It bega as othig more tha a rotie traiig flight. At 2:10 p.m. o December 5, 1945, five TBM Aveger torpedo bombers took off from a Naval Air Statio i Ft. Laderdale, Florida. The plaescollectively kow as Flight 19were schedled to tackle a three-hor exercise kow as Navigatio Problem Nmber Oe.
Their triaglar flight pla called for them to head east from the Florida coast ad codct bombig rs at a place called Hes ad Chickes Shoals. They wold the tr orth ad proceed over Grad Bahama Islad before chagig corse a third time ad flyig sothwest back to base. Save for oe plae that oly carried two me, each of the Avegers was crewed by three Navy me or Maries, most of whom had logged arod 300 hors i the air. The flights leader was Lieteat Charles C. Taylor, a experieced pilot ad vetera of several combat missios i World War IIs Pacific Theater.
At first, Flight 19s hop proceeded jst as smoothly as the previos 18 that day. Taylor ad his pilots bzzed over Hes ad Chickes Shoals arod 2:30 p.m. ad dropped their practice bombs withot icidet. Bt shortly after the patrol tred orth for the secod leg of its jorey, somethig very strage happeed. For reasos that are still clear, Taylor became coviced that his Avegers compass was malfctioig ad that his plaes had bee flyig i the wrog directio. The trobles oly moted after a frot blew i ad broght rai, gstig wids ad heavy clod cover. Flight 19 became hopelessly disorieted. I dot kow where we are, oe of the pilots said over the radio. We mst have got lost after that last tr.
Compass Failre, Crash Ladig
Lieteat Robert F. Cox, aother Navy flight istrctor who was flyig ear the Florida coast, was the first to overhear the patrols radio commicatios. He immediately iformed the Air Statio of the sitatio ad the cotacted the Avegers to ask if they eeded assistace. Both my compasses are ot ad Im tryig to fid Ft. Laderdale, Florida, Taylor said, his voice sodig axios. Im over lad, bt its broke. Im sre Im i the Keys, bt I dot kow how far dow.
Taylors claim didt seem to make sese. Hed made his schedled pass over Hes ad Chicke Shoals i the Bahamas less tha a hor earlier, bt he ow believed his plaes had somehow drifted hdreds of miles off corse ad eded p i the Florida Keys. The 27-year-old had jst trasferred to Fort Laderdale from Miami, ad may have sice speclated that he may have cofsed some of the islads of the Bahamas for the Keys.
Uder ormal circmstaces, pilots lost i the Atlatic were spposed to poit their plaes toward the settig s ad fly west toward the mailad, bt Taylor had become coviced that he might be over the Glf of Mexico. Hopig to locate the Florida peisla, he made a fatefl decisio to steer Flight 19 ortheasta corse that wold oly take them eve farther ot to sea. Some of his pilots seemed to have recogized that he was makig a mistake. Dammit, oe ma griped over the radio. If we wold jst fly west, we wold get home.
Taylor was evetally persaded to tr arod ad head west, bt shortly after 6 p.m., he seems to have caceled the order ad oce agai chaged directio. We didt go far eogh east, he said, still worried that he might be i the Glf. We may as well jst tr arod ad go east agai. His pilots probably arged agaist the decisiosome ivestigators eve believe that oe plae broke off ad flew i a differet directiobt most followed their commaders lead. Flight 19s radio trasmissios soo became icreasigly fait as it meadered ot to sea. Whe fel bega to r low, Taylor was heard preppig his me for a potetial crash ladig i the ocea. All plaes close p tight, he said. Well have to ditch less ladfallwhe the first plae drops below te gallos, we all go dow together. A few mites later, the Avegers last radio commicatios were replaced by a eerie bzz of static.
The Search Comes Up Short
The Navy immediately scrambled search plaes to ht for the missig patrol. Arod 7:30 p.m., a pair of PBM Marier flyig boats took off from a air statio orth of Ft. Laderdale. Jst 20 mites later, however, oe of them seemed to follow Flight 19s lead by sddely vaishig off the radar.
The remais of the Marier ad its 13 crewme were ever recovered, bt its commoly believed that the seaplae exploded shortly after takeoff. Flyig boats were otoriosly accidet-proe, ad were eve ickamed flyig gas taks for their propesity for catchig fire. Sspicios that the seaplae may have goe p i flames were all bt cofirmed by a passig merchat ship, which spotted a fireball ad fod evidece of a oil slick i the ocea.
At first light the ext day, the Navy dispatched more tha 300 boats ad aircraft to look for Flight 19 ad the missig Marier. The search party spet five days combig throgh more tha 300,000 sqare miles of territory, to o avail. They jst vaished, Navy Lieteat David White later recalled. We had hdreds of plaes ot lookig, ad we searched over lad ad water for days, ad obody ever fod the bodies or ay debris.
A Navy board of ivestigatio was also left scratchig its head. While it arged that Taylor might have cofsed the Bahamas for the Florida Keys after his compass malfctioed, it cold fid o clear explaatio for why Flight 19 had become so disorieted. Its members evetally attribted the loss to cases or reasos kow.
Straiig to Explai the Flight 19 Mystery
The strage evets of December 5, 1945, have sice become fodder for all maer of wild theories ad speclatio. I the 1960s ad 70s, plp magazies ad writers sch as Vicet Gaddis ad Charles Berlitz helped poplarize the idea that Flight 19 had bee gobbled p by the Bermda Triagle, a sectio of the Atlatic spposedly kow for its high volme of freak disappearaces ad mechaical failres. Other books ad fictioal portrayals have sggested that magetic aomalies, parallel dimesios ad alie abdctios might have all played a role i the tragedy. I 1977, the film Close Ecoters of the Third Kid famosly depicted Flight 19 as havig bee whisked away by flyig sacers ad later deposited i the deserts of Mexico.
Eve if the Lost Patrol didt fall victim to the speratral, theres o deyig that its disappearace was accompaied by may oddities ad aswered qestios. Perhaps the stragest of all cocers Lieteat Taylor. Witesses later claimed that he arrived to Flight 19s pre-exercise briefig several mites late ad reqested to be excsed from leadig the missio. I jst dot wat to take this oe ot, he spposedly said. Jst why Taylor tried to get ot of flyig remais a mystery, bt it has led may to sggest that he may have ot bee fit for dty.
Also explaied is why oe of the members of Flight 19 made se of the resce radio freqecy or their plaes ZBX receivers, which cold have helped lead them toward Navy radio towers o lad. The pilots were told to switch the devices o, bt they either didt hear the message or didt ackowledge it.
What really happeed to Flight 19? The most likely sceario is that the plaes evetally ra ot of gas ad ditched i the ocea somewhere off the coast of Florida, leavig ay srvivors at the mercy of rogh seas ad deep water. I 1991, a grop of treasre hters seemed to have fially solved the pzzle whe they stmbled po the watery graves of five World War II-era Avegers ear Fort Laderdale. Ufortately, it was later fod that the hlks beloged to a differet grop of Navy plaes whose serial mbers didt match those of the fabled Lost Patrol.
May believe the wrecks of Flight 19 ad its doomed resce plae may still lrk somewhere i the Bermda Triagle, bt while the search coties to this day, o defiitive sigs of the six aircraft or their 27 crewme have ever bee fod.
