In 1974, a low-budget TV movie entitled, The Disappearance of Flight 412 premiered on the NBC TV Network. Starring Glenn Ford and several other familiar actors, one of the characters who portrayed an Air Force pilot was David Soul.
We have mentioned this motion picture on several occasions over the years, but the notable thing about it was that one of the script's writers, himself with a military background, was actually putting into fiction an actual event with which he was familiar. In this case, two Marine pilots disappear while checking out three radar UFOs, and later on only a little aircraft wreckage is located with no trace of the pilots. A similar jet scramble happens only days later, but this is only mentioned by the narrator toward the end.
Adding to the intrigue regarding production of the film, the Aerial Phenomena Research Organization (APRO) of Arizona, then one of the oldest private UFO organizations in the world, provided purportedly real photos of UFOs, and these were displayed as part of the story.
The Disappearance of Flight 412 has long ago faded into the background, probably because of its obvious minimal budget and lack of aliens with laser weapons threatening the planet, but once the viewer understands that there's real -- frightening -- history here, the production takes on a different value for us.
David Soul's role was no more or less noteworthy than that of the other actors, but the fact that he took on this project, primarily a showplace for Glenn Ford, who himself was a military officer and already held views about UFOs, should be of interest particularly to those interested in UFO history. I just wanted you to know.
