, 15 December , 2007 @ 8:35 am
Thanks for reminding about Glenn Miller, a real hero and great band leader.
I dug around and found this about his disappearance.
Not sure what the policy is about links so I’ll just put
www mishmash / glennmiller
The page’s author, Fred W. Atkinson, was in the same squadron. He says the weather was terrible and that the pilots were ordered to fly. He goes on to say that they did find the plane and that Glenn Miller should have been declared Killed in Action.
What a shame, “got to get there” is the dark side of aviation.
By feeblemind, Saturday, 15 December , 2007 @ 10:20 am
Glen Miller was my Dad’s favorite. Seemed like I listened to a lot of Glen Miller when I was very young.
By Maggie, Saturday, 15 December , 2007 @ 1:04 pm
Not quite the big 5-0 yet, but ever since I was a kid my Grandmother would have on the “oldies” radio station on in the kitchen in the summer mornings that still played the WWII era / Big Band music. I can’t explain why, but I absolutely loved the music and how it made me feel. Having had a “rough” childhood on the parent side, my best times of childhood were the weeks I spent at my Hungarian grandparents’ home … working in their huge gardens, getting up before the sun to spend entire days out fishing in Grandpa’s boat with them on one of the local lakes coming in only after the sun had dropped out of the sky, having my Grandmother teach me how to cook and sew … and my beloved Grandmother’s cooking and baking … Grandpa’s smoke-filled living room with westerns playing on the b/w TV …
To this day one of my ALL TIME favorite songs is a Glenn Miller song:
http://youtube.com/watch?v=n92ATE3IgIs
Thanks for the memories, Major Miller. “Play me Home” when it’s my time.
By Bleepless, Saturday, 15 December , 2007 @ 8:44 pm
Another theory about his death appeared on the History Channel a while back. It seems that Miller’s plane, for weather reasons, flew into the area where bombers dropped the bombs they were unable to unload on their targets. There was, indeed, a drop about when and where Miller would have been.