PBS Program Explores Possible Alternative Explanations

Glenn Miller was one of the superstars of his time. In a era before the Internet, social media and viral videos, the leader of the Glenn Miller Orchestra was a household name.

Miller joined the war effort in 1942 at the age of 38 ... too old to be drafted. He volunteered with the intention of entertaining the allied forces overseas, and was heading to a performance in France on December 15, 1944, when the Noorduyn C-64 Norseman he and two other people were aboard vanished over the English Channel. The airplane was never found.

Tuesday night, the BPS program History Detectives Special Investigations: The Disappearance of Glenn Miller looked into some of the alternative theories about what happened to Miller's plane. USA Today reports that, according to some of those interviewed for the program, the plane should not have been attempting the flight because of poor weather. One of the theories is that a group of Allied bombers which had been unable to spot their targets in Germany were returning to France that same day fully loaded. The Lancasters dropped their ordinance over the Channel, and Miller's plane may have been inadvertently hit by a falling bomb.

The show also looked at the possibility that German-language music recordings made by Miller may have contained coded messages.

In January, 2012, a journal kept during the war by an amateur plane spotter was found, which offered new information about the plane's route of flight. However, the mystery remains unsolved, as the wreckage of the Norseman has never been found.

(USAF Image)

FMI: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Glenn_Miller