Air travel is one of the safest ways to get around — but throughout history, there have been mysterious cases where planes simply vanished without a trace. These disappearances have sparked countless theories, searches, and documentaries, but many questions remain unanswered.
Here’s a look at some of the most famous missing airplane cases up to the end of the 21st century:
✈️ 1. Amelia Earhart’s Disappearance (1937)
What happened: On July 2, 1937, Amelia Earhart — one of the most famous pilots in history — vanished while trying to fly around the world in her Lockheed Electra 10E.
Who was on board: Earhart and her navigator, Fred Noonan.
Where: Over the Pacific Ocean, near Howland Island.
✈️ 2. Flight 19 (1945)
What happened: On December 5, 1945, five U.S. Navy torpedo bombers disappeared during a training mission off the coast of Florida.
Who was on board: 14 crew members.
Where: The infamous Bermuda Triangle.
Status: A rescue plane sent after them also vanished with 13 more people. No wreckage was ever discovered. This case helped fuel the Bermuda Triangle legend.
✈️ 3. BSAA Star Tiger and Star Ariel (1948 & 1949)
What happened: Two separate British South American Airways aircraft disappeared about a year apart.
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Star Tiger vanished on Jan 30, 1948.
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Star Ariel disappeared on Jan 17, 1949.
Where: Both flights were traveling over the Atlantic between Bermuda and Jamaica.
Status: No debris or bodies were ever found, adding to the Bermuda Triangle mystery.
✈️ 4. Flying Tiger Line Flight 739 (1962)
What happened: On March 16, 1962, a military-chartered Lockheed L-1049 Super Constellation disappeared while flying from Guam to the Philippines.
Who was on board: 96 U.S. soldiers and 11 crew members.
Status: No distress call was received. Massive search efforts failed to locate any wreckage.
✈️ 5. Malaysia Airlines Flight MH370 (2014)
What happened: On March 8, 2014, Flight MH370 vanished en route from Kuala Lumpur to Beijing with 239 people on board.
Where: Somewhere over the Indian Ocean.
Status: Despite global search efforts and the discovery of some debris on Indian Ocean islands, the main wreckage has never been found. It remains one of the biggest aviation mysteries of our time.
✈️ 6. Air France Flight 447 (2009)
What happened: This Airbus A330 disappeared over the Atlantic Ocean on June 1, 2009, during a flight from Rio de Janeiro to Paris.
Where: Mid-Atlantic, during a storm.
Status: It took two years to locate the wreckage and retrieve the black boxes. Investigators found that the crash was caused by equipment failure and pilot error in severe weather.
✈️ 7. Uruguayan Air Force Flight 571 (1972)
What happened: This flight, carrying a Uruguayan rugby team, crashed in the Andes mountains.
Who was on board: 45 people.
Status: Though initially believed lost, survivors were found 72 days later. The story inspired books and movies like Alive, due to the extreme survival conditions. While not a "missing" plane in the traditional sense, it was lost long enough to spark global mystery.
✈️ 8. DC-4 Flight from Anchorage to Tokyo (1951)
What happened: A Canadian Pacific Air Lines DC-4 vanished on July 21, 1951.
Who was on board: 37 people.
Where: Over the Pacific Ocean between Alaska and Japan.
Status: No trace of the aircraft was ever found despite an extensive search. The remote area and ocean depth made the search extremely difficult.
✈️ 9. Flying Boxcar C-119 (1962, Alaska)
What happened: A U.S. Air Force C-119 plane disappeared in Alaska with 6 people on board.
Status: A decades-long search followed. In 2021, partial wreckage was finally identified, but the full aircraft remains missing.
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