The world of aviation is filled with mysteries, and stories of "if only". Airplanes are fragile things; let them outlive their useful life and they can all be gone to the scrappers by the time someone says "Hey - shouldn't we save at least one of these?"
There are rumors of wrecks waiting to be found, survivors hiding in backwaters of the world - and then there are those that just vanished and no one knows where or why. (Flight 370 is just the latest of these.)
Follow me below the Orange Omnilepticon for tales of three such recently in the news.
I recently thought to check the Internet to see what was happening with the Great Burma Spitfire Hunt, an expedition to track down rumors of brand new Spitfires that had arrived in Burma, only to be buried as surplus as the war ended, still in their crates. Alas, it appears that all the stories and rumors over the years were just that. The search has been brought to a close.
"(The) documents tell a story of appalling weather conditions at Mingaladon (airbase) and shortages of everything from heavy equipment to timber and labour all of which we believe suggests it would be almost impossible that the Royal Air Force could have buried aircraft thirty feet deep in wooden crates even if it had wanted to do so," a statement from the team said.
"The team now believes, based on clear documentary evidence, as well as the evidence from the fieldwork, that no Spitfires were delivered in crates and buried."
Meanwhile, another ghost from the past has reappeared.
The B-29 Kee Bird was forced to make a landing on a frozen lake in Greenland in 1947. The crew survived and was rescued, but the plane was left behind, almost completely intact. Efforts were made in 1994 and 1995 to repair it enough to take off and fly it to Thule Air Base for further repairs and a return flight to the U.S. Unfortunately, the take off attempt ended in disaster; a fire broke out from a leaking jury-rigged fuel tank, and the fuselage of the plane was destroyed, although the wings remained largely intact. Salvage efforts ended at that point, and it was thought the remains would be lost under snow and sink into the frozen lake.
The remains of Kee Bird have been found again - by NASA. A P-3 Orion monitoring the polar regions for Operation IceBridge. Now all that's needed is an intact fuselage somewhere…
Antoine de Saint-Euxpéry is regarded as one of the best writers to ever touch on the subject of flying; his book The Little Prince is still considered a classic of children's literature. He had disappeared on a flight in a P-38 towards the end of World War II; the wreck was only found a few years ago.
NPR just had an interview with Peter Sis, who was so inspired by the Little Prince, he's created an illustrated biography of Saint-Euxpéry, the Pilot and the Little Prince.
[As a child] I read it as something which is about a beautiful place I can go, about a world which I might discover, about things which are impossible, and I might be able to accomplish them. It was this book full of promise. And then, just in the time when I came to America and I was asked to go back, or should I stay, I read The Little Prince again, and I realized it's a book about courage, because the pilot's surviving in the desert, so it gave me lots of hope. And then I read the book when I had little children ... and all of a sudden it was profoundly sort of sentimental and sad. And I realized it's like one of those books which goes with you the whole life.
While waiting to go through full body scans courtesy of the TSA, or sitting crammed into ever diminishing seat space, it's a timely reminder of the wonder and magic that used to be part of flying.