Star Dust (aeroplane)
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Star Dust was a British South American Airways airliner that mysteriously disappeared on 2 August 1947.
Star Dust (registration G-AGWH), was an Avro Lancastrian airliner, a civilian version of the Lancaster bomber of World War II. On flight CS 59, from Buenos Aires, Argentina, to Santiago, Chile, via Mendoza, Argentina, the airliner vanished, only to be located five decades later.
A comprehensive search of a wide area, including what is now known to have been the crash site, revealed no wreckage. What became of the flight remained a total mystery for over 50 years. Speculation about the cause and nature of Star Dust's disappearance included conspiracy theories such as inter-corporate sabotage and abduction by UFO.
The flight crew of the aircraft were highly experienced former Royal Air Force veterans of World War II, with hundreds of flying-hours' experience in both war and peace; the captain was also an experienced navigator. The aircraft was less than two years old. The six passengers included a King's Messenger carrying diplomatic documents that may have related to the UK's strained relations with the Perón government of Argentina; a German emigré of suspected Nazi sympathies; and a rich Palestinian, said to have been carrying a large diamond sewn into the lining of his jacket.
Shortly before the airliner crashed, it radioed ahead to report its expected arrival above Santiago in four minutes. Mystery continues to surround the word STENDEC, which was the last word of the final Morse-code radio transmission received from the airliner, at 17:41 standard time.
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[edit] Discovery of wreckage; reconstruction of the crash
In 1998, an Argentinian mountain guide came across the wreckage of a Rolls Royce engine at the foot of the remote Tupungato glacier, in the Andes, about 80 kilometres (50 miles) east of Santiago.
In 2000, an Argentinian army expedition found that the wreckage was well localised, suggesting a head-on, rather than a glancing impact. A recovered propeller showed that its engine was running at near-cruise speed at the time of the impact. The undercarriage was still retracted, suggesting controlled flight into terrain. Remains of nine of the eleven victims have been found; they remain unidentified because of the lack of identifiable features and the degradation of their DNA.
In 1947, navigation was done mainly by dead reckoning: calculating the aircraft's position from its bearing and speed and time, with corrections derived from reported winds and observation of ground features. During the final leg of Star Dust's flight, heavy cloud made the ground invisible.
It is possible that, in the absence of ground fixes, a large navigational error was made if the aircraft encountered the jet stream—thin, high-altitude winds that can sometimes blow at high speed in directions different from those of winds observed at ground level. At the time, although the jet stream was known, its actions were not widely understood. The Lancastrian was one of the few airliners then capable of flying that high. If the airliner, which had just crossed the Andes at 24,000 feet (7,315 metres), had encountered the bottom of the jet-stream zone, which, in this area, normally blows from the west and south-west, the crew may have been misled into thinking that they were passing through cloud on the final steep descent into Santiago when they actually were many miles to the east-north-east, over the Tupungato glacier.
The airliner is likely to have flown into a nearly vertical snow field near the top of the glacier, at an altitude of 15,500 feet (4724 m), causing an avalanche that buried the wreckage and concealed it from searchers.
The wreckage became incorporated into the body of the glacier, with fragments emerging many years later and much farther down the mountain. From 1998 to 2000, about ten percent of the wreckage, including engine and propeller parts and the wheels (one with its tyre still inflated), emerged from the glacier, prompting several re-examinations of the accident. More debris is likely to emerge as the glacier melts.
[edit] "STENDEC"
The word STENDEC was reported by the radio operator at Santiago airport as the last word of a "loud and clear" message, albeit keyed "very fast", from Star Dust. "ETA SANTIAGO 17.45 [standard time] STENDEC" was the last of a series of messages transmitted by Star Dust during its flight, reporting its position, altitude, and revised estimated time of arrival (ETA).
The word has entered popular culture as an entertaining puzzle. STENDEC has been interpreted to mean many things, including "Starting En-Route Descent"; "Severe Turbulence Encountered Now Descending Emergency Crash-Landing", folk legend having it that these were recognised WWII abbreviations. These may be later backronyms. The constructions of the acronyms do not follow the pattern of Morse Code Abbreviations. Except the universally recognized 'Q'-codes, such brief abbreviations invented on the spot and strung together would be useless, only confusing their unknowing recipients, including South American air-traffic controllers. It has also been pointed out that the words are an anagram of descent, although unintentionally garbling that word as STENDEC in high-speed Morse code is unlikely. Because the message was sent in Morse code, the key to the message is likely to be rooted in Morse code, rather than in the alphabetic representation.[original research?]
Many hundreds of theories, ranging from the learned to the fantastic, have been presented over the years; but, in the absence of a sound recording of the transmission, the true meaning may remain forever unknown.
STENDEC has occasionally been misspelled STENDEK, which spelling has been adopted by a musician and a 1970s Spanish UFO magazine.
[edit] Casualties
Crew
Captain: Reginald Cook, DSO, DFC, age 29
First Officer: Hilton Cook, age 31
Second Officer: Donald Cheklin, age 27
Radio Operator: Dennis Harmer, age 27
"Stargirl" (flight attendant): Iris Evans, age 26
Passengers
Casis Said Atalah, age 47, was a Palestinian returning to his wife, Lola, and children in Santiago, Chile, after travelling to Palestine to visit his dying mother. A diamond is said to have been stitched into the lining of his suit.
Jack Gooderham, age 42, was a British self-made businessman, travelling with Harald Pagh.
Harald Pagh, age 41, was a Swiss playboy businessman, a polyglot, and a friend of Jack Gooderham; he was travelling to make business contacts and renew friendships.
Martha Limpert, age 67, was a German émigré returning to her home in Temuco, Chile, with her dead husband's ashes, after becoming stranded in Germany for the duration of World War II.
Paul Simpson, age 43, was a British civil servant and polyglot, a King's Messenger carrying diplomatic documents in a large canvas sack intended for the British embassy in Santiago; he joined the Foreign Office directly from Thomas Cook, the travel company.
Peter Young, age 41, a Briton, was a South American agent for the British tyre manufacturer Dunlop; he developed a taste for travel while tutoring Prince Michael of Romania in Bucharest, Romania.
Reginald Cook's widow, Cicely, later committed suicide for reasons believed to be related to the crash.
