On 4/3/43, the Lady Be Good, a B-24 bomber, flew off into history. The airplane and 8 of the 9 crew members would not be found until 1959, in the Libyan desert.
One of the crew members kept a diary of what they went through in their attempt to survive the hostile environment. If you ever come across the book, it is fascinating reading.
The story of what the men endured is beyond belief. What was found 16 years after the plane went down is nothing short of remarkable.
Quite a story as we approach the 60th anniversary of the fateful flight.

http://www.qmfound.com/lady_be_good_b-24_bomber_recovery.htm

After reading some of the posts on various subjects, I wondered if others might think the previous post to be out of place for this forum.
In fact, if you read the information in the link, you will find it the ultimate story of survival, or at least the attempt to.

Chris K. has a difficult job in deciding when to shut down a discussion that is becoming overheated. Personally, I think he sometimes errs too much on the side of caution, and has shut down discussions which I found informative and entertaining; but he's the moderator, he does an outstanding job, and it's not like I'd be willing to replace him (even if I were qualified, which I'm not). <img src="images/graemlins/smile.gif" alt="" />

My rule of thumb when disagreeing with other posters (not always successfully followed, I'm afraid <img src="images/graemlins/blush.gif" alt="" /> ) is to challenge the ideas, not the person. I think it's okay to dispute the facts, ask for a reference, or offer an alternative position (even if I'm just playing "Devil's Advocate").

In this day of GPS navigation, it's sometimes easy to lose sight of the fact that getting lost was at one time almost as big a danger as enemy fighters. The venerable E6-B analog flight computer ("whiz wheel") is considered by some to be one of the most important weapons of WWII, because it made it so easy for a pilot to recalculate his navigation in flight.

I remember, many years ago, being surprised to learn that when making ferry flights across the Atlantic, the fighters flew with the bomber not just to protect it, but because the fighters didn't have the resources to navigate such long stretches over water, and literally were following the bomber's navigator.

I See Ways that This is Appropriate to Both Forums! Old Lost WW -2 Aircraft Certainly Do Qualify as Campfire Talk! [color:"black"] [/color] [email]aardwolfe[/email]

I live fairly close to the United States Air Force Museum, where they have many recovered artifacts from the Lady Be Good crash site. It's a sad tale to be sure. One of the crewmen walked an incredible 109 miles before succumbing to the desert heat; a true testament to the power of shear human determination in the face of overwhelming odds.

One of the saddest artifacts is a canteen, recovered from the body of one crewman whose chute failed to open. He was - perhaps mercifully - killed instantly. The canteen still contains the water he placed in it 60 years ago.

Actually, the person you are speaking of is 2nd Lt John Worovka. His nephew, named after him, is my investement banker here in So. Ca. I was told that the family felt as tragic as his death was when his chute failed to open properly, he did not suffer the fate of the others on the plane.

It wasn't just ferry flights across the Atlantic - on most of the B-29 missions in the Pacific, from Guam or Tinian, the P-51 and P-47 escorts flew with the bombers for the same reason, or met up with them near Iwo Jima. Besides, fighter jocks are too busy looking for things to shoot up to worry about the minor detail of where they are in over the vast, trackless ocean. <img src="images/graemlins/cool.gif" alt="" />

LOL

I read the biography of Robert Stanford "Lucky" Tuck, one of the top aces of the Battle of Britain. When the US entered the war, Tuck was sent to Arizona (I think?) as a combat instructor for the new American pilots. While out on a routine flight, he got "jumped" by a couple of eager students. He managed to lose them with ease, but then realized he was completely lost over the desert. He'd been concentrating so hard on the mock dogfight that he hadn't kept track of his position. (He found a highway and made three attempts to land on it; each time, a car appeared out of nowhere and forced him to overshoot. Eventually, running out of fuel, he made an emergency landing in a cemetery, of all places. <img src="images/graemlins/shocked.gif" alt="" /> )