New The Homesick Mechanic Who Stole A Plane

In 1969, at the acme of the Cold War, a mechanic inwards the U.S. Air Force stole a Hercules plane from his base of operations inwards East Anglia in addition to educate off for the States. Just nether ii hours later, he disappeared all of a precipitous over the English linguistic communication Channel.

Homesick for his married adult woman in addition to stepchildren, he'd asked a few days before to survive returned from RAF Mildenhall inwards Suffolk, where he'd been posted, to the USAF base of operations at Langley, Virginia. But his asking for piece of occupation out had been refused.

Bitterly disappointed, the immature Vietnam veteran took himself off to a nation of war machine colleague's family party, where he began drinking heavily in addition to then, according to colleagues, to comport erratically in addition to combatively. His friends persuaded him to become to bed, merely Meyer escaped through a window.

Soon after, Suffolk police trace constitute him wandering the A11 route in addition to arrested him for existence boozer in addition to disorderly. He was escorted dorsum to his barracks in addition to told to slumber it off. But Meyer had other ideas. Big ideas.

Breaking into the room of a Capt Upton, Meyer stole the fundamental to his truck. Using the elevate "Capt Epstein", Meyer thus called an aircraft dispatcher in addition to demanded that aircraft 37789, a Hercules transporter C-130, survive fuelled for a flying to the USA.

The Earth crew obediently followed their superior's orders in addition to the bogus captain climbed aboard, released the brakes in addition to taxied hurriedly from the hardstand towards rail 29. His engines roared.

Completely lonely inwards the cockpit of the stolen 60-tonne, four-engine nation of war machine transporter plane, an aircraft he was non qualified to fly, the 23-year-old serviceman steeled himself in addition to thrust his throttles forward. Shortly before 05:10 on the dawn of the drizzly, overcast morning time of 23 May, he was airborne.

After an lx minutes in addition to forty-five minutes inwards flight, Meyer crashed into the English linguistic communication Channel.

Influenza A virus subtype H5N1 few days later, modest pieces of wreckage of the Hercules, including a life raft washed upwardly nearly the shores of the Channel Island of Alderney. The mechanic's torso was never found.

http://www.bbc.com/news/stories-43800089

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