In the late 1950s, British geologists searching for oil came across the wreckage of an American bomber plane in the Libyan Desert.
The ill-fated aircraft in question, the "Lady Be Good," mysteriously vanished during World War II in the spring of 1943, after taking off to bomb Axis targets in Naples, Italy. News of the recovered plane captivated the imagination of The Twilight Zone creator and WWII veteran Rod Serling, who used the stranger-than-fiction discovery as inspiration for the Season 2 premiere: "King Nine Will Not Return."
For More on The Twilight Zone
Did You Know The Twilight Zone Had a Different Narrator Before Series Creator Rod Serling?
The Season 1 Fan Feedback That Changed Rod Serling’s Approach to The Twilight Zone
Every Twilight Zone Parody in The Simpsons' "Treehouse of Horror”
The Twilight Zone episode inspired by the "Lady Be Good" aviation disaster
Marking the Twilight Zone debut of director Buzz Kulik — who ended up helming nine episodes of the classic anthology — the sun-soaked tale centers around the character of James Embry (Bob Cummings), captain and seemingly sole survivor of the titular B-25 bomber that has crashed somewhere in the sands of North Africa.
With no memory of what happened to him or his crew members — all of whom are nowhere to be found — Embry slowly begins to lose his sanity, wondering whether he's dead or merely hallucinating the entire thing.
The second theory turns out to be closer, with the episode's final moments revealing that Embry had a nervous breakdown after seeing the news that a missing plane from WWII had been discovered after so many years. Why such a visceral reaction? Embry was supposed to be on that particular mission, but was discharged for medical reasons. The headline triggered long simmering survivor's guilt and a highly-detailed fever dream. But then why are Embry's shoes filled with sand...?
Per Marc Scott Zicree's The Twilight Zone Companion, "King Nine Will Not Return" was filmed in an actual patch of desert near Lone Pine, California with a surplus B-25 purchased from the Air Force for $2,500 (the equivalent of about $27,000 today). The aircraft was entirely disassembled, shipped to the location in pieces, and then put back together.
Solving the World War II mystery that inspired "King Nine Will Not Return"
According to the aforementioned Twilight Zone Companion, the Air Force dubbed the Lady Be Good discovery as "one of the greatest mysteries in aviation history." Upon further examination, however, it was officially determined that the crew of nine men was forced to abandon the craft after losing both visibility and fuel.
The National Museum of the United States Air Force website states that the remains of eight of the nine crew members were ultimately found, "one near the plane and the other seven far to the north." Miraculously, five of the men had made it 78 miles before dying, while another had managed 109 miles. "In addition, they had lived eight days rather than only two expected of men in this area with little or no water," the site continues. "The body of the ninth man was never found."
Classic episodes of The Twilight Zone air regularly on SYFY. Click here for complete scheduling info!
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