VANISHED-AMERICANS-L8   -- HIGH STRANGENESS - NOTHING MAKES SENSE!

THE L-8's MISSION ON THE DAY OF THAT ITS CREW WENT MISSING ---  WAS TO SCOUT THE SEA LANES OUTSIDE OF SAN FRANCISCO BAY. THE AIRSHIP WOULD LOOK FOR ENEMY SUBMARINES AND ESCORT FREIGHTER CONVOYS.

AT 6:30 AM, THE L-8 LEFT ITS TREASURE ISLAND MOORINGS AND WENT ON DUTY. AT 7:42AM, L-8's CAPTAIN CODY, RADIOED HQ THAT THE AIRSHIP WAS GOING TO INVESTIGATE AN OIL SLICK NEAR THE FALLON ISLANDS WHICH LIES 30 MILES WEST OF THE GOLDEN GATE BRIDGE.

THE L-8 WAS SEEN BY THE CREW OF FISHING VESSELS OFF OF THE FALLON ISLANDS. AT 300 FEET THE L-8 CIRCLED THE OIL SLICK, A FLAIR WAS DROPPED ONTO THE OCEAN FROM ITS GONDOLA TO MARK THE AREA. AFTER THE FLAIR WAS DROPPED THE AIRSHIP AT GREAT SPEED ROSE STRAIGHT UP INTO THE CLOUDS.

AT 8:30AM THE L-8's LAND CONTROLLERS BECAME CONCERNED, BECAUSE THE AIRSHIP WAS NOT RESPONDING TO ITS RADIO MESSAGES. WAS THE RADIO BROKEN, HAD THE CRAFT BEEN SHOT DOWN OVER THE PACIFIC BY A SURFACED JAPANESE SUBMARINE?

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VANISHED-AMERICANS-L8  

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AT 11;15AM THE L-8 WAS SIGHTED BY SUNBATHERS AND SPORTSMEN AT OCEAN BEACH, CALIFORNIA. THE BLIMP SAGGED IN THE MIDDLE, THIS SAG BECAME WORSE, AND THE AIRSHIP EVENTUALLY RESEMBLED A BENT WEENIE.

THE L-8 DRIFTED INLAND OVER THE OLYMPIC GOLF COURSE, AS THE BLIMP SNAGGED ONTO A BLUFF, A DEPTH CHARGE BROKE OFF OF THE AIRSHIP. THE DEPTH CHARGE DID NOT EXPLODE.

THE BLIMP--DRIFTED OVER DALY CITY, TELEPHONE LINES, TREES AND ROOFS WERE BUMPED INTO.

THE L-8 CAME TO STOP OVER THE 400TH BLOCK OF BELLEVUE AVENUE, UPON ITS LANDING, THE BALLOON LOST WHAT WAS LEFT OF ITS AIR.

VOLUNTEER FIREMAN WILLIAM MORRIS AND OTHER CIVILIANS WERE THE FIRST ONTO THE SCENE AND ENTERED INTO THE GONDOLA. ONE OF THE (LIES) or ODD STORIES WHICH I DO NOT BELIEVE IS THAT ON A TABLE INSIDE THE GONDOLA WAS A CUP OF STEAMING COFFEE. HOW A CUP OF COFFEE COULD STAY UPRIGHT WITH ALL THE BUMPS THAT THE L-8 TOOK MAKES THIS TALE SUSPECT.

DEPENDING ON THE SOURCE, THE L-8s ENGINES HAD BEEN STARVED OF FUEL, THE GAS LINES HAD BEEN CLOSED BY WAY OF VALVES INSIDE THE GONDOA BY EITHER CODY OR ADAMS. ANOTHER YARN HAS IT THAT THE L-8 HAD RISSEN SO HIGH THAT THE ENGINES HAD BEEN STARVED OF OXYGEN, THE FUEL LINES WERE OPEN BUT THE MOTORS WERE DEAD. YET ANOTHER TALE HAS THE ENGINES BEING TURNED OFF BY THE PEOPLE WHO ENTERED THE CRASHED GONDOLA.

WHAT IS NOT DISPUTED, IS THAT CODY AND ADAMS WERE MISSING.  

VANISHED-AMERICANS-L8  -- WHAT HAD BECOME OF THE 2-MAN CREW?  

WHAT IS FACT---THE GONDOLA's DOOR WAS LATCHED OPEN. THE AIRSHIPS LOUDSPEAKER DANGLED OUTSIDE OF THE GONDOLA DOOR.

WHATEVER HAD HAPPENED TO THE CREW OF THE L-8--THAT EVENT HAPPENED SO FAST, THAT CODY OR ADAMS HAD NO TIME TO SEND OFF AN S.O.S.

