List of previously missing aircraft
Date Aircraft People missing Type of incident Location Remarks
March 23 , 1921 A-5597 ( Hydrogen balloon ) 5 Unknown Gulf of Mexico off St. Andrews Bay ( Florida ) Balloon found ( without crew ) on April 8 , 1921
December 21 , 1923 Dixmude ( Ex : Zeppelin LZ114 ) 49 Storm damage or mid-air explosion ( suspected ) Vicinity of Pantelleria , Italy en route from Gulf of Gabes A total of 42 crew members and 7 passengers were initially reported missing by the French government , who issued its own series of reports of rumoured sightings of the airship . It was n't until December 26 , 1923 when debris & the body of Jean du Plessis de Grenedan ( commander ) were found in the sea near Sciacca , Sicily that the French government admitted to the loss . Information which included eye witness accounts had been intentionally withheld for political reasons
November 15 , 1924 Fokker T.III ( Fokker 4146 ) 2 ( Artur de Sacadura Cabral & José Correia ) Crashed in fog ( probable ) English Channel en route from Amsterdam to Lisbon Aircraft debris ( mechanical wreckage ) from the seaplane was discovered on November 18 , 1924
September 7 , 1927 Fokker F.VIIA ( Old Glory ) 3 Overloading ( probable ) North Atlantic 960km E of Cape Race , Newfoundland Wreckage was discovered by SS Kyle on September 12 , 1927
February 24 , 1938 Vickers Wellesley ( Type 292 ) ( K7734 ) 3 Unknown North Sea ( last reported 80km ( 50m ) east of Wick , Scotland en route to Shetland ) The flight crew consisted of Flt . Lt. F.S . Gardner ( pilot ) , F/O G.J.D . Thomson & Sgt . G. Higgs , Long Range Development Unit . Debris was later found near Stavanger ( Norway ) , the Air Ministry concluded that they were parts of the aircraft that went down
August 16 , 1942 L-class blimp ( L-8 ) 2 Unknown Pacific Ocean in vicinity of San Francisco Two navy officers , Lieutenant Ernest D. Cody and Ensign Charles D. Adams were on a routine anti-submarine patrol . Their airship was later spotted drifting back inland where it crashed with nobody aboard
August 29 , 1943 PV-1 Ventura 6 Engine failure , training flight in low-visibility conditions Mount Baker , Washington State , USA Wreckage found by a hiker in 2004
July 31 , 1944 P-38 Lightning 1 ( Antoine de Saint-Exupery ) Unknown Mediterranean Sea Collecting data on German troop movements in southern France Famous for writing The Little Prince ( Le Petit Prince ) . His bracelet was found by a fisherman in September 1998 . Aircraft wreckage found in October 2003 ( Confirmed 07-04-2004 )
August 2 , 1947 Avro Lancastrian 11 Controlled flight into terrain due to severe weather conditions Mount Tupungato , in the Argentine Andes Main article : 1947 BSAA Avro Lancastrian Star Dust accident
April 23 , 1966 Ilyushin Il-14 ( CCCP-61772 ) 33 Double engine failure South of Baku Main article : Aeroflot Flight 2723
February 7 , 1968 Antonov An-12 ( 1968 Indian Air Force An-12 crash ) 98 Unknown Dhaka Glacier This aircraft was missing until 2003 when mountaineers found the remains of a body . The crash site was soon located afterwards with a total of 4 remains recovered
May 23 , 1969 Lockheed C-130 Hercules 1 ( Sgt . Paul Meyer ) Unknown English Channel Main article : 1969 theft of C-130
List of aircraft
This is a list of previously missing aircraft that disappeared in flight for reasons that were initially never definitely determined. The status of previously missing is a grey area, as there is a lack of sourcing on both the amount of debris that needs to be recovered, as well as the amount of time it takes after the crash for the aircraft to be recovered while searching, to fit this definition. According to Annex 13 of the International Civil Aviation Organization, an aircraft is considered to be missing when the official search has been terminated and the wreckage has not been located, but this does not go into defining found aircraft. The following entries are aircraft that gained widespread acclaim for once being missing.