List of previously missing aircraft
This is a list of previously missing aircraft that disappeared in flight for reasons that were initially never definitely determined. The status of "previously missing" is a grey area, as there is a lack of sourcing on both the amount of debris that needs to be recovered, as well as the amount of time it takes after the crash for the aircraft to be recovered while searching, to fit this definition. According to Annex 13 of the International Civil Aviation Organization, an aircraft is considered to be missing "when the official search has been terminated and the wreckage has not been located", but this does not go into defining found aircraft. The following entries are aircraft that gained widespread acclaim for once being missing.
Legend
List of aircraft
| Date | Aircraft | People missing | Type of incident | Location | Remarks |
| A-5597 | 5 | Unknown | Balloon found on April 8, 1921. | ||
| Dixmude | 49 | Storm damage or mid-air explosion | A total of 42 crew members and 7 passengers were initially reported missing by the French government, who issued its own series of reports of rumoured sightings of the airship. It wasn't until December 26, 1923 when debris & the body of Jean du Plessis de Grenedan were found in the sea near Sciacca, Sicily that the French government admitted to the loss. Information which included eye witness accounts had been intentionally withheld for political reasons. | ||
| Fokker T.III | 2 | Crashed in fog | English Channel en route from Amsterdam to Lisbon | Aircraft debris from the seaplane was discovered on November 18, 1924. | |
| Fokker F.VIIA | 3 | Overloading | Wreckage was discovered by SS Kyle on September 12, 1927. | ||
| Vickers Wellesley | 3 | Unknown | The flight crew consisted of Flt. Lt. F.S. Gardner, F/O G.J.D. Thomson & Sgt. G. Higgs, Long Range Development Unit. Debris was later found near Stavanger, the Air Ministry concluded that they were parts of the aircraft that went down. | ||
| L-class blimp | 2 | Unknown | Two navy officers, Lieutenant Ernest D. Cody and Ensign Charles D. Adams were on a routine anti-submarine patrol. Their airship was later spotted drifting back inland where it crashed with nobody aboard. | ||
| PV-1 Ventura | 6 | Engine failure, training flight in low-visibility conditions | Wreckage found by a hiker in 2004 | ||
| P-38 Lightning | 1 | Unknown | Famous for writing The Little Prince. His bracelet was found by a fisherman in September 1998. Aircraft wreckage found in October 2003. | ||
| Avro Lancastrian | 11 | Controlled flight into terrain due to severe weather conditions | Mount Tupungato, in the Argentine Andes | Main article: 1947 BSAA Avro Lancastrian Star Dust accident | |
| Ilyushin Il-14 | 33 | Double engine failure | Main article: Aeroflot Flight 2723 | ||
| Antonov An-12 | 98 | Unknown | Dhaka Glacier | This aircraft was missing until 2003 when mountaineers found the remains of a body. The crash site was soon located afterwards with a total of 4 remains recovered. | |
| Lockheed C-130 Hercules | 1 | Unknown | English Channel | Main article: 1969 theft of C-130 |