Eighty years ago on Aug. 27th, 1944, the great American bandleader Glenn Miller performed at a base some 60 miles north of London, RAF Twinwood, the hub and airfield he frequently flew in and out of during World War II.
But just a few months later, he would disappear on a flight out of the base — a mystery that still endures to this day.
While those questions may never be answered, in the English countryside at the very site of the former base, his legend is still remembered and his music lives on at the annual Twinwood Festival in Bedfordshire, some 40 miles north of London.
Simply just walking around the Twinwood grounds, its history still resonates — the runway now a farm field and many of the military buildings persevering from the war days more than 80 years ago.
Robert Allen is the curator of the Twinwood Aviation Museum, based in the still standing control tower which houses a Glenn Miller collection. Miller, says Allen, originally arrived in England in June 1944 and, over the next few months, performed dozens and dozens of concerts for U.S. forces who were stationed at U.K. bases.
The date was Aug. 27, 1944, and Allen recounts that “Miller’s work schedule was hectic. He really was doing his bit for the war effort.”
Glenn Miller kept playing outdoors at various U.K. bases through October until the cold weather set in. Then, a few months later, on Dec. 15, he boarded a small plane, a Norsemen, along with two others — the pilot Flight Officer John Morgan and Colonel Norman Baesell.
Allen says their destination was Paris. “It was going to be a live radio broadcast, so all the troops were expecting to have this fantastic concert that was going to be beamed across Europe for them which was going to be a really big morale booster.”
Allen emphasizes that it is important to remember that Miller was truly a pop icon of the day, up there with many other big names in the music industry at the time.
There have been many theories over the years as to what might have happened during the fateful flight over the English Channel. Allen believes the carburetor might have iced up or even ice formed on the wings.
Lamour says that Miller’s link to the sound of the period is completely inseparable.
“I know the war time was a terrible time, but you’ve got certain periods that just sum up the feelings, the camaraderie, everybody pulling together and you’ve got the romance of it because people were making the most of what time they had together and the war time dances,” Lamour said “You can picture the couples all dressed up in their best clothes and, you know, the boys all dressed up in their uniforms.”
