What happened to Glenn Miller?
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Glenn Miller
Alton Glenn Miller (March 1, 1904 – disappeared December 15, 1944) was an American big band trombonist, arranger, composer, and bandleader in the Swing era. He was the best-selling recording artist from 1939 to 1942, leading one of the best-known big bands. Miller’s recordings include “In the Mood”, “Moonlight Serenade”, “Pennsylvania 6-5000”, “Chattanooga Choo Choo”, “A String of Pearls”, “At Last”, “(I’ve Got a Gal In) Kalamazoo”, “American Patrol”, “Tuxedo Junction”, “Elmer’s Tune”, “Little Brown Jug”, and “Anvil Chorus”. In just four years, Miller scored 16 number-one records and 69 top-10 hits—more than Elvis Presley (38 top 10s) and the Beatles (33 top 10s) did in their careers.
In 1942, Miller volunteered to join the U.S. military to entertain troops during World War II, ending up with the U.S. Army Air Forces. On December 15, 1944, while flying to Paris, Miller’s aircraft disappeared in bad weather over the English Channel. He was posthumously awarded the Bronze Star Medal.
D.B. Cooper. Amelia Earhart. Jimmy Hoffa. All prominent Americans whose unexplained disappearances have fascinated and confounded armchair historians and professionals alike—and created fertile ground for all manner of wild explanations and conspiracy theories.
1944
Ditto for Glenn Miller, one of the University of Colorado Boulder’s most illustrious alumni, who was the nation’s most famous big-band leader when he disappeared Dec. 15, 1944, after heading out over the English Channel on a small military plane bound for Paris.
Almost from the moment the world learned Miller had gone missing, conspiracy theories began to emerge like puffs of smoke from the Chattanooga Choo Choo. And they’ve never really stopped, as each new generation discovers the mystery and publishes books and articles purporting to have solved it.
But Dennis Spragg of the College of Music’s American Music Research Center—and Miller’s family—is doing his best to end all the crazy speculation.
“In 2009, Steve Miller, Glenn’s son and a big donor to the Glenn Miller Archive”—the definitive Miller collection, housed at the AMRC—“asked me if I would consider dealing with the latest series of sensationalistic conspiracy books. He said, ‘enough is enough,’ ” says Spragg.
The three most prominent theories over the years:
· Miller never boarded the plane, but was assassinated after Gen. Dwight D. “Ike” Eisenhower sent him on a secret mission one or two days earlier to negotiate a surrender from Nazi Germany.
· He made it to Paris, where he died of a heart attack in a bordello.
· The small plane he was on was destroyed by bombs jettisoned from a phalanx of Allied bombers passing overhead on their way back from an aborted mission over Germany.
More than four years—and dozens of trips to Washington, D.C., London and U.S. Air Force archives—later, Spragg is confident he knows what happened: The plane went down in mere seconds over the channel, instantly killing Miller, another officer and a young pilot, likely because fuel lines from wing tanks froze. The steel-framed, wood and fabric plane all but disintegrated, sending its heavy Pratt-Whitney engine plunging to the bottom.
PBS
Ironically, as Spragg told the producers of the PBS show “History Detectives,” which will air “The Disappearance of Glenn Miller” nationwide on July 8, that not-so-mysterious conclusion was reached by investigators just days after the plane went down. But documents from the investigation were boxed up after the war, sent to the United States and locked away.
“It was right there all this time, but all the researchers trying to follow the trail of Glenn Miller just didn’t have access to it,” says Alan Cass, founder and curator of the Glenn Miller Archive.
But Spragg, who surely knows more about Miller’s time in the U.S. Army Air Force and his mysterious disappearance than anyone else alive, was as driven as Sherlock Holmes in his quest to find the answers.
70 years later, mystery of Glenn Miller’s disappearance may be solved
Long overlooked military documents indicate the small plane in which Miller was likely traveling when he disappeared in 1944 probably crashed in the English Channel after fuel intakes froze, according to Dennis Spragg, a senior consultant to the Glenn Miller Archive at the University of Colorado Boulder.
