Glenn Miller BBC Antiques Roadshow
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Glenn Miller BBC Antiques Roadshow
Wartime spotters log on the show tonight valued at £1,000. Richard Anderton worked at wartime Reading Woodley and on 15 .Dec44 at 14:10hrs noted a Norseman flying over believed to be Glenn Millers aircraft that disappeared from Twinwood Farm. Article was in the Saturday Daily Telegraph and Mail.
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Ask three enonomists what they think about the state of world finance and you could have four opinions coming back at you.
It seems the same with the Miller flight - but after all this time, I feel that no-one will ever know the truth.
It seems the same with the Miller flight - but after all this time, I feel that no-one will ever know the truth.
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I thought the outcome was pretty much settled after Roy Nesbit's excellent research for Aeroplane some years ago. That posited that the Norseman had gone down in the Channel as a result of being hit by shock waves from exploding ordinance from the return of an aborted raid.
I thought the outcome was pretty much settled after Roy Nesbit's excellent research
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The point made in the Telegraph was that the spotter's log definitively placed the aircraft's track outside the jettison zone.
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I havn't seen the Telegraph article, but I presume that the inference is that if this was Miller's Norseman seen over Woodley, it then proceeded on a direct track to Paris which would have taken it clear of the Bomb Jettison Area.
This is unlikley as there was a special cross channel exit route to France between the coastal AA Batteries, which would have put the Norseman close to the Bomb Jettison Area. (See Roy Nesbit's article in Aeroplane, date unknown)
The weather was poor, and there is also a story that Miller's aircraft landed enroute at the Friston advanced landing ground - reason unknown, weather/fuel?
We can only guess at the truth, but the sighting from returning Lanc over the Jettison Area does seem very credible.
I havn't seen the Telegraph article
Glenn Miller death: teenage planespotter's logbook 'scotches conspiracy theory' - Telegraph
Where is Woodley Airfield (approx) on this map?
Over the first letter ‘E’ is a small ‘S’, understood to denote that the teenager was standing to the starboard side of the aircraft, suggesting he was viewing it slightly to the south.
The Telegraph article makes no sense whatoever. So the aircraft was spotted over Woodley on a particular heading. The assumption is then made that the same heading was maintained all the way to the coast and over the Channel. Some assumption.
It goes on to say that there would not have been a bomb jettison zone in that part of the Channel by December 1944. The reasoning does not make sense. Most supplies still went via Normandy well west of the area in question.
The Telegraph article also states:-
Hmm! Rommel commited suicide on 14th October 1944, Glen Miller disappeared on 15th December 1944!
One of the worst pieces of jouranlism for a long time (Well, maybe that is going a bit too far - but still pretty poor!)
It goes on to say that there would not have been a bomb jettison zone in that part of the Channel by December 1944. The reasoning does not make sense. Most supplies still went via Normandy well west of the area in question.
The Telegraph article also states:-
Last year one book, written by a former US colonel, concluded that Miller had been dispatched to Berlin by Eisenhower for a secret meeting with Rommel and other Nazi figures as part of a plot to topple Hitler.
One of the worst pieces of jouranlism for a long time (Well, maybe that is going a bit too far - but still pretty poor!)
Last edited by Groundloop; 12th Jan 2012 at 07:24.
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All the spotters log reveals is that Millers aircraft probably skirted the London defences to the west - the heading noted at the time is irrelevent as there is no proof that it was maintained.
I am pretty sure that reports from the Lancasters crews returning from an abortive raid state that bombs were jettisoned in the the Channel that day.
I am pretty sure that reports from the Lancasters crews returning from an abortive raid state that bombs were jettisoned in the the Channel that day.
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Glenn Miller
Nothing to do with the above, but year before last found Glenn Miller memorial in a field near the former USAF Kings Cliffe south of Stamford. This was apparently the site of his last performance before the Norseman flight
Regarding sightings of flight, direction near London would be no guide to eventual cross channel track
A fairly long flight in a single engined aicraft without much in the way of navigation aids would have been between easily identified way ponts, and would have involved several changes of course.
Regarding sightings of flight, direction near London would be no guide to eventual cross channel track
A fairly long flight in a single engined aicraft without much in the way of navigation aids would have been between easily identified way ponts, and would have involved several changes of course.
Last edited by Exnomad; 19th Jan 2012 at 13:37.
