Talk:Lady Be Good (aircraft)

Article origins
This article was originally part of Lady Be Good and was created by other writers. I have moved the discussion about the aircraft to its own article. 23skidoo 20:11, 8 December 2005 (UTC)

PREVIOUS DISCUSSION The following two threads were originally posted at the talk page for Lady Be Good but have been transferred here to maintain continuity of discussion about the airplane. 23skidoo 20:15, 8 December 2005 (UTC)
 * For anyone interested, the original Lady Be Good article is now a disambiguation page, with separate articles now for Lady Be Good (musical) and Lady Be Good (1941 film). 23skidoo 03:17, 17 August 2006 (UTC)

TV Movie
I seem to recall a made-for-TV movie about the airplane. GreatWhiteNortherner 21:04, May 21, 2004 (UTC)

Prehaps this movie your thinking about:
 * In the 1950's the Twilight Zone presented a fictional retelling of the "Lady be Good" called King Nine will not Return. Several years ago the History Channel had a program on the "Lady be Good".
 * The story of the "Lady Be Good" inspired a 1960s television movie titled "The Sole Survivor", with a B-25 Mitchell playing the B-24D role.

Plane coordinates
I made an effort to place the coordinates of the plane. I could not find any existing coordinates besides 385 nm / 440 sm "south" of Tobruk (sometimes given as 385 nm/440 sm south of Soluch but not according to this map), and 150 magnetic heading from Soluch. The magnetic declination on that date was -1.9 deg. This triangulates it near 25.7° N 24.6° E. If anyone can narrow this further, so much the better. -Timvasquez 06:03, 17 July 2005 (UTC)


 * I just found this source which says "351 nm southeast of Solucha", along the 150 mag heading (148 deg true). If this is correct we'd be looking at 27.1N 23.7E.  Then we have another source which says a 140 degree heading!  I believe 150 mag 351 nm from Solucha is likely to be more accurate and will go with that until anyone can unravel all this apocryphal information a bit better. -Timvasquez 06:19, 17 July 2005 (UTC)

Hello A GPS position taken at the site just before the plane was moved to Tobruk is, N 26 42 45.7, E 24 01 27.0

with the memorial marker a slight distance away at, N26 42 06, E24 01 36

The coordinates in this wikipedia entry are off by many many miles and I hope are corrected soon. The positions above also agree with the map of the site in McClendon's book Lady Be Good. The book also states that a body was found 12 miles NNE of the crash site at N 26 54, E 24 08

and one at N 28 10, E 23 05 5 bodies were found approx 21 miles ssw of this spot and another was found 6 miles nnw which is 90 miles from the bailout point and 27 miles into the dunes

November 9?
Changed dates; November 9, 1958 - where did that come from? Dysmorodrepanis 17:35, 7 February 2007 (UTC)

Article name
Probably should be named Lady be Good (B-24). I have not got much time to change it and the links just now. Snowman 13:11, 22 May 2007 (UTC)

Possible Reference
Has Edward D. Hoch ever said whether "Day of the Wizard" was based on the Lady be Good? Ralphmerridew 14:09, 12 July 2007 (UTC)
 * Or did Desmond Bagley ever state that the character Luke Byrne in his 1978 novel "Flyaway" was influenced by this event? Mr Larrington (talk) 15:34, 3 October 2014 (UTC)

Correct name
Most of the text, and the USAF EL, gives the aircraft's name as Lady Be Good, not Lady be Good, the small "b" being gramatically incorrect. We'd need to see a definitive, reliable source which gives the name as Lady be Good to move it back. - BillCJ (talk) 06:01, 23 February 2008 (UTC)

Conspiracy theories much??
I just saw it on TV and bang bang shot down! And dont come here and make threats either. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 83.102.43.193 (talk) 05:27, 6 May 2008 (UTC)


 * Please refrain from adding consipiracy theories - You will need to provide a reliable source for adding information contrary to contempary and historic sources already cited. MilborneOne (talk) 20:12, 6 May 2008 (UTC)