“The icing took three forms: engine icing, carburetor icing and induction ice,” Spragg says. “And that’s the kind of ice that forms on the fuel tanks and fuel lines, feeding fuel to the engine.”
Miller was born in Iowa and spent the latter part of his boyhood in Fort Morgan on Colorado’s Eastern Plains. There, he played high school football and honed his skills on the trombone. He attended the University of Colorado Boulder briefly before dropping out to pursue his music career.
On the day he went missing, Dec. 15, 1944, Miller, an Army major, is believed to have boarded a UC-64A Norseman in Bedfordshire, England, as a passenger. The plane was bound for France, where Miller was planning a performance for Allied troops.
Resolved
Spragg has penned a book on the subject of Miller’s disappearance, called “Resolved.” It is set to be released later this year.
Spragg says the plane was flying low because of poor visibility. When fuel lines froze the engine stopped, giving the plane’s pilot about eight seconds to react before it plunged into the water. Because the plane was constructed of mostly lightweight materials, it probably disintegrated on impact, killing those aboard instantly, Spragg says.
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In the late 1930s, Miller experienced widespread fame with hits like “Tuxedo Junction” and “Chatanooga Choo-Choo.” Even though Miller was in his late 30s and it was unlikely he would have been drafted for World War II, the band leader joined the Army. Spragg says Miller signed up partly out of patriotism and partly for practical reasons, including that Miller may have had a hard time keeping young musicians in the band because of the draft.
As a major in the U.S. Army Air Forces Band, Miller led musical shows broadcast from England and meant to boost troop morale.
New Evidence in the Mystery of Glenn Miller’s Fatal Last Flight During WWII
Popular big band leader Glenn Miller lost his life in a plane crash during the Second World War. To this day, the exact cause of the fatal crash and the death of those on the plane with him remains a mystery. Some even believed the story of a plane crash was a cover story for a more sordid end.
For many, Glenn Miller’s music (especially his most famous hit, “In The Mood”) is the sound of the WWII era. When he died, he was mourned throughout the United States.
His music was the background for many a serviceman’s dreams of home while they were at the front. Like the deaths of Elvis Presley, Jimi Hendrix, John Lennon and Kurt Cobain, the death of Miller came not only as a shock but seemed in a way to mark the end of an era. Miller was the biggest star of the Big Band era, and from 1939-43, was the biggest recording artist in the world.
R&R
On December 15, 1944, Miller was scheduled to fly from London to Paris to make arrangements to prepare for a show. His band was to play for troops stationed in Paris and on “R&R” (rest and recreation) from their wartime duties.
That winter was among the worst in modern history. The next day, December 16th, the Germans began their Ardennes offensive, better known as “The Battle of the Bulge”, knowing that the terrible weather would likely keep most Allied planes on the ground.
Glenn Miller ‘died under hail of British bombs’
On December 15 1944, a single-engined Noorduyn Norseman aircraft left Twinwood Farm airbase in south-east England for Paris, carrying the hottest big-band leader of the era, Glenn Miller.
Within two minutes, the plane had vanished into the fog for ever. Not a trace was ever found, nor any reason for its disappearance established.
Wild theories abounded about Miller’s fate – that he had been imprisoned and tortured to death by the Nazis was a favourite, while the more disrespectful whispered that he had died in the arms of a prostitute in Paris and it had to be hushed up.
Now documentary makers have come up with the most convincing and detailed explanation yet for his disappearance: he was the victim of friendly fire – or, more accurately, friendly jettisoning.
1942
Glenn Miller was the man who put American bobbysoxers in the mood for jiving. And sent them swooning to their beds with a moonlight serenade.
With his bland features, thin lips and Wall Street rimless glasses, Miller looked as square as you can get. But he was one of the biggest pop stars of his day. His reputation was only enhanced when he patriotically disbanded his band in 1942. At the height of its popularity to lead the Glenn Miller Army Air Force Band.
He was setting out for Paris to organise a Christmas concert for the troops in liberated Paris when he disappeared.
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