Morse mystery from 1947

[K0OD]

"The crew maintained Morse-code radio contact with the ground for the duration of the flight, and just before it was scheduled to arrive they signalled their approach. But then a mysterious signal was received at Santiago airfield—comprising the letters "S-T-E-N-D-E-C". Aware of no such Morse abbreviation, the radioman at Santiago requested a repeat of the signal, and the same cryptic message was received twice more. This inexplicable message was the last one received from flight CS-59"

Then The Star Dust vanished for 50 years

http://www.damninteresting.com/?p=876

[AH6GI]

My guess is STENDEC is

ST  = V but the spacing is off.
EN  = R
DE  = DE
C   = C

V = warming up the wrist.

R = Received, as some say these days. I've heard EN for R since the 1960's.  

DE C perhaps de Cs-59 or de Cook.

donnno, it's a mystery.

de ah6gi/4

[WX7G]

If this is the incident I think it was, my question is was there a major ionospheric disturbance that day? There should be records of this. And there should be amateur radio logs that note a disturbance if there was one.

If there was a major disturbance that caused a large near-DC magnetic field in the ionosphere it could have alterned the aircraft compasses. It could also have led to a long delayed echo (LDE) of the radio transmission. These are said to come in two time delays for such close transmissions. 0.7 and 3 seconds. Could a 3 second LDE could cause an overlap of STARDUST to be copied as STENDEC?

[K0OD]

Surely radio disruptions would have been noted at that time. This was a well publicized mystery in South America and the UK (because of the missing British Messenger).

"Could a 3 second LDE could cause an overlap of STARDUST to be copied as STENDEC?"

Clever idea, but reports indicate STENDEC was copied three times and strongly.  

[K5END]

...or maybe the radio op's bug was malfunctioning and he did not know it...

[WX7G]

They used hand keys on aircraft. STENDEC? Isn't it obvious?

[K5END]

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"Isn't it obvious?"

Isn't what obvious? <g>