Where Did It Go?
Even if you're not an aviation enthusiast, the disappearance of Malaysia Airlines Flight MH370 probably still sends a chill down your spine, and it's probably a case you still regularly come back to. Unfortunately, it's not only the passengers and crew of that flight with an unknown fate. Many planes have gone missing over the years, and history contains plenty of accidents where investigators were left with more questions than answers. But the world is vast as the ocean is deep, and tragically, that means we may never find out what truly happened to all these missing flights.
1. Malaysia Airlines Flight MH370
On March 8, 2014, Malaysia Airlines Flight MH370 left Kuala Lumpur for Beijing with 239 people aboard, only to seemingly vanish into thin air. It wasn't until years later that radar and satellite data showed the Boeing 777 turning back across the peninsula before continuing south toward the Indian Ocean. Pieces of debris linked to the aircraft have since been recovered, but the main wreckage has never been located.
Anna Zvereva from Tallinn, Estonia on Wikimedia
2. Amelia Earhart's Lockheed Electra
Amelia Earhart and navigator Fred Noonan departed Lae, New Guinea, on July 2, 1937. Their goal was to reach Howland Island in their attempt to fly around the world. While Earhart transmitted several calls as the aircraft approached Howland, communication was eventually lost. A massive search failed to locate the plane, and the most widely accepted explanation remains that the pair lost their way, ran out of fuel, and crashed into the Pacific.
Underwood & Underwood (active 1880 – c. 1950)[1] on Wikimedia
3. Flight 19
On December 5, 1945, five U.S. Navy TBM Avenger torpedo bombers left Fort Lauderdale for a routine navigation exercise. It would be anything but. During flight, radio transmissions indicated that Lt. Charles Taylor had become disoriented and couldn't determine the formation's location; the bad weather around them only made things worse. To this day, none of the planes were ever seen again.
4. Flying Tiger Line Flight 739
In March 1962, a Lockheed Super Constellation transporting military personnel toward South Vietnam disappeared between Guam and the Philippines. Its last radio report seemed routine, but a tanker later reported seeing an explosion-like flash around where the aircraft was thought to be flying. Despite an enormous search, investigators never uncovered the wreckage.
5. Frederick Valentich's Cessna
On October 21, 1978, as Australian pilot Frederick Valentich flew a Cessna 182L across Bass Strait, he asked air traffic controllers about another aircraft he thought was near him. He described an unidentified object hovering above him, something that didn't seem to be an aircraft. Those were reportedly his last words, and neither Valentich nor the Cessna was ever seen again.
Australian Department of Transportation on Wikimedia
6. Varig Flight 967
Varig Flight 967 departed Tokyo on January 30, 1979, carrying cargo and dozens of paintings by Japanese-Brazilian artist Manabu Mabe. Shortly after takeoff, the Boeing 707 made its final radio contact, then vanished over the Pacific.
7. BSAA Star Tiger
British South American Airways' (BSAA) Star Tiger was traveling from the Azores to Bermuda on January 30, 1948, when it suddenly disappeared. The aircraft made no distress call. A five-day search produced no confirmed remains, and the disappearance later became linked with the popular Bermuda Triangle stories.
8. BSAA Star Ariel
Eerily, only a year after Star Tiger vanished, another BSAA plane disappeared—and around the same area. Star Ariel left Bermuda for Kingston, Jamaica, on January 17, 1949, carrying 13 passengers and seven crew members. An extensive air-sea search found no trace of the aircraft, making two unexplained losses involving the same airline and aircraft family especially bizarre.
9. Airborne Transport's Missing DC-3
A Douglas airliner carrying 32 people was nearing the end of a San Juan-to-Miami flight in December 1948 when it disappeared off Florida. While the aircraft had reportedly experienced problems before takeoff, it didn't seem to be a major issue. Investigators were never able to confirm where the plane was last seen.
10. The Hawaii Clipper
One of the large flying boats used for transpacific passenger routes in the 1930s, Pan American Airways' Hawaii Clipper had 15 people aboard on July 28, 1938, when it mysteriously disappeared between Guam and Manila. With nothing to sift through, investigators were never able to establish a cause.
