I am fascinated by the true story of “Star dust” a Lancastrianairliner that disappeared in mysterious circumstances on August the 2nd 1947.   The airliners last communication was in morse code the message read “S.T.E.N.D.E.C.” If I may ill recount the story for you.

Wars have a way of forcing technology to develop at a startling pace.  None more so than aircraft design, WW2 saw huge leaps in aircraft engines and aircraft design and lift capacity.   Argueably the most famous of WW2 aircraft is the British heavy bomber the “Avro Lancaster” a huge aircraft even by today’s standards, it weighed all of 29 tonnes unladen, it boasted 4 Rolls Royce “Merlin” engines the same power plant was used in the beautiful “Spitfire” and the legendary “P51 Mustang” of American fame.  The Lancaster bomber could carry a huge bomb load for the day up to a massive 22,000lb “Grand slam” or earth-quake bomb. This aircraft could also fly over very long distances for example with a full bomb load it could fly from Britain to the heart of Germany and back with fuel to spare!  Finally its other attribute was the height it could fly up to 29,000ft unheard of in those days.

Thankfully WW2 ended, due to mass production of theses aircraft there was a surplus of Lancasters at the close of WW2 hundred upon hundred were scrapped flown from the production lines to the scrap dealer!  Some forward thinking people saw another use for the Lancaster, its attributes would lend themselves to make a high flying long distance airliner.  One such group was the fledgling, British South American Airways, they had these bombers converted into “Lancastrians” all the turrets were removed and fared over, a natural metal finish was used.  Seats were added and the fuselage pressurised. 

One such aircraft was named “Stardust” the pilots were ex R.A.F and were very highly trained and experienced.  We are going to look at the last flight of “Star dust” which was from Buenos Aires Argentina to Santiago airport Chile, on August the 2nd 1947.  The pilots had to fly over the Andes mountains, the Lancastrian was one of a handful of aircraft that could fly high enough to clear the mountain range.  Star dust carried a full compliment of passenger and 2 air stewardesses.