One of the biggest mysteries of the twentieth century is what happened to Glenn Miller. He was on an unscheduled flight from London to Paris on December 15, 1944, after his reservation the previous day was cancelled. He stood by for an earlier flight on December 13, but it was cancelled as well.
He was frustrated and worried that he would miss his engagements in Paris, so he managed to get on a Norseman airplane, with Lieutenant Colonel Normal Baesell of the Eighth Air Force Service Command piloted by Flight Officer John Stuart Morgan. His orders did not allow him to board a 'casual' flight, and he did not report this change in schedule to his superiors, so no one knew where he was that day.
Shortly after takeoff, while they were over the English Channel, the plane and its occupants disappeared and were never seen again. The next morning the Germans launched a new attack that became the Battle of the Bulge, so nobody realized Glenn Miller was missing until three days later.
The Eighth Air Force Board of Inquiry determined that the cause of the plane's disappearance was due to a combination of human error, mechanical failure, and weather. The weather that day made the pilot fly lower than normal because of the cloud cover, and the prevailing theory is icing brought the plane down. Of course, nothing has been proven and won't be unless the wreckage is ever found.
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