Onopgelost Mysterie: Alfred Loewenstein

We dive into history for a moment, as we go back to 1928. A mystery I had never heard of until today, but it immediately caught my attention. Because Alfred Loewenstein was in 1928, after two people, the richest man in the world. And he disappeared. Without a trace. Well, that can happen, you might think. But here’s the thing: he disappeared while he was on a plane. In. The. Air.

Whut. I obviously needed to know more about this. Mr. Loewenstein was on a flight, went to the bathroom, and that was the last anyone heard from him. So many questions already, let’s dive right in.

On July 4, 1928, Alfred boarded a private flight with his employees at Croydon Airport (London). The final destination was Belgium, where Loewenstein was headed. It was a flight he had taken regularly, so nothing unusual was going on. The weather was nice, the flight was going smoothly: no issues in the air.

When they were flying over the water, Alfred stood up to go to the bathroom. It was a small space, at the back of the cabin: it had two doors, one of which had no window and served as a partition door from the rest of the plane. The other door served as the exit and entrance of the plane. Alfred never came out of this small bathroom.

Of course, one of his employees went looking for Loewenstein when he stayed away for a long time. When he discovered that the bathroom was empty without a trace of Loewenstein, he alerted the pilot, who decided to land on a deserted beach near Dunkirk. This choice was quite peculiar: why wouldn’t he land at a nearby airport?

Because this beach was under surveillance by the French military, they were almost immediately detained. Both the pilot and Loewenstein's employees did not understand what could have happened: could he have perhaps opened the wrong door and fallen out of the plane?

The question of whether Loewenstein was still alive was answered two weeks later, on July 19. A fishing boat spotted Loewenstein's lifeless body in the water, near the French coast. The body itself was no longer recognizable but could be identified by his clothing. At the insistence of his wife Madeleine, an autopsy was performed, but no signs of violence could be found. However, something notable came out: there was alcohol in Loewenstein's body, even though everyone around him knew he never drank a drop.

Very quickly, it was decided that it must have been an accident. The only two people the police spoke to were the pilot and the mechanic, both of whom stated that the door was easy to open, so it was very plausible that he had done that and then fell out of the plane. But it soon became clear that this was absolutely not true: that door did not open easily at all. Multiple tests were conducted, even in the air, with the same planes, and each time the same result came out: it is simply impossible to accidentally fall out.

But was it then suicide? There are no signs that indicated Loewenstein was depressed. He had many plans for the future and was even making various plans on that July 4. Generally not something people do when they want to end their lives. And besides: it turned out to be impossible to open that door by yourself when the plane was in the air.

Then there is only one possibility left: Loewenstein was pushed out of the plane. And that means the culprit is one (or more?) of his employees. But why? And who? The case was suspiciously quickly closed under the guise of ‘an accident’, why was that? Why did the pilot land on a deserted beach instead of an airport? So many. Questions. If you want to read more about it, check out this topic on Reddit. Another delightful rabbit hole to dive into.