Plane Crashes That Never Happened

Peter Noddin wrote in the June 2000 Dirigo Flyer about several "phantom plane crashes" in Maine. In each case eyewitnesses swore that they had seen a plane in distress, but in each case they were proven wrong.

Take the case where 12 people in the Dexter/Dover-Foxcroft area saw a B-17 bomber go down in 1942.

One witness actually saw it fly into one of the ridges, but saw no fire or smoke.

Sheriff's Deputies and State Police responded to the telephone reports of the crash. Local men hiked into the woods to search the area. Dow field rolled a “crash wagon” and detachment of men as well as an aircraft to search the area.

By 4 PM the search was called off. No sign of a crash could be found. No New England base was missing a bomber. At least one witness remained firm in his belief that the plane had crashed and would be found. While a Bangor Daily News reporter phoned in his story that evening, the witness repeatedly cut in on the rural party line to “correct” the assertion that it had only been a crash scare. [Source]