{"id":37727,"date":"2014-12-15T00:00:23","date_gmt":"2014-12-15T08:00:23","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.todayifoundout.com\/?p=37727"},"modified":"2014-12-14T22:16:49","modified_gmt":"2014-12-15T06:16:49","slug":"day-history-december-15th","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.todayifoundout.com\/index.php\/2014\/12\/day-history-december-15th\/","title":{"rendered":"This Day in History: December 15th- The Disappearance of Glenn Miller"},"content":{"rendered":"<div class=\"pf-content\"><p><strong><a href='http:\/\/www.todayifoundout.com\/index.php\/category\/this-day-in-history\/' title='This Day in History'>This Day In History<\/a>: December 15, 1944<\/strong><\/p>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/www.todayifoundout.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/12\/Glen-Miller.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignright size-medium wp-image-37734\" src=\"http:\/\/www.todayifoundout.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/12\/Glen-Miller-340x381.jpg\" alt=\"Glen-Miller\" width=\"340\" height=\"381\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.todayifoundout.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/12\/Glen-Miller-340x381.jpg 340w, https:\/\/www.todayifoundout.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/12\/Glen-Miller.jpg 535w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 340px) 100vw, 340px\" \/><\/a>Glenn Miller was on the top of his game in 1944. He led the most popular recording group in the world. His only rival for king of Big Band music was the great Benny Goodman. During World War II, 40-year-old Miller was serving as a major in the United States Army Air Force while performing for the troops.<\/p>\n<p>On December 15, 1944, he boarded a small plane for the short flight across the English Channel to do a show in Paris for American troops that had just helped liberate France. Miller and the two other men on the aircraft never made it to their destination. No trace of the wreckage or any of the passengers was ever found, and Glenn Miller is still listed as missing in action.<\/p>\n<p>Of course, as with any accidental celebrity death, speculation about the circumstances began almost immediately:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Miller\u2019s wartime collaboration with British actor David Niven involved espionage, for which Miller paid the ultimate price: Wrong. Both men were just lending their celebrity drawing power to a worthy cause.<\/li>\n<li>The plane arrived safely in Paris, but Miller died from a heart attack in a house of ill repute (sounds so much nicer than whorehouse) that night. The \u201clost-at-sea\u201d bit was concocted to save his reputation- This is also bunk. There isn\u2019t a shred of evidence to support it, and in any case the theory didn\u2019t even surface until 1997; a tad late to be credible when lacking any evidence whatsoever to support the claim.<\/li>\n<li>Miller\u2019s plane was shot down by friendly fire. This theory came to light in the 1980s, when it was found that 138 planes returning from an aborted Allied bombing mission disposed of their bombs over the Channel as they returned. Could one of those bombs have caused Miller\u2019s aircraft to go down? Seems a plausible theory until Army Air Force records proved that the timing was off for that to have been the case.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>The most likely scenario is the most obvious one \u2013 very poor flying conditions. In addition, the aircraft\u2019s carburetors weren\u2019t functioning properly (common with US military planes at the time) and the pilot wasn\u2019t qualified to fly by only instruments.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/www.todayifoundout.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/12\/plane.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignright size-medium wp-image-37735\" src=\"http:\/\/www.todayifoundout.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/12\/plane-340x226.jpg\" alt=\"plane\" width=\"340\" height=\"226\" \/><\/a>What\u2019s believed to have happened is that the pilot was flying low because of the increasing cloud cover. The temperature was dropping, causing the engine to freeze up and stop. The plane took a nosedive and crashed into the frigid waters of the English Channel. This is also the conclusion the United States Army Air Force arrived at three weeks after the accident. So why didn\u2019t they publicly release the results of their findings at the time?<\/p>\n<p>First off, Miller was on an unauthorized flight, so it was days before military officials even knew he was a passenger on that plane. They obviously knew he was a no-show for the Paris concert, but the outbreak of the Battle of the Bulge overshadowed all other concerns. In addition, it was standard military policy during WWII to withhold such information.<\/p>\n<p>Dennis Spragg, a researcher who is writing a book about the disappearance of Glenn Miller explains, \u201cIn a presumed fatal accident, or where there was no evidence, they did not send messages back to relatives, or next of kin, saying, \u2018Johnny or Freddy, your son, made a mistake, got lost or killed himself.