Unanswered: War Plane Ghosts Movie

I and many other people have been searching in vain for a movie about a war plane that crashed and the crew turned out to be ghosts. We saw it in the late 60’s. It was in black and white, and likely made in the 50’s or 60’s.

The movie is NOT ‘Sole Survivor’ with William Shattner, which had a very similar plot and was released in the early 70’s.

The storyline was:
• A WW2 bomber crashed in the desert
• The crew ‘lived’ near the plane and played baseball
• A rescue team arrived but failed to acknowledge the presence the crew
• The crew then realised they were dead and were ghosts
• The ghosts vanished from the location as the bodies were recovered from around the plane
• One ghost was left behind as his body was not recovered
• As the rescue crew drove away they found the last body several miles away. The ghost then also vanished

Some recollections in relation to the movie title were:
• name of the plane in the title
• flight …
• flight of the …
• phantom flight …
• flight 401 …

I have thought about the movie for over 40 years because of the emotional impact it had. It was brilliantly done and the twist at the end was completely unexpected. It would be worth the effort to find this movie as I’m sure many would pay to see it again.