One of the more interesting stories to come out of World War Two was that of a B-24D Liberator bomber called the "Lady Be Good" which failed to return from a mission to Italy in 1943. A search failed to find any trace of the plane or its crew of nine.
The wreckage of the plane was discovered 15 years later in the Libyan Desert. It was another two years before the remains of all but one of the nine crew were discovered. The plane had become lost in the darkness and eventually ran out of fuel leaving the crew no choice but to parachute into the darkness. The plane eventually crash landed 16 miles south of where the crew had safely landed.
Inspiration from the "Lady be Good"
The story became the plot for an opera based on the fact that the body of the ninth crew member was never found. "Madeline Lee" was a one act Australian opera, composed by John Haddock to a libretto written by the composer and Michael Campbell. It premiered at the Sydney Opera House on 8 October 2004 in an Opera Australia production directed by Michael Campbell and conducted by Tom Woods. It was a haunting production whose main set item was part of a B24 Liberator bomber.
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