B-24 "Lady Be Good"...April 4th 1943...returning to Benghazi after bombing Naples, passed over base because direction finder aerial could not differentiate between a signal ahead or behind the aircraft. Crashed +400mi inland. Found in 1958 by oil exploration crews. Crew perished, all but one of their remains were recovered in the 1960s.

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Never a dull moment at Berry Hill Farm.

The eastern Mojave is littered with old wwII trucks tanks etc from when Patton was training troops there-- the railhead is called Rice-- whats left is an off ramp out ther half way between 29 palms and parker AZ

I knew guys that laid pipelines in Libya during the late 50's and that said stuff from WW 2 was lying around everywhere. In fact, according them anyway, until oil was found the number one export of Libya was scrap metal.

They were not allowed to approach anything that was outside the limits of the 'spread' because of mines that would still go off.

There are lots of Roman ruins out in the Libyan desert as well.

An 'original' find is determined by the fact that weapons are still attached to the machine. The equipment itself is usually shot up pretty good so there is little of it worth saving, but a machine gun from that era can bring thousands of dollars back in big city.

I remember watching a 'Special' on TV about this. It was probably in 1960 or so.

The flight was recreated under the same circumstances to try and get a feel for what the Pilots must have been thinking. It was found that at night and with only moonlight to see by the desert looks a lot like ocean waves. Therefore the Pilots must have thought they were still over water until they ran out of fuel and had no choice but to bail-out. A diary recovered from one of the crew's bodies confirmed this.

Lady Be Good (aircraft) - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia


Note the reference to a Twilight Zone episode

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1977 300d 70k--sold 08
1985 300TD 185k+
1984 307d 126k--sold 8/03
1985 409d 65k--sold 06
1984 300SD 315k--daughter's car
1979 300SD 122k--sold 2/11
1999 Fuso FG Expedition Camper
1993 GMC Sierra 6.5 TD 4x4
1982 Bluebird Wanderlodge CAT 3208--Sold 2/13

The Special I saw was no Twilight Zone episode. It was a rock solid reporting of the events. It was mostly still photos with commentary laid over the video.

I do remember seeing the parachutes that were laid out as arrows pointing the direction the men went. That was the only way the Air Force was able to follow their path and find the men still lying there.

Since it has been 52 years since this aired my memory of all the events is shaky, and I have not been able to find any mention of this program existing. But then, back then video tape was used and reused since no one thought anyone would want to see a News program again.

See if you can find The Armstrong Circle Theater that aired on Feb. 3, 1960.

Season 10, Episode 7.... The Ghost Bomber.

I don't remember if the advertiser was Armstrong Flooring or Armstrong Tires. Maybe they were the same thing.

Television

"Lady Be Good", Armstrong Circle Theater, CBS, date unknown (1959 or 60)

"King Nine Will Not Return" Twilight Zone episode, , Writer; Rod Serling, Second Season 1960-1961. After crashing in the desert, a bomber pilot (Cummings) is haunted by the images of his dead crew. (Fictional, not specifically about "Lady Be Good")

Ghost Plane of the Desert, "Lady Be Good", The History Channel, Premiered February 7, 2000.

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1977 300d 70k--sold 08
1985 300TD 185k+
1984 307d 126k--sold 8/03
1985 409d 65k--sold 06
1984 300SD 315k--daughter's car
1979 300SD 122k--sold 2/11
1999 Fuso FG Expedition Camper
1993 GMC Sierra 6.5 TD 4x4
1982 Bluebird Wanderlodge CAT 3208--Sold 2/13

Television

"Lady Be Good", Armstrong Circle Theater, CBS, date unknown (1959 or 60)

"King Nine Will Not Return" Twilight Zone episode, , Writer; Rod Serling, Second Season 1960-1961. After crashing in the desert, a bomber pilot (Cummings) is haunted by the images of his dead crew. (Fictional, not specifically about "Lady Be Good")

Ghost Plane of the Desert, "Lady Be Good", The History Channel, Premiered February 7, 2000.

__________________
1977 300d 70k--sold 08
1985 300TD 185k+
1984 307d 126k--sold 8/03
1985 409d 65k--sold 06
1984 300SD 315k--daughter's car
1979 300SD 122k--sold 2/11
1999 Fuso FG Expedition Camper
1993 GMC Sierra 6.5 TD 4x4
1982 Bluebird Wanderlodge CAT 3208--Sold 2/13

A lot of seismic crews found WWII stuff in the desert. Seems like a Google earth system could scan the surface for stuff pretty easily.

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MB-less

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.

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Just say "NO" to Ethanol - Drive Diesel

Mitchell Oates
Mooresville, NC
'87 300D 212K miles
'87 300D 151K miles - R.I.P. 12/08
'05 Jeep Liberty CRD 67K miles
Grumpy Old Diesel Owners Club

From a scrapmetal standpoint there are likely a few old Mercedes out there that might have been more trouble than they were worth 50 years ago.

But now.... What would a 1939 staff car be worth even if it were somewhat shot up? Or an old Kublewagen?

If anyone wanted to do a Google earth scan they need to start by following pipelines and looking off to either side of them.