Flight 19

Artist's depiction of the ve TBMAvengers that disappeared.

Occurrence summaryDate December 5, 1945Summary DisappearanceSite O the east coast of

FloridaCrew 14Fatalities 14 (assumed)Survivors none knownAircraft type TBM AvengerOperator United States

NavyDestination NAS Fort Lauderdale

Flight 19

Flight 19From Wikipedia, the free encyclopediaFlight 19 was the designation of ve TBMAvenger torpedo bombers thatdisappeared over the Bermuda Triangleon December 5, 1945 during a UnitedStates Navy overwater navigation trainingight from Naval Air Station FortLauderdale, Florida. All 14 airmen on theight were lost, as were all 13 crewmembers of a PBM Mariner ying boatassumed by professional investigators tohave exploded in mid-air while searchingfor the ight. Navy investigators could notdetermine the cause of the loss of Flight19 but said the aircraft may have becomedisoriented and ditched in rough seasafter running out of fuel.

Contents1 Navigation training ight2 PBM-5 (BuNo 59225)3 Investigation4 Unrelated Avenger wreckage5 Crews of Flight 19 and PBM-5BuNo 59225

5.1 Charles Carroll Taylor6 In popular culture7 References8 External links

Navigation training ightFlight 19 undertook a routine navigation and combat training exercise inTBM-type aircraft.[1] The assignment was called "Navigation problem No. 1", acombination of bombing and navigation, which other ights had completed orwere scheduled to undertake that day.[2] The ight leader was United States NavyLieutenant Charles Carroll Taylor, who had about 2,500 ying hours, mostly in

Flight 19 - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Flight...

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aircraft of this type, while his trainee pilots had 300 total, and 60 ight hours inthe Avenger.[2] Taylor had recently arrived from NAS Miami where he had alsobeen a VTB instructor. The student pilots had recently completed other trainingmissions in the area where the ight was to take place.[2] They were US MarineCaptains Edward Joseph Powers and George William Stivers, US Marine SecondLieutenant Forrest James Gerber and USN Ensign Joseph Tipton Bossi; theircallsigns start with 'Fox Tair'.The aircraft were four TBM-1Cs, BuNo 45714, 'FT3', BuNo 46094, 'FT36', BuNo46325, 'FT81', BuNo 73209, 'FT117', and one TBM-3, BuNo 23307, 'FT28'.Each aircraft was fully fueled, and during pre-ight checks it was discovered theywere all missing clocks. Navigation of the route was intended to teach deadreckoning principles, which involved calculating among other things elapsed time.The apparent lack of timekeeping equipment was not a cause for concern as itwas assumed each man had his own watch. Takeo was scheduled for 13:45 localtime, but the late arrival of Taylor delayed departure until 14:10. Weather at NASFort Lauderdale was described as "favorable, sea state moderate to rough."[2]Taylor was supervising the mission, and a trainee pilot had the role of leader outfront.Called "Naval Air Station, Fort Lauderdale, Florida, navigation problem No. 1,"[3]the exercise involved three dierent legs, but the actual ight should have ownfour. After take o, they ew on heading 091 (almost due east) for 56 nmi (64 mi;104 km) until reaching Hen and Chickens Shoals where low level bombingpractice was carried out. The ight was to continue on that heading for another67 nmi (77 mi; 124 km) before turning onto a course of 346 for 73 nmi (84 mi;135 km), in the process over-ying Grand Bahama island. The next scheduled turnwas to a heading of 241 to y 120 nmi (140 mi; 220 km) at the end of which theexercise was completed and the Avengers would turn left to then return to NASFt. Lauderdale.[2]Radio conversations between the pilots were overheard by base and other aircraftin the area. The practice bombing operation was carried out because at about15:00 a pilot requested and was given permission to drop his last bomb.[2] Fortyminutes later, another ight instructor, Lieutenant Robert F. Cox in FT-74, formingup with his group of students for the same mission, received an unidentiedtransmission.[3]An unidentied crew member asked Powers, one of the students, for his compassreading. Powers replied: "I don't know where we are. We must have got lost afterthat last turn." Cox then transmitted; "This is FT-74, plane or boat calling 'Powers'please identify yourself so someone can help you." The response after a fewmoments was a request from the others in the ight for suggestions. FT-74 tried


