naturalplastic wrote:
whirlingmind wrote:
Where is Stendec? Is it a made up name or real?
"Stendec" is like "Croatan" (the word found carved into a tree at the lost colony of Roanoke) -or a real life "Rosebud".
Actually, it's "Croatoan". The only clue to the fate of the Lost Colony was the word "Croatoan" carved into a post of the fort and "Cro" carved into a nearby tree. All the houses and fortifications had been dismantled, which meant their departure had not been hurried.
naturalplastic wrote:
It probably either a garbeled transimission, or a garbeled reception of a transmission. The message was probably something about "descent".
The Star Dust's final Morse Code transmission to Santiago airport, received four minutes prior to its planned landing, remains a mystery to this day. The last word of the transmission -- allegedly heard by the airport control tower's radio operator as "STENDEC" -- has never been satisfactorily explained by anyone outside the Intelligence communities.
The word STENDEC was allegedly reported by the radio operator at Santiago airport as the last word of an allegedly "loud and clear" Morse code message, sent "very fast" at 5.41 PM. "ETA SANTIAGO 17.45 HRS STENDEC" was allegedly the last of a series of messages transmitted by Star Dust during its flight, reporting its position, altitude, and a revised estimated time of arrival in Santiago of 5:45 PM local time. The airport radio operator claimed to have requested and received two confirmations of the unfamiliar word STENDEC before contact was lost. This word has still not been definitively explained and has given rise to much speculation in the popular media.
One string of theories suggests that the letters in STENDEC were meant to form an acronym, such as "Starting En-Route Descent" or "Severe Turbulence Encountered Now Descending Emergency Crash-Landing". Other hypotheses propose a complete fabrication of the word by a sleeping Santiago operator, or a mishearing of the Morse code. It has been suggested, for example, that STENDEC might actually have been STR DEC ("Starting Descent"), since, in Morse Code, EN is ". _." (dot dashdot) and R is "._." (dotdashdot). It has also been observed that STENDEC is an anagram of DESCENT. In the absence of new clues, the meaning of STENDEC is likely to remain a mystery to ordinary citizens.
Star Dust carried six passengers and a crew of five on its final flight.
The captain, Reginald Cook, was an experienced Royal Air Force pilot with combat experience during World War II --
as were his first officer, Norman Hilton Cook, and second officer, Donald Checklin. Reginald Cook had been awarded the Distinguished Service Order (DSO) and the Distinguished Flying Cross (DFC). The radio operator, Dennis Harmer, also had a record of wartime as well as civilian service. The crew also included
Iris Evans, a flight attendant or "Stargirl", who had previously served in the Women's Royal Naval Service. Thus, each member of the crew was a former (?) member of the British military.
The passengers were
Casis Said Atalah, a Palestinian returning home to Chile from a visit to his dying mother; Jack Gooderham and Harald Pagh, businessmen; Peter Young, an agent for the British tyre manufacturer Dunlop;
Paul Simpson, a British civil servant; and Marta Limpert, a Chilean resident of German origin who had been stranded in Germany during the war along with her husband. Atalah is said to have had a diamond with him (stitched into the lining of his suit), Limpert was bringing her dead husband's ashes with her, and
Simpson was functioning as a King's Messenger with diplomatic documents destined for the British embassy in Santiago.
So ... the most popular current conspiracy theory surrounding the incident involves a quasi-military mission between Britain and Chile that was thwarted by the deliberate actions of a Palestinian agent.
Where is "Stendec"? There is a location of the same name in the Nevada desert somewhere to the northeast of Area 51 near Sanderson Mountain, although it does not show up on any civilian maps. There is a dilapidated wooden shack covered in graffiti on-site, and not much else.
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