The weather stunk from England deep into Germany the night of December 15th. Freezing rain and snow grounded the aircraft of both sides. The skies were eerily quiet. One of the very few planes to venture into the sky from England carried band leader Glenn Miller.
Like celebrities such as Jimmy Stewart, the actor who one day would play Miller in the Hollywood version of the bandleader’s life, Glenn Miller gave his all for the war effort. Before leaving for Europe, he raised millions for war bonds in the U.S. by staging concerts in swing style. The Army awarded him the rank of captain.
Kurt Vonnegut and his vivacious sweetheart Jane had danced to many of Miller’s hits at the Cornell formal dance.
Miller’s next gig was in liberated Paris. The band’s manager, Don Haynes, dropped Miller and Lt, Col. Norman Bessell at Twin-Wood Farm airport in Bedford, England. Haynes wanted to accompany his boss, but Miller discouraged the request. He wanted Haynes to accompany the sixty-member band after the weather cleared.
The temperature was right at the freezing point when a C-64 Canadian Norseman landed to pick up Miller and a military aide. Veteran pilot Johnny Morgan, a USAAF flight officer, thought he could navigate the soupy weather by using the plane’s instruments.
Haynes had his doubts and begged Miller to reconsider.
“This weather would even ground a healthy bird, but I’ll go anyway,” Miller said.
Three days later, Haynes and the orchestra landed in Paris in better weather. There the manager learned the C-64 never arrived. The military brass figured out that the plane had iced over in the air and plummeted into the chilly waters of the English Channel. All three died. [FN Hank Nuwer, Twice to Hell and Back,” Daily Advocate/Early Bird of Greenville, Ohio, December 21, 2021]
All that evening of December 15th, military brass wrung their hands. Without available air support, troops all over Europe were threatened.