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Flight 19's scheduled navigationexercise on December 5, 1945.1. Leave NAS Fort Lauderdale 14:10 onheading 091, drop bombs at Hen andChickens shoals (B) until about 15:00then continue on heading 091 for 73nautical miles (140 km)2. Turn left to heading 346 and y 73nautical miles (140 km).3. Turn left to heading 241 for 120nautical miles (220 km) to end exercisenorth of NAS Fort Lauderdale.4. 17:50 radio triangulation establishesight's position to within 50 nauticalmiles (93 km) of and theirlast reported course, 270.5. PBM Mariner leaves NAS BananaRiver 19:27.6. 19:50 Mariner explodes near

.

again and a man identied as FT-28(Taylor) came on. "FT-28, this is FT-74,what is your trouble?" "Both of mycompasses are out", Taylor replied, "andI am trying to nd Fort Lauderdale,Florida. I am over land but it's broken. Iam sure I'm in the Keys but I don't knowhow far down and I don't know how toget to Fort Lauderdale."[2]FT-74 informed the NAS that aircraftwere lost, then advised Taylor to put thesun on his port wing and y north up thecoast to Fort Lauderdale. Baseoperations then asked if the ightleader's aircraft was equipped with astandard YG (IFF transmitter), whichcould be used to triangulate the ight'sposition, but the message was notacknowledged by FT-28. (Later he wouldindicate that his transmitter wasactivated.) Instead, at 16:45, FT-28radioed: "We are heading 030 degreesfor 45 minutes, then we will y north tomake sure we are not over the Gulf ofMexico." During this time no bearingscould be made on the ight, and IFFcould not be picked up. Taylor was toldto broadcast on 4805 kilocycles. Thisorder was not acknowledged so he wasasked to switch to 3,000 kilocycles, thesearch and rescue frequency. Taylorreplied "I cannot switch frequencies. Imust keep my planes intact."[2]At 16:56, Taylor was again asked to turnon his transmitter for YG if he had one.He did not acknowledge but a fewminutes later advised his ight "Changecourse to 090 degrees (due east) for 10minutes." About the same time someonein the ight said "Dammit, if we could just y west we would get home; headwest, dammit."[2] This dierence of opinion later led to questions about why thestudents did not simply head west on their own.[4] It has been explained that this

29N 79W

28N 80W


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PBM-5 Mariner VP-50 Blue Dragons(BuNo 59256) in April 1956-similar toBuNo 59225. (Note: "BuNo" stands for

Bureau Number.[6])Occurrence summary

Date December 5, 1945Summary Presumed mid-air

explosion

PBM-5 (BuNo 59225)

can be attributed to military discipline.[4]As the weather deteriorated, radio contact became intermittent, and it wasbelieved that the ve aircraft were actually by that time more than 200 nmi(230 mi; 370 km) out to sea east of the Florida peninsula. Taylor radioed "We'll y270 degrees west until landfall or running out of gas" and requested a weathercheck at 17:24. By 17:50 several land-based radio stations had triangulated Flight19's position as being within a 100 nmi (120 mi; 190 km) radius of ;Flight 19 was north of the Bahamas and well o the coast of central Florida, butnobody transmitted this information on an open, repetitive basis.[2]At 18:04, Taylor radioed to his ight "Holding 270, we didn't y far enough east,we may as well just turn around and y east again". By that time, the weather haddeteriorated even more and the sun had since set. Around 18:20, Taylor's lastmessage was received. (It's also been reported that Taylor's last message wasreceived at 7:04 pm.)[5] He was heard saying "All planes close up tight ... we'llhave to ditch unless landfall ... when the rst plane drops below 10 gallons, we allgo down together."[1][2] At the same time, in the same area, SS Empire Viscount, aBritish-agged tanker, radioed that she was in heavy seas and high windsnortheast of the Bahamas, where Flight 19 was about to ditch.[2]