11. Northwest Orient Flight 2501
Northwest Orient Flight 2501 was crossing Lake Michigan in June 1950 when the crew asked to descend to avoid severe weather. Controllers later lost contact with the DC-4, and searchers recovered an oil slick, floating debris, and, tragically, human remains, but not the main wreckage. Despite decades of renewed searches, the aircraft's fate remains inconclusive.
San Diego Air and Space Museum Archive on Wikimedia
12. The Stolen Boeing 727 in Angola
One of aviation's strangest missing-aircraft cases involves a stolen plane. In May 2003, a Boeing 727 that had been sitting at an airport in Luanda, Angola, began taxiing without authorization and took off—despite the "crew" on board being seemingly unqualified to operate a 727. While an international investigation was prompted, no one knows what happened to the jet.
13. Faucett Perú's Boeing 727
On September 11, 1990, a Faucett Perú Boeing 727 was being ferried from Europe to Peru when it suddenly vanished over the Atlantic. The crew had reported low fuel and that they were preparing to ditch, apparently after becoming hundreds of miles off course. But in the aftermath, neither the 16 people aboard nor the plane was ever recovered.
14. Star Dust and the “STENDEC” Message
In August 1947, BSAA's Star Dust disappeared while crossing the Andes from Buenos Aires to Santiago. Minutes before its expected arrival, air traffic control received a Morse-code transmission ending with the unexplained word “STENDEC.". It wasn't until 50 years later that wreckage finally emerged from glacial ice; the aircraft had apparently struck Mount Tupungato. The meaning of its eerie final transmission, however, stays a mystery.
San Diego Air & Space Museum Archives on Wikimedia
15. Canadian Pacific Air Lines Flight 3505
Bound for Tokyo with a stop in Anchorage, Canadian Pacific Air Lines Flight 3505 left Vancouver on July 21, 1951, with 37 people aboard. But after the crew checked in near the Alaska Panhandle while flying through poor weather and visibility conditions, they failed to make their next contact. An extensive search turned up no evidence.
16. Glenn Miller's Norseman
Famous bandleader and U.S. Army Air Forces officer Glenn Miller boarded a single-engine Noorduyn Norseman in England on December 15, 1944. Headed for France, the aircraft suddenly vanished over the English Channel. The wreckage has never been conclusively identified, though it's believed that a mechanical failure brought on by severe winter conditions played a role.
US Army photographer on Wikimedia
17. The Lady Be Good
After its first combat mission during World War II, the American B-24 bomber Lady Be Good disappeared in April 1943. Authorities initially believed it had sunk in the Mediterranean, but geological surveyors spotted the aircraft in the Libyan Desert nearly 16 years later. The crew had apparently accidentally overshot its base, continued deep into the Sahara, before eventually running out of fuel. Unlike the others on this list, the wartime plane was found, though its disappearance and discovery remain no less bizarre.
United States Air Force on Wikimedia
18. The White Bird
In May 1927, French World War I veterans Charles Nungesser and François Coli attempted to fly from Paris to New York without stopping. They were aboard the Levasseur aircraft L'Oiseau Blanc, or The White Bird. Mysteriously, they never reached New York, and no verified wreckage has ever been recovered.
L'Aérophile magazine on Wikimedia
19. Lady Southern Cross
While attempting to break the England-to-Australia speed record in November 1935, Australian aviation pioneer Sir Charles Kingsford Smith, along with co-pilot Tommy Pethybridge, disappeared while heading toward Singapore. While an undercarriage component of their aircraft washed ashore in Burma 18 months later, the rest remains missing.
20. The Skyways Avro York
In February 1953, while ferrying military personnel and their families toward Jamaica, a Skyways Avro York never made it past the North Atlantic. Unlike many missing aircraft, the crew sent both a distress signal and an SOS, but their transmission stopped abruptly before enough information could be conveyed. Oil patches and dye markers were found by searchers, but no wreckage was recovered, and the cause remains unknown.
KEEP ON READING
