How Did Alfred Loewenstein Fall Out of a Plane?
When accident, suicide, and murder all look possible
On July 4, 1928, financier Alfred Lowenstein — then, the third-richest man in the world — was on a private plane, a Fokker Tri-Motor, flying from Croydon Airport to his home country Belgium.
This was a routine trip that he took with his employees regularly. On that fateful day, with 6 people on board, the skies were clear, the weather was nice, and the flight was smooth.
As the plane was flying over the English Channel, Alfred went into the tiny bathroom compartment at the back of the cabin. And vanished.
The flapping door
Alfred had been in the bathroom for a very long time, when his valet, Baxter, went to check on him.
Alfred was not there.
The bathroom compartment had two doors. One was a windowless door separating it from the rest of the plane. The other was an exterior door — the sole entry and exit into the plane.
As Baxter stepped into the compartment, he saw the exterior door flapping in the slipstream.