PBM-5 (BuNo 59225)Earlier, as it became obvious the ightwas indeed lost, several air bases,aircraft, and merchant ships were alerted.A PBY Catalina left after 18:00 to searchfor Flight 19 and guide them back if theycould be located. After dark, two PBMMariner seaplanes originally scheduledfor their own training ights werediverted to perform square patternsearches in the area west of .PBM-5 BuNo 59225 took o at 19:27 fromBanana River Naval Air Station (nowPatrick Air Force Base), called in a routineradio message at 19:30 and was neverheard from again.[2]At 21.15, the tanker SS Gaines Millsreported it had observed ames from anapparent explosion leaping 100 ft (30 m)high and burning for 10 minutes, atposition . Captain

29N 79W

29N 79W

28.59N 80.25W


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Site 28.59N 80.25WCrew 13Fatalities 13 (assumed)Survivors none knownAircraft type PBM-5 MarinerOperator United States

NavyFlight origin NAS Banana RiverDestination NAS Banana River

Shonna Stanley reported unsuccessfullysearching for survivors through a pool ofoil. The escort carrier USS Solomons alsoreported losing radar contact with anaircraft at the same position and time.[2]

InvestigationA 500-page Navy board of investigationreport published a few months later madeseveral observations:

Taylor had mistakenly believed that the small islands he passed over werethe Florida Keys, so his ight was over the Gulf of Mexico and headingnortheast would take them to Florida. It was determined that Taylor hadpassed over the Bahamas as scheduled, and he did in fact lead his ight tothe northeast over the Atlantic. The report noted that some subordinateocers did likely know their approximate position as indicated by radiotransmissions stating that ying west would result in reaching the mainland.Taylor, although an excellent combat pilot and ocer with the Navy, had atendency to "y by the seat of his pants," getting lost several times in theprocess.[citation needed] It was twice during such times that he had to ditch hisplane in the Pacic and be rescued. But this time he would be confusedabout what happened to him.Taylor was not to fault because the compasses stopped working.The loss of PBM-5 BuNo 59225 was attributed to an explosion.[3]

This report was subsequently amended "cause unknown" by the Navy afterTaylor's mother contended that the Navy was unfairly blaming her son for the lossof ve aircraft and 14 men, when the Navy had neither the bodies nor theairplanes as evidence.[citation needed]Had Flight 19 actually been where Taylor believed it to be, landfall with theFlorida coastline would have been reached in a matter of 10 to 20 minutes or less,depending on how far down they were. However, a later reconstruction of theincident showed that the islands visible to Taylor were probably the Bahamas,well northeast of the Keys, and that Flight 19 was exactly where it should havebeen. The board of investigation found that because of his belief that he was on abase course toward Florida, Taylor actually guided the ight further northeastand out to sea. Further, it was general knowledge at NAS Fort Lauderdale that if apilot ever became lost in the area to y a heading of 270 west (or in evening


