During the 1930s and 1940s, Glenn Miller and his swing orchestra rose to fame, eventually against the backdrop of World War II.
Glenn, a trombone player, conductor, and composer, was most known for hits like “In The Mood” and “Chattanooga Choo Choo.” Millions of copies of these songs were sold, and Glenn achieved the first gold record ever.
Then, once the United States entered the war, he followed suit. Glenn became a U.S. Army Air Force captain in 1942 and led an army band known as the Army Air Forces Band.
The goal of the music group, founded at the request of General Dwight D. Eisenhower, was to boost morale among U.S. troops stationed throughout Europe.
For up to 18 hours each day, Glenn and the band would record music and perform at numerous military bases. Despite this requiring a lot of hard work and often dangerous travel, Glenn and the band helped serve as symbols of both “home” and American bravery. The Army also promoted Miller to “major” rank.
Yet, the music star ultimately vanished on December 15, 1944. He boarded a plane that was headed for Paris but never arrived, and his remains have never been found.
Glenn Miller’s Disappearance
Glenn and his band had spent five months in Bedford, England, recording with artists like Bing Crosby and Bob Hope, as well as performing for troops and broadcasts. Then, following the Allies liberating Paris, the band wanted to cross the border to France.
Glenn was reportedly asked to travel before the rest of the orchestra in order to finish up arrangements. He was going to fly via scheduled military transport on December 14, but the flight to Paris was canceled due to inclement weather.
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So, the next day, Glenn was offered to join another flight by U.S. Air Force colleague Lt. Col. Normal Baessell. The plane was a single-engine Noorduyn C-64 Norseman, a small aircraft that had only three people on it.
Glenn agreed to go on the flight, reportedly without authorization, and took off from RAF Twinwood on Friday, December 15 at 1:55 p.m. BST, following mist and fog delays.
The plane was charted by military observers from 2:30 p.m. to 2:45 p.m. BST over Beachy Head. However, it never made it to France.
Glenn’s band showed up in Paris on December 18. Even though the musicians had arrived three days later, Glenn was nowhere to be found.
The band spoke to military authorities, who weren’t aware of Glenn’s travel plans. In fact, he’d violated his travel orders under pressure to meet his deadline, getting on the small plane instead.
It wasn’t until hours after the band landed in Paris that their manager, Army Lieutenant Don Haynes, told them Glenn was missing.
“Guys, I don’t know how to tell you this, but Glenn is unofficially missing. He never arrived in Paris,” Haynes stated.
The rest of the world found out about Glenn’s disappearance on Christmas Day in 1944, and fans from North America to Europe were devastated. To this day, the Norseman aircraft, as well as the men on board, have never been located.
It is now believed that the plane had encountered heavy cloud cover and freezing temperatures. Either a mechanical or navigational failure probably caused it to go down in the English Channel.
“The loss of Major Glenn Miller on December 15, 1944, was an avoidable tragedy,” said his biographer, Dennis Spragg.
“The only remaining question is the location of any debris that might still be found in the English Channel.”
Glenn was just 40-years-old at the time he vanished, but his legacy continues to live on through his contributions to the war effort and the musical hits that still captivate listeners over 80 years later.