Glenn Miller Last Departure — Twinwood Farm Airfield, England

On December 15, 1944, Major Glenn Miller boarded a single-engine UC-64 Norseman aircraft at Twinwood Farm Airfield in Bedfordshire, England, bound for Paris. He was flying ahead of his Army Air Force band to prepare arrangements for concerts celebrating the liberation of the French capital. The aircraft disappeared over the English Channel and was never found. Miller was 40 years old. No wreckage, no bodies, and no definitive explanation has ever been established — his disappearance became one of the enduring mysteries of the Second World War.

Miller had dissolved his enormously successful civilian orchestra in 1942 to enlist and form the American Band of the Allied Expeditionary Force, which performed hundreds of morale-boosting concerts for Allied troops across Britain and Europe. His pre-war recordings — "In the Mood," "Moonlight Serenade," "Pennsylvania 6-5000" — had made him one of the most famous musicians in America. His decision to serve rather than remain home was widely admired. The Twinwood Farm control tower, from which Miller's flight was cleared, still stands.

Twinwood Farm is now an events venue that hosts an annual Glenn Miller festival each August, drawing big band enthusiasts from across Europe. The original control tower has been preserved and contains a small Glenn Miller museum. The airfield's wartime atmosphere is largely intact, making it one of the more evocative musical heritage sites in England.