Plot summary
During World War II, the B-25 Mitchell bomber King Nine has crashed in the desert. Captain James Embry finds himself stranded among the wreckage, with his crew mysteriously disappeared. The movement of the plane in the wind and his visions of the missing men serve to heighten Embry's disorientation.
While searching for his crew, Embry finds the grave of one of his men, and recognizes in the sky Navy F9F Cougar jets, which have not yet been invented. He is bewildered as to how he knows about jet aircraft and becomes increasingly distressed. Embry collapses in the sand, and it is revealed that he is apparently hospitalized and suffering hallucinations, 17 years after the crash.
Confident that Embry will recover, two doctors discuss their speculation that his suffering has been triggered by a newspaper headline. The paper has reported the desert discovery of the long-lost King Nine, which had not returned to base from a wartime mission in 1943. Having come down with a fever just before he was to board the ill-fated flight, Embry had been replaced on the mission by another captain. Seeing the headline has triggered survivor guilt, the intensity of which has caused him to imagine himself at the crash site.
The doctors assure Embry he has returned to the site only in his mind. However, when a nurse handling his clothes accidentally turns one of his shoes on its side, sand spills out.
Credits
Adapted from Wikipedia contributors, King Nine Will Not Return. Paragraphs and formatting adjusted; illustrations, reference markers, block quotations and non-story material omitted.