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hours toward the sunset if the compass had failed). By the time the ight actuallyturned west, they were likely so far out to sea they had already passed theiraircraft's fuel endurance. This factor combined with bad weather, and the ditchingcharacteristics of the Avenger,[1] meant that there was little hope of rescue, evenif they had managed to stay aoat.It is possible that Taylor overshot Castaway Cay and instead reached another landmass in southern Abaco Island. He then proceeded northwest as planned. He fullyexpected to nd the Grand Bahama Island lying in front of him as planned.Instead, he eventually saw a land mass to his right side, the northern part ofAbaco Island. Believing that this landmass to his right was the Grand BahamaIsland and his compass was malfunctioning, he set a course to what he thoughtwas southwest to head straight back to Fort Lauderdale. However, in reality thischanged his course further northwest, toward open ocean.To further add to his confusion, he encountered a series of islands north of AbacoIsland, which looks very similar to the Key West Islands, but he was still over theocean instead of over Fort Lauderdale. The control tower then suggested thatTaylor's team should y west, which would have taken them to the landmass ofFlorida eventually. Taylor headed for what he thought was west, but in reality wasnorthwest, almost parallel to Florida.After trying that for a while and no land in sight, Taylor decided that it wasimpossible for them to y so far west and not reach Florida. He believed that hemight have been near the Key West Islands. What followed was a series of seriousconfusions between Taylor, his team and the control tower. Taylor was not surewhether he was near Bahama or Key West, and he was not sure which directionwas which due to compass malfunction. The control tower informed Taylor that hecould not be in Key West since the wind that day did not blow that way. Some ofhis teammates believed that their compass was working. Taylor then set a coursenortheast according to their compass, which should take them to Florida if theywere in Key West. When that failed, Taylor set a course west according to theircompass, which should take them to Florida if they were in Bahama. If Taylorstayed this course he would have reached land before running out of fuel.However, at some point Taylor decided that he had tried going west enough. Hethen once again set a course northeast, thinking they were near Key West afterall. Finally, his ight ran out of fuel and may have crashed into the oceansomewhere north of Abaco Island and east of Florida.[7]

Unrelated Avenger wreckageIn 1986, the wreckage of an Avenger was found o the Florida coast during thesearch for the wreckage of the Space Shuttle Challenger.[citation needed] Aviationarchaeologist Jon Myhre raised this wreck from the ocean oor in 1990. He was


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convinced it was one of the missing planes, but positive identication could not bemade. In 1991, the wreckage of ve Avengers was discovered o the coast ofFlorida, but engine serial numbers revealed they were not Flight 19. They hadcrashed on ve dierent days all within 1.5 mi (2.4 km) of each other.[8] Recordsrevealed that the various discovered aircraft, including the group of ve, weredeclared either unt for maintenance/repair or obsolete, and were simplydisposed of at sea.[8]Records also showed training accidents between 1942 and 1945 accounted forthe loss of 95 aviation personnel from NAS Fort Lauderdale[9] In 1992, anotherexpedition located scattered debris on the ocean oor, but nothing could beidentied. In the last decade, searchers have been expanding their area to includefarther east, into the Atlantic Ocean, but the remains of Flight 19 have still neverbeen conrmed found.

Crews of Flight 19 and PBM-5 BuNo 59225Charles Carroll TaylorThe ight leader, Lieutenant Charles Carroll Taylor (born October 25, 1917),graduated from Naval Air Station Corpus Christi in February 1942 and became aight instructor in October of that year.


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The men of Flight 19 and PBM-5 BuNo 59225[3]Aircraftnumber Pilot Crew

SeriesNr.

FT-28 Charles C. Taylor,Lieutenant, USNRGeorge Devlin, AOM3c,USNRWalter R. Parpart, ARM3c,USNR

23307

FT-36 E. J. Powers, Captain,USMCHowell O. Thompson,SSgt., USMCRGeorge R. Paonessa, Sgt.,USMC

46094

FT-3 Joseph T. Bossi, Ensign,USNRHerman A. Thelander, S1c,USNRBurt E. Baluk, JR., S1c,USNR

45714

FT-117 George W. Stivers,Captain, USMCRobert P. Gruebel, Pvt.,USMCRRobert F. Gallivan, Sgt.,USMC

73209

FT-81* Forrest J. Gerber, 2nd LT,USMCRWilliam E. Lightfoot, Pfc.,USMCR 46325

BuNo59225

Walter G. Jeery, Ltjg,USN

Harrie G. Cone, Ltjg, USNRoger M. Allen, Ensign,USNLloyd A. Eliason, Ensign,USNCharles D. Arceneaux,Ensign, USNRobert C. Cameron, RM3,USNWiley D. Cargill, Sr.,Seaman 1st, USNJames F. Jordan, ARM3,USNJohn T. Menendez, AOM3,USNPhilip B. Neeman, Seaman1st, USNJames F. Osterheld, AOM3,USN