\u2019 You have a perfect storm of human error, mechanical failure and weather. Not independent of one another \u2013 all three. And the plane goes down.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>If you liked this article, you might also enjoy our new popular podcast, The BrainFood Show (<a href=\"https:\/\/itunes.apple.com\/us\/podcast\/the-brainfoodshow\/id1350586459\" rel=\"nofollow\" target=\"_blank\">iTunes<\/a>, <a href=\"https:\/\/open.spotify.com\/show\/36xpXQMPVXhWJzMoCHPJKd\" target=\"_blank\">Spotify<\/a>, <a href=\"https:\/\/playmusic.app.goo.gl\/?ibi=com.google.PlayMusic&#038;isi=691797987&#038;ius=googleplaymusic&#038;apn=com.google.android.music&#038;link=https:\/\/play.google.com\/music\/m\/Insimdi4g6puyyr4qbt6tup5b6m?t%3DThe_BrainFood_Show%26pcampaignid%3DMKT-na-all-co-pr-mu-pod-16\" rel=\"nofollow\" target=\"_blank\">Google Play Music<\/a>, <a href=\"http:\/\/www.todayifoundout.com\/index.php\/feed\/brainfood\/\" target=\"_blank\">Feed<\/a>), as well as:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><a href=\"http:\/\/www.todayifoundout.com\/index.php\/2012\/03\/eric-clapton-was-to-meet-up-with-jimi-hendrix-on-the-night-hendrix-died-he-was-also-with-stevie-ray-vaughan-when-he-died\/\" target=\"_blank\">Eric Clapton was to Meet Up with Jimi Hendrix on the Night Hendrix Died; He was Also With Stevie Ray Vaughan On the Night He Died<\/a><\/li>\n<li><a href=\"http:\/\/www.todayifoundout.com\/index.php\/2013\/12\/sing-auld-lang-syne-new-years-eve\/\" target=\"_blank\">Why We Sing \u201cAuld Lang Syne\u201d on New Year\u2019s Eve<\/a><\/li>\n<li><a href=\"http:\/\/www.todayifoundout.com\/index.php\/2014\/08\/mysterious-disappearance-sister-aimee-semple-mcpherson\/\" target=\"_blank\">The Mysterious Disappearance of Sister Aimee Semple McPherson<\/a><\/li>\n<li><a href=\"http:\/\/www.todayifoundout.com\/index.php\/2014\/01\/myth-bermuda-triangle\/\" target=\"_blank\">The Truth About the Bermuda Triangle<\/a><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<span class=\"collapseomatic \" id=\"id69f1029851fce\"  tabindex=\"0\" title=\"Expand for References\"    >Expand for References<\/span><div id=\"target-id69f1029851fce\" class=\"collapseomatic_content \">\n<ul>\n<li><a href=\"http:\/\/skeptoid.com\/episodes\/4406\" target=\"_blank\">The Disappearance of Glenn Miller<\/a><\/li>\n<li><a href=\"http:\/\/www.cpr.org\/news\/story\/70-years-later-mystery-glenn-millers-disappearance-may-be-solved\" target=\"_blank\">70 Years Later the Mystery of the Disappearance of Glenn Miller Solved<\/a><\/li>\n<li><a href=\"http:\/\/www.history.com\/this-day-in-history\/legendary-bandleader-glenn-miller-disappears-over-the-english-channel\" target=\"_blank\">Legendary Band Leader Glenn Miller Disappears<\/a><\/li>\n<li><a href=\"http:\/\/www.chicagotribune.com\/entertainment\/ct-glenn-miller-tv-review-20140708-column.html\" target=\"_blank\">Why Glenn Miller Vanished<\/a><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>This Day In History: December 15, 1944 Glenn Miller was on the top of his game in 1944. He led the most popular recording group in the world. His only rival for king of Big Band music was the great Benny Goodman. During World War II, 40-year-old Miller was serving as a major in the United States Army Air Force [&#8230;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":24,"featured_media":37734,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1404],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-37727","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-this-day-in-history"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.todayifoundout.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/37727","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.todayifoundout.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.todayifoundout.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.todayifoundout.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/24"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.todayifoundout.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=37727"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/www.todayifoundout.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/37727\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":37736,"href":"https:\/\/www.todayifoundout.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/37727\/revisions\/37736"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.todayifoundout.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/37734"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.todayifoundout.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=37727"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.todayifoundout.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=37727"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.todayifoundout.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=37727"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}