 * Say what? i am adding conspiracy theories?? Think its vice versa here! The plane was shot down with nazi bullets and thats it, proof you say? I should have taped what they said on History channel last night, posted it on youtube and added a link here! Use your head! Plane is hit by another plane (An inexperienced crew on its first mission jumps and dies in the desert) How complicated is that to understand? This article is written like a damn conspiracy theory. Hope someone will fix this idiocy. NAZI BULLETS BANG BANG! Shame they died naturally but thats why they call it WAR. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 83.102.43.193 (talk) 17:20, 7 May 2008 (UTC)


 * If they are other theories (either the shot down or the hit by another plane or other alternate theories) then they can be added but you need to discuss it on this page when you have reliable sources. MilborneOne (talk) 17:48, 7 May 2008 (UTC)

Being stationed at Wheelus Air Base in 1967 I heard several rumors about the Lady Be Good. Mainly on the discovery of it. one in particular stated the discoverers found a hot cup of coffee and a cigarette butt. Not claiming any are true, just stating what I personally was told by Airmen who had been stationed at Wheelus AFB longer than I. — Preceding unsigned comment added by 67.232.105.19 (talk) 01:50, 6 March 2017 (UTC)

Date of finding
The whole point that makes this case interesting is that it took so long to find her; "and was later discovered" in the introductry papragraph rather understates this. I think it should be modified to something like "and was discovered almost 16 years later by chance in 1958" (or whichever date one regards as the 'discovery' date).

86.155.231.155 (talk) 17:00, 19 December 2008 (UTC)

Survival data
I understood (though I can state no source) that the data on how far the crew travelled over how long is now incorporated into official US manuals on desert survival, as being the real thing rather than based on volunteers in artificial tests. This is a kind of memorial to them as well, and if true should be mentioned.

86.155.231.155 (talk) 17:00, 19 December 2008 (UTC)

What happened to the remains of the plane?
A few years ago I saw a show about this on the History Channel, in they said that at some point the remains of the bomber were collected by the Libyan military and are stored. I remember a picture of the tail section in front of a hanger. If someone can confirm these things they should be added. 201.34.84.27 (talk) 22:21, 25 January 2012 (UTC)


 * The article now explains that parts were sent to the US, and the rest was stored at what was then Gamal Abdul El Nasser Air Base. Given subsequent events in Libya this raises the question of whether the wreckage still exists. -Ashley Pomeroy (talk) 13:36, 1 January 2016 (UTC)


 * NB this page has some photographs from 2009 - it was in remarkably good condition. -Ashley Pomeroy (talk) 13:37, 1 January 2016 (UTC)

Doesn't make sense...
In the Diary Details and Conclusions section, there is a paragraph that speculates about the crew's survival had they walked south instead of north.

It includes the line:

"Additionally, if they had headed south they would have very probably found the wreckage of the Lady Be Good with its water and food supplies, however meager, along with its working radio, which they might have used to call for help."

This sounds like it is talking about the crew of another downed airplane. Why would the crew of the LBG walk north, then walk south, only to be surprised to find the wreckage of their own plane, then use its radio and scrounge for supplies? This line doesn't make any sense.

Also, the paragraph starts out "Some believe..." Who? Any references? — Preceding unsigned comment added by 68.14.74.140 (talk) 16:41, 23 March 2012 (UTC)


 * Finding it in the condition that it ended up in would have been quite surprising. Unpiloted planes tend not to effect landings as soft as that experienced by the LBG. Crew would probably have assumed she would have suffered far more damage than she actually did.
 * The "some believe" conclusion I remember reading myself, I'll have a look for a book I have that touches on the topic later. -  Chrism  would like to hear from you 13:54, 24 March 2012 (UTC)


 * This momentarily threw me as well - you have to remember that the aircraft carried on flying for another sixteen miles after they bailed out. If they had met up in the desert and then marched south, they might have found the relatively intact wreckage of their own plane. -Ashley Pomeroy (talk) 13:29, 1 January 2016 (UTC)

First Sighting
The article claims two different dates for the first sighting of the aircraft: November 9, 1958 and May 16, 1958.--86.178.52.44 (talk) 01:30, 22 April 2012 (UTC)

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A Commons file used on this page or its Wikidata item has been nominated for deletion
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 * Lady Be Good crash photos 1960 -3.jpg