59225


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Donald E. Peterson, AMM1,USNAlfred J. Zywicki, Seaman1st, USN

* This particular plane was one crew member short. The airman in question, Marine Corporal AllanKosnar, had been given special permission not to y that day because he had had a strongpremonition of danger.[10]

In popular cultureThe pulp magazine Argosy published an account of the incident in 1974.[5]The 1977 science ction lm Close Encounters of the Third Kind featured adepiction of the Flight 19 planes being discovered in the desert and later theirpilots are returned to Earth by peaceful alien captors. In the lm, the returnediers are depicted at the age they would have been at the time of theirdisappearance, but have ctional names.In The Invincible Iron Man #504 (July 2011), Bethany Cabe nds a plane on theocean oor while diving, a nd she referred to as "Flight 19".[11]In 1980, Scottish singer/songwriter B. A. Robertson released a single, "Flight 19".

References^ a b c Mayell, Hillary (December 15, 2003). "Bermuda Triangle: Behind the Intrigue"(http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2002/12/1205_021205_bermudatriangle.html). National Geographic. p. 2. Retrieved March10, 2008.

1.

^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n McDonell, Michael (June 1973). "Lost Patrol"(http://www.history.navy.mil/nan/backissues/1970s/1973/jun73.pdf). Naval AviationNews: 816.

2.

^ a b c d Naval Air Advanced Training Command Board of Inquiry (December 7,1945). Board of Investigation Into 5 Missing TBM Airplanes and One PBM AirplaneConvened by Naval Air Advanced Training Command, NAS Jacksonville, Florida 7December 1945 and Related Correspondence (Flight 19) (http://www.ibiblio.org/hyperwar/USN/rep/Flight19/index.html) (Report). United States Navy via iBiblio.org.http://www.ibiblio.org/hyperwar/USN/rep/Flight19/index.html. Retrieved March 8,2008.

3.

^ a b Goodridge, Elisabeth (November 17, 2005). "Flight 19 crew honored by House;disappearance began notion of Bermuda Triangle" (http://web.archive.org/web/20051126014843/http://www.freenewmexican.com/news/35198.html). Free New

4.


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Mexican. Archived from the original (http://www.freenewmexican.com/news/35198.html) on November 26, 2005.^ a b "Mysteries of the Bermuda Triangle". Decoding the Past. Season 1. 2005.History Channel.

5.^ "Background on Naval Aircraft Bureau (Serial) Numbers"(http://www.history.navy.mil/a-record/ac-hist-card/buno%20background.htm). NavalHistory & Heritage Command. 2007.

6.

^ "Bermuda Triangle". Naked Science. Season 1. 2004. National GeographicChannel.

7.

^ a b Dive to Bermuda Triangle (2004); telecast on The Science Channel, February17, 2006.

8.^ "Flight 19 Memorial" (http://www.nasmuseum.com/memorial.html). Naval AirStation Fort Lauderdale Museum. Retrieved December 13, 2010. "A sad but equallyhistoric note is the fact that 95 young Americans lost their lives at the NAS FortLauderdale base during 1942-1945 the three most intensive training years of thewar."

9.

^ Hammond, Peter J. (1980). "The Bermuda Triangle". Sapphire & Steel Annual 1981.World International. ISBN 0723566011.

10.^ Fraction, Matt (w), Larroca, Salvador (a). "Fear Itself Part 1: City Of Light, City OfStone" The Invincible Iron Man (July 2011), Marvel Comics

11.

External links"The Loss Of Flight 19" (http://www.history.navy.mil/faqs/faq15-1.htm) by theNavy History and Heritage Command"The Mystery of Flight 19" (http://www.nasmuseum.com/ight-19.html) byNaval Air Station Fort Lauderdale Museum

Retrieved from "http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Flight_19&oldid=604059388"Categories: 1945 in the United States Bermuda TriangleAviation accidents and incidents in 1945Military units and formations of the United States Navy FlightsMissing aircraft

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Flight 19