Video: 10 Planes That Have Vanished… Or Have They?

Flight MH370
Flight MH370

After the madness and confusion surrounding the disappearance of Malaysian Flight MH370, a resurgence in public interest in planes that have “disappeared” has swept the globe.

How can a plane really go missing?  If it can, why?  In this modern day and age, we like to believe we are safe and secure with all of the advanced commercial flight technology that we have access too – but what happens when that fails?

A new video looks at ten of the most interesting plane disappearances  (source):

Here are 10 flights that mysteriously vanished. It’s hard to imagine that something as large and loud as an aircraft could just disappear suddenly and without a trace, but, nonetheless, a large number have.

Here are 10 flights that mysteriously vanished.
Number 10. Flying Tiger Line Flight 739, March 1962. The plane and the military personnel it was carrying were scheduled to arrive in the Philippines, but the flight never came in, nor did any type of signal indicating that it was in distress. Though 13 hundred people searched the Pacific, no traces were found.

Number 9. Boeing 727, May 2003. The craft was stuck at an Angolan airport for 14 months while negotiations for its repair and ownership went back and forth between various parties, when one day somebody simply took off with it. Attempts to make contact as it taxied down the runway were unsuccessful, and neither it nor the pilot believed to have been inside have been located.

 Number 8. Amelia Earhart’s Lockheed Electra, July 1937. The famous aviator set out to be the first woman to fly around the globe, but ran into troubles while traveling over the Pacific Ocean. There are recent reports that pieces of her plane were found on a remote island, but proof of their authenticity falls short of being definitive.

Number 7. Glen Miller’s Plane, December 1944. His career was in full swing, but so was World War 2, so the bandleader enlisted and headed overseas to front the U.S. Army Air Force Band. While en route from England to Paris, the transporter plane he was on vanished. The search for clues continues to this day.

Number 6. Varig Boeing 707-323C, January 1979. 30 minutes after taking off from Tokyo, all communications with the Brazilian plane were lost. Onboard were 6 people and 153 paintings. The art, which hasn’t been seen since, was valued at approximately 1.2 million dollars.

Number 5. Jerry Krause’s Beechcraft 1900C, April 2013. The missionary was the only person onboard the twin-engine plane when it disappeared. He was traveling from South Africa to Mali when communications were allegedly cut due to a storm knocking out an area control tower. By the time it was back up, Krause and his plane were nowhere to be found. Some assumed that he crashed, while others believe he became the victim of hijackers.

 Number 4. Flight 19, December 1945. As 5 fighter planes headed eastwards from Florida on a training mission, their navigation equipment began to fail. Once their approximate location was determined by land based stations, a rescue plane was sent to assist them. None made it back, nor were they ever found, an incident that further cemented the area’s ominous reputation.

Number 3. B47 Stratojet, March 1956. This military plane, the 3 people on board, and the 2 nuclear weapons material capsules being carried in the craft all disappeared somewhere over the Mediterranean. Nothing related to the flight, to the best of anyone’s knowledge, has ever been located or recovered.

Number 2. Swan 38, October 1974. The weather reconnaissance craft was sent to gather information, but instead likely ended up falling prey to a storm. It’s believed the plane and the 6 people on board were claimed by a typhoon that was raging over the South China Sea.

Number 1. Malaysian Airlines Flight MH370, March, 2014. It’s been just over a year since the flight en route from Kuala Lumpur to Beijing went missing, and still no clues have been found that shed light on the mystery of what became of it or why. Theories, however, remain plentiful.
Which plane’s disappearance do you find to be most mysterious?