THE GONDOLA SHOWED NO SIGNS OF FIRE OF OF HAVING GONE INTO THE OCEAN. THE CREWS' PARACHUTES, SURVIVAL GEAR AND RAFT WERE STOWED AWAY, SO WERE THE AIRSHIP's WEAPONS, MINUS THE DEPTH CHARGE.

THE ONLY THING MISSING WERE THE TWO MAE WEST LIFE PRESERVERS THAT BOTH CREWMEN WORE WHILE IN THE AIRSHIP.

WHAT WAS ALSO FOUND IN THE GONDOLA WAS A TOP SECRET FOLDER, CONCERNING MILITARY ORDERS AND CODE. THIS FOLDER WHICH WAS GIVEN TO EACH PATROL CREW WAS TO BE DESTROYED UPON CAPTURE. UPON THE L-8s CRASH, THE MILITARY AND CIVILIAN AUTHORITES CONDUCTED A SEARCH FOR THE MISSING CREWMEN ON LAND AND SEA THE SEARCH PROVED TO BE FRUITLESS. THE MILITARY CAME TO THE CONCLUSION THAT THE AIRSHIP WAS CREWLESS AS IT DRIFTED OVER LAND.

WHATEVER HAD HAPPENED TO THE CREW, HAD HAPPENED BETWEEN THE TIME THE L-8 SUDDENLY ROSE INTO THE CLOUDS NEAR THE FALLON ISLANDS AND WHEN THE AIRSHIP WAS SIGHTED NEAR OCEAN BEACH. IN OTHER WORDS --THE VANISHING HAPPENED WHILE THE L-8 WAS OVER THE SEA.

WHAT IS ODD IS THAT THE OCEAN SEARCH DID NOT FIND THE BODIES OF EITHER CREWMEN, THEIR CLOTHING OR LIFE PRESERVERS. THE SEARCH WAS INTENSIVE, YET NOT ONE SHREAD OF EVIDENCE WAS EVER WASHED UP ONTO THE CALIFORNIA COAST OR WAS FOUND FLOATING IN THE WATER.

AT FIRST THE MILITARY LABLED THE TWO MISSING CREWMEN AS MISSING, IN 1943 THE NAVY LISTED ADAMS AND CODY AS PRESUMED DEAD.

SOME SLEUTHS THINK THAT THE DUO FELL OUT OF THE GONDOLA AND THE FISH ATE THEIR BODIES. THE FISHERMEN WHO SAW THE L-8 RISE RAPIDLY INTO THE CLOUDS, CLAIM THAT THEY THERE WERE CERTAIN THAT NOBODY FELL OUT OF THE BLIMP.

THE WEIRD BEARDS THINK THE DUO WERE CAPTURED BY ALIENS, THE L-8 WAS TRACTOR BEAMED INTO THE CLOUDS WHERE UPON THEY WERE ABDUCTED.

AS FOR THE IDEA THAT THE L-8 CAME OUT OF THE CLOUDS UNSEEN AND HOVERED OVER ANOTHER SPOT OF THE OCEAN AT SEA LEVEL--- AND WERE CAPTURED BY THE CREW OF A SURFACED JAPANESE SUBMARINE , THAT THEORY DOES NOT RING TRUE.

CAPTURED JAPANESE MILITARY RECORDS, STATE THAT THERE WAS NO JAPANESE WARSHIP, SURFACE OR SUBMARINE IN THE AREA OF WHERE THE L-8 PATROLLED IN AUGUST OF 1942. THE JAPANESE RECORDS WERE GONE OVER THOROUGHLY AT THE END OF WORLD WAR II, ALSO THE GONDOLA SHOWED NO BATTLE DAMAGE.

SO WHAT BECAME OF THE MISSING DUO? AS FAR AS I CAN TELL, MY RESEARCH INDICATES THAT THIS IS THE ONLY EVENT THAT CONCERNS ITSELF WITH A BLIMP-CIVILIAN OR MILITARY-- THAT LOST ITS CREW. 

VANISHED-AMERICANS-L8  -- ABOVE: ONE CAN MAKE OUT WHAT LOOKS LIKE THE SPEAKER DANGLING FROM THE CABIN.

VANISHED-AMERICANS-L8  -- If you have any info on this mysterious vanishing contact ALLAN santafewriter@me.com

VANISHED-AMERICANS -L8  -- LEFT - A VIEW OF THE CABIN 1942 CRASH.. ABOVE- THE  CABIN at NAVAL AVIATION MUSEUM - PENSACOLA, FLORIDA