A Consolidated C-87, the cargo version of the B-24, took off at 1 a.m. on February 9, 1943, from West Palm Beach, Fla., bound for the Azores en route to North Africa. The crew leveled the at 9,000 feet, but the pilot was barely able to maintain altitude. Worse, the elevator and rudders began to vibrate violently through the control column and rudder pedals. With the airplane only about 90 miles east of Florida, the pilot initiated a return, and the crew lightened their load by tossing out baggage and cargo. By the time they were inbound and descending just 10 miles east of Miami, the C-87 had become so uncontrollable that the pilot ordered the crew and passengers to jump, then followed after turning on the autopilot. Presumably, he didn’t have enough control to turn the airplane seaward rather than leaving it on course toward the heavily populated Florida coast. The Coast Guard and several civilian boats pulled six of the eight jumpers from the water, but two were never seen again. Meanwhile, the C-87, having shed another 1,500 pounds of its load, shrugged its aluminum shoulders and climbed back to altitude, now headed west and under the control of the autopilot; if its tail surfaces were still vibrating, it didn’t seem to bother George. About 4½ hours later, after crossing the Gulf of Mexico, the C-87 had traveled 1,300 miles and reached Zaragoza, Mexico, 25 miles southwest of the U.S. border. For two hours the Liberator Express carved lazy orbits over the Mexican town and finally crashed into a nearby mountain. #unreal #aviationstory #aviationstories #unbelivable