Aviation Ghost Stories

[Spiny Norman]

Well it is Halloween and I wondered if anyone has their own spooky encounters to share. Despite living near Montrose for a few years never heard or saw anything of the famous World War One ghost - the only one to appear in official records if I remember rightly.

I like the one of astronaut Deke Slayton's plane being reported for noise violations. When told about this, his wife was surprised, as her husband had died a few hours previously and N21X was in a museum hundreds of miles away in Nevada...

[FarnboroJohn]

I always liked Frederick Forsyth's "The Shepherd" - that's a proper aviation ghost story!

[Victor77]

Where I used to work once, a colleague told me of someone seeing a WW2 airman walking around the site. This was on an old Lancaster base I laughed, but he was very emphatic about this and kept going on about it!

[iainpeden]

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eastern_A ... Flight_401

[boff180]

The Ghost Stations series of books are pretty good, the original series of books are better.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ghost_Stations

I’ve heard it said that if someone has died in a fire you’re more likely to see them....

[NAM Updater]

The Ghost Stations series of books are pretty good, the original series of books are better.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ghost_Stations

We still have some pre-owned copies on sale in the Museum Shop!

http://www.newarkairmuseum.org/Museum-Shop

[GeeRam]

25 years ago, a large group of us were attending a Hangar Dance at Earls Colne airfield, and a good friend of mine had gone for a break outside the hangar, and a short time later he came back in and sat down among us and was shaking - and another friend said "Whats the matter Ash, you look like you've seen a ghost".
Turns out he had. Although, even 25 years later he still can't explain what he saw other than it looked like a USAAF airman in crusher cap and A2 flying jacket (which he just thought was someone from inside given half the people attending were similarly dressed) until this figure just walked straight through one of the vehicles as if it didn't exist.
From what I've heard, I believe he's not the only one to have seen a 'ghost' of a US airman at Earls Colne over the years, and my friend who had been a firm non-beliver in such things reckons the hangar full of people dressed in WW2 uniform dancing the night away to WW2 era music must have attracted this spirit to make an appearance......even though to this day he still struggles to reconcile with what he believes he saw.

[AndyXH558]

There is Deffinetly a ghost at Elvington, Once all the hangar lights were turned on a while after they were turned off and a few people have seen something in the tower too.

[TEXANTOMCAT]

Does anyone remember the story about the Wellington crew that ditched in the North Sea and a ‘WW1’ aeroplane flew over their Aerodrome at night and dropped a note with their position and they were rescued? I’m sure it was in one of the Ghost Stations books?

TT

[ThreeM]

Had a spooky experience at Netheravon, an airfield with origins going back to the first world war. It was 1969 and the weekend of the British National Parachuting Championships. The father of a friend was flying one of the jump ships and the three of us flew there from RAF Abingdon in Dragon Rapide G-AGSH of the Royal Air Force Sport Parachute Association. There was an overnight stay and my friend and I had to doss down in an office in one of the hangars which housed all the 'chute packing tables. As all the expensive jump rigs were also stored there we were locked in. In the early hours we were both woken up by loud footsteps that very slowly moved from one end of the building to the other and in the quiet of the night echoed eerily in the vast expanse of the hangar. We didn't get much sleep after that. At 6am the hangar doors were unlocked and we emerged into the light, although never shared our spooky nocturnal experience!

[nighthawk999]

Back in the late 1990s I was on hols with my now ex partner in Paignton.One day we were on our way to Buckfast Abbey and driving along a fairly narrow road.
A few hundred feet in front of us were two low-ish grassy hills with a gap between them.Some kind of"instinct"made me tell her to stop the car,and a few seconds later,2 or maybe 3(long time ago)what by the wing shape looked like Canberras moved from left to right and performed tight banking turns between the hills and then disappeared.
The spooky thing was there wasn't any noise at all!Sod's Law being what it is,my film SLR kit was locked away in the car boot and no time to get it out.
I've searched online but can't find any reports of"ghost" Canberras in the area,or incidents,crashes etc that would lead to the flight being"replayed" throughout time,perhaps on that specific date each year.
All most weird.

[Spiny Norman]

Some good stories here! The hairs on the back of the neck getting plenty opportunity to be raised. The airmen walking through a vehicle is similar to a story a friend told once about him coming back from the pub and seeing a man running towards them. This man got near and then put his hand out as if to vault a fence. Which wasn't there.

I must try and find out more about that Wellington rescue story, intriguing one indeed.

If you do or don't believe in ghosts, there's so many stories that there has to be a reason behind it. I wonder if we will ever find a scientifically proven explanation.

[Andy'll do]

I have always kept an open mind about such things. Not everybody, who has claimed to have seen something, is drunk/drugged , or, making it up. Have never seen anything myself but, as i said, i keep an open mind.

[Smog Monster]

Always been particularly fascinated by the tale of the Metheringham Lass in the Ghost Stations book... not sure why.