Found the made for TV movie with Richard Basehart, aired in 1970, the fictionalized account of the "Lady Be Good" -
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sole_Survivor_(1970_film)
This movie has a dark paranormal twist to it, the ghosts of the dead crewmen as characters in the film, invisibly watching the investigation and trying to influence the living to search for their bodies.
One of the recovery crew (Basehart) is the living "sole survivor" of the aircraft - on their last bombing mission, he panics and abandons his crewmates by bailing out over the ocean. Without thier navigator, the plane becomes lost and crashes deep in the desert - now a brigadier general, he fears a courtmartial and the end of his career if anyone discovers what really happened.
Basehart lies and says the other crewmen bailed out with him over the ocean, and tries to use his rank to force the rest of the investigating team to rubber-stamp the investigation with that conclusion.
One night, Basehart gets drunk, and the ghosts of his crewmates are able to make themselves visible and audible to him. Scared out of his wits, he piles into a jeep and goes tearing off across the desert in an effort to escape, pursued by the rest of the investigating team, and ends up leading them straight to the decaying liferaft and remains of the dead crewmembers.