Flight 19

For decades the secrets of the Bermuda Triangle have fascinated and bewildered scientists around the world.   Of the many unsolved mysteries from the Bermuda Triangle, none is more interesting than the mystery of Flight 19.  Flight 19 was a group of five U.S. Navy bombers that vanished in 1945.  These planes mysteriously lost their course and communications with the naval base.   Scientists still argue whether the pilot’s disappearance can be blamed on supernatural or natural causes.  

Flight 19 was a group of five U.S. Navy bombers called the Avengers that vanished on December 5, 1945 along with a mariner rescue plane.  There were nine crew men led by pilot Lieutenant Charles Taylor who had six years’ experience as a Navy pilot.  Their mission was to first practice their torpedo bombing techniques on the abandoned wreck of a target ship stranded in shallow water just off the island of Bimini and also to run through an orientation exercise to see how well they could stay on course over open water.  This entire exercise was to take less than two hours.   They completed their bombing assignment with no problems and regrouped to head out toward Great Stirrup Cay which is in the heart of the Bermuda Triangle.  The weather was perfect for flying with light winds and clear skies. (Nolin)

After flying into the Bermuda Triangle, strange things began to happen to Flight 19.  The lieutenant became disoriented.  He did not know which way was west.  He said, “We don’t know which way is west.  Everything is wrong…strange.  We can’t be sure of any direction.  Even the ocean doesn’t look as it should.” (Kaye)  After that radio communications between Flight 19 and the air station began to break up.  The Navy radio operators heard the planes complaining of compasses and gyros that had gone haywire.  As the planes flew around in the Atlantic, they slowly ran out of gas and all transmissions faded out. The Navy decided to send a giant Martin Mariner rescue plane manned by a crew of 13 men to help them.  After the Mariner reported high winds above six thousand feet, the naval base never heard from them again.   All thirteen crew members disappeared without a trace.  The Navy conducted a search involving more than three hundred aircraft and nearly three dozen ocean vessels, but they were never found. (Oxlade, 11)

Scientists have several theories as to what happened to Flight 19.  The chain of events that occurred is baffling because the crew was very experienced and the planes were equipped with rafts and survival equipment.  There were also reports of strange flashes and other unidentified flying objects in the sky over the eastern Florida coast that evening.   There is some scientific proof as to what may have happened.  Some of the scientific proof as to what happened is extreme, unusual and dangerous environmental conditions. Those things were air turbulence, waterspouts, seaquakes, and electromagnetic disturbances.  There was also non-scientific predictions to what happened like alien invasions, The Lost City of Atlantis, and multiple dimensions and time warps. (Aaseng, pg. 53-63)

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