The 8 worst mysteries in the history of aviation
1. The disappearance of the Boeing B-47E Stratojet 52-534
We begin this journey through the mysteries in the history of aviation with the disappearance of the Boeing B-47E Stratojet 52-534. On March 10, 1956, the Boeing B-47E Stratojet 52-534 disappeared in the Mediterranean Sea. The particularity of this flight is that it had two disassembled nuclei for nuclear weapons in its hold..
He had left Tampa, Florida, and was on his way to the Ben Guerir military air base in Morocco. It was a non-stop flight and he refueled in the air. After the first uneventful refueling, she contacted the mother plane for a second refueling. Suddenly, communication ceased and nothing was ever heard from the plane again. The three crew members disappeared with the plane.
There was no danger of nuclear detonation because the cores were disassembled. It was reported, by a French agency, that it had fallen in an area of French Morocco, but never foundneither in that area nor in any other place, remains of the device.
2. The death of Amelia Earhart
Among the mysteries in the history of aviation, as well as in the history of this means of transport itself, there are few female references. Precisely for this reason, the enigma of how amelia earhart died it is totally unfortunate.
This pilot left the Hawaiian Islands with a clear goal: to go around the world. She ran the year 1937. Not only did he never return to the starting point, but his remains were never found.those of his co-pilot or those of his plane. After two years of searching, she was declared dead.
If you are interested in learning more about this particular mystery, be sure to read: Amelia Earhart’s latest message.
3. Malaysia Airlines Flight MH370
And few mysteries in the history of aviation are as disturbing and enigmatic as Missed Malaysia Airlines flight. It was on May 8, 2015 when the plane took off from Kuala Lumpur, bound for Beijing..
But, after a short time, flight MH370 disappeared from all control radars. It never reached its destination and finding it became a titanic and years-long task., perhaps the largest search operation of its kind done so far. With the plane, the 239 people disappeared forever who were on board.
4. Flying Tiger Line Flight 739
The next mystery in aviation history is associated with Flight 739 of the Flying Tiger Line. It was a Lockheed L-1049 Super Constellation that was hired by the United States military for a charter flight on March 16, 1962.
On board were 93 American soldiers and 3 South Vietnamese in addition to the crew. In total, 107 people disappeared. He had left Travis Air Force Base in California and his final destination was Saigon in Vietnam. She refueled on the Island of Guam and was supposed to do it again in the Philippines, at Clark Air Base, but she never arrived.
It mysteriously disappeared with those 107 people on board. The American government launched the largest search for remains known until then. 520,000 km2 were tracked looking for some indication of what had happened or where the plane could have crashed, but nothing was found. The version that it had exploded in flight for unknown reasons was taken for granted.
5. Aviaco Flight 502
And we continue to delve into the most interesting cases, the mysteries in the history of aviation that even today science and experts cannot fully clarify. The flight 502 It is one of them. It was January 31, 1978when flight 502 of the extinct company Aviaco, a Caravelle 10-R plane, piloted by Carlos García Bermúdez, covered the Valencia-Bilbao route.
Close to the airport, the captain spotted a weird cumulus cloud. The route and the landing airport had to be modified. But when he did the aircraft climbed and entered a huge lenticular cloudbright and strange. Then, the electronic instrumentation of the plane began to fail…
They lost communication with the control tower and the compasses began to spin wildly. When leaving, seven minutes had passed, in which the plane had not moved an inch, remaining suspended in time.
6. Air France Flight 447
Another of the greatest and most regrettable mysteries in the history of aviation is that of Air France flight 447, which left Rio de Janeiro for Paris, the first of June of the year 2009.
The aircraft was lost in the Atlantic Ocean, taking the lives of its 228 passengers. The first remains of the accident were found after five days of searching, but they were necessary two years to find the black boxes.
The accident is believed to have been caused by the freezing of the plane’s speed sensors, although It is not explained why the pilot then ordered the nose of the aircraft to be raised, when all the manuals indicated that he should do just the opposite.
7. VARIG’s Boeing 707-323C
Varig’s Boeing 707-323C stars in another of the most lurid mysteries in the history of aviation. The aircraft disappeared on January 30, 1979when flying from Tokyo’s Narita airport to Rio de Janeiro airport, with a stopover at Los Angeles International Airport.
The captain of the Boeing, Gilberto Araújo da Silva, had already suffered an accident six years earlier in Paris in which 123 people died. He had more than 23,000 flight hours to his credit. It was a cargo plane whose crew consisted of 6 people. the plane disappeared 30 minutes after takeoff about 200 kilometers from Tokyo.
In the cargo hold it carried 153 frames of Manabu Mabewho returned from Japan to Brazil after being exposed. The works were valued at more than a million dollars. Remains of the plane were never found, nor of course the paintings it carried.
8. Egypt Air Flight 990
And without a doubt, one of the most unfortunate stories in this regard is that experienced on Egypt Air flight 990. In October 1999, the plane was supposed to cover the route between New York and Cairo. To everyone’s misfortune, the aircraft fell in the middle of the Atlantic Ocean, ending the lives of 217 passengers.
The worst of all was the result of the investigations: It was concluded that the co-pilot, of Egyptian origin, had intentionally caused the accident. The plane went down after said co-pilot was reprimanded by the airline for sexual misconduct.