European Stars and Stripes (Newspaper) - March 26, 1968, Darmstadt, Hesse                              Triay Morch a 1�6 the stars and stripes Page 9 25 years ago he goad9 recalls desert epic Tinfu i or a. There Are areas on Earth that s to have been wasted by the creator nothing moves Noth ind ranges and nothing lives. Such an area is the Sahara of Inland Libya.rcposiiu1 on a gravel crusted nlain400 Miles into this Merci less land is the ghostly Shell Ofa b24 Liberator b o m b e r. She once belonged to the . Army corps Tail number 124301 and her n a m e is lady be lady year in Willie april 5. The observe her 25th desert  flew Only one Mission As part of a 25-plane raid on the Naples Harbor april 4, 1943. After that raid she disappeared for 16 years taking her Crew of nine Young americans with her on her flight to oblivion. After 16 years of isolation she was discovered twice in seven  800 Miles from the plane the . Air Force maintains wheelus air base on the outskirts of Tripoli. From Here in the Spring of 1959, the investigation began. But for almost an other year the Case of lady be Good was to be clouded by questions and frustratingly void of  fads were easy enough. She had been assigned to the376th bomb group based at a makeshift Airstrip called Slouch near Benghazi Libya. Her one Chance to do the Job for which she had been built was Mission 109-a High Altitude strike on the Naples  failing to drop her bombs on her target she should not be too harshly judged. On take off that afternoon her four engines sucked in Large volumes of desert Sand causing engine Trou ble Early in the trip. Only 11 of Mission l 9 s planes Ever breached Naples. The other 14 i turned bark and either struggled to Slouch or landed at a British 1 strip on Malta. Only the lady was lost. She turned Back just to minutes Short of Naples maintaining strict radio silence As ordered and was never seen in the air again. B an hour after the last of her Sisters had landed at Slouch she h broke silence and contacted ther Tower at Benina the master control facility for the Benghazi area. Her Pilot. 1st it. William Hatton knew he should have seen the coast and his Home strip Long ago. And wanted a fix on his position. The position he received wasj30 degrees North Northwest. Of so he and i he plane were headed Home. The Type directional finder Inuse Ai Henna at that time re corded a plane s signal identically from both 330 degrees and the reciprocal position. 150 de Grees. Snipe Hatton had told the Tower he was still Over the sea a fix i if 150 degrees was never considered by tin Tower control lers. The 1, Ady be Good was already Over the desert South Southeast of Solm hat 150 do Roecs when she called the Tower. Me was not headed toward no inc but directly away from  ii she had i e it Slouch earlier the wind had been blow Ujj k off the desert but while Sheik jail been away he wind shifted Juvet Loiis a 1 in of exactly 180ui Raees. Her Crew had mistaken a str ii Tail will for a headwind last Mission wreck of the lady be Good litters the otherwise total emptiness of the Sahara. And she had flown directly Over Slouch above overcast that had blacked out the entire Africa coast. The night held her secret until the d Arcy exploration company came in search for Oil in 1959. Her haunted desert was penetrated shortly after the initial Dis covery by one of her contemporaries an air Force c47. The c47 party not equipped for an extended search fanned out from the crash scene for two Days of foot sore search be fore returning to wheelus with out a Trace of the Crew. To provide what was Hope would l e the last chapter in the Story of the lady be Good two men with the army mortuary service in Germany capt. My Ron d. Fuller and Wesley Neep flew to Libya shortly after the discovery of the u u a v k n w o k h h Cery special thu 4th by. Isler a was identified in monday s i As a unit of the 24th div. Uli in. Bikih arty currently ass used to v c corps tuesday Awe hic an Force network d for fax i i o60 j Hyin Iii i on Home 010 he qui by  cxj5b   0700 Woi u1 a j Orio   0305 pop m in 0830 Don min 0905  1 i 091& Tempo 1640 rvs for fur c Neil " 1800 now Tifilo Tuu  Roui Iii � 000 Sci � 100r a i in Street jazz 1030 Ira Cook 1105 collector � Corner 11 to request  1205 sports 1215 requests in ij05 Art la nil. Tur 1315 Good Mutic be j015  2100 Leb Cvrk . To Ness to thu Iti a workshop a Tel Stoi k i 1k. 0 x  i inn i limit Nicoloi i4jl Kiokun m Soo t Tun o c to i Poi t ibo oth. Ill Ham Stein Wolf m.i-m-1-n Rhein Maintz a if Koom my to Aye so is .1 by Imp Tiolu to Ottoiii 001 Jirry i �100 Arnica t or inc i  m re v and i i my i a 1c"i. X1. K hot a 10 Mike  1601 is priv. I 1 0 i   Iii  i. . J "1 a i n i of profile i. J spoil i l n term or. I it p.  i i i. Of 401 aiu1.ini t ill la a j Spita bomber to Lead the search for the Crew. The first clue was 18 Miles North of the plane. Sixteen years earlier a flier had removed his fleece lined flight boots and set j them Side by Side in the desert to Point  flight boots empty canteens parachutes and life preservers All carefully placed to Point North continued for 24 Miles past the first discarded pair of boots. Here the nine men and now the search party came across the tracks of five italia vehicles that had passed through j the desert Early in the War. I when the crewmen had reached these tracks they had walked a least 35 Miles from the bailout Point that was later discovered eight Miles North of the plane. A time consuming search gave the team its last clue a final Parachute Marker. Apparently the men had followed the larger Trail Only to find that it turned South after a few Miles. Here they left their last Chute Point ins North and set out to the sea with no tracks to guide them. J i just North of the last Chute begins the Sand sea of clans Eio one of the most awesome Phenomena of the Sahara. It is a vast expanse of dunes hundreds of feet High made up of an almost Sticky Type of Sand that moves. Tie Crew had probably reached the shifting dunes but after extensive search by helicopter and ground teams there was still no Trace of remains. The teams that had searched and the world that had waited so Long gave up. Deep in the Sahara however the quest for Oil was continuing. Five bodies were discovered on a plateau inside the Sand sea i february of 1960 by an Oil Survey  air Force soon identified the remains As those of Hatton the Pilot 2nd it. Robert Toner co Pilot 2nd it. D. P. Hays the navigator t. Sgt. Robertl Mottee radioman and the Tail gunner s. Sgt. Samuel Adams. The renewed search soon located it. John Woravka. The Bombadier who never joined the others. His Parachute had never fully opened and he had Plum meted to the desert that  remains of t. Sgt. Harold Ripslinger. One of the three who had struck out on april 9. Were soon found 20 Miles North of the first five  Miles further s. Sgt. Guy Shelley Hud died. The re Mains of s. Sgt. Vernon Moore have never been found. Sii i until is v member of the search party first on scene at the crash site Peers through plexiglass of top Turret machine guns searchers shattered plexiglass to allow tremendous heat to escape from the plane s Interior. Hour Hon   20.40 a Miu    Ith can is ii excl rup co 6u- to i the Illi 210? Musi in an a i in Mucsi show Voo worm it Joo 743  2r.0   Koo Woi 111 it 1soo310  Isi 5 i o. In news j la i  Isle Jun for tier Oij Horn,.in in inti r a Louii i sound lxlu1 prof Ifon the s. The Ujj All  i an to  pro jr.nn030  n dior �116 the am i  Job Choiu Mio huh p.1n  ski  broke iat a in b la hop l