by Bluebird

Created on: August 28, 2009

Flight 19 was the name designated for five TBM Avenger torpedo bombers and its disappearance is still a matter of debate for researchers. On an authorized over water navigation training flight, Flight 19 took off from Naval Air Station Fort Lauderdale, Florida on 5 December 1945. It reportedly disappeared off the eastern coast of Florida.

There were 14 airmen on the Avengers and their flight leader was Lt. Charles Carroll Taylor. The Avengers were to take a triangular course from and returning to NAS Fort Lauderdale.

Radio conversations taking place between the pilots of the avengers were detectable by base and other aircrafts in the vicinity. An hour after the departure of Flight 19, an unidentified transmission was recorded by Lt. Robert F.Fox in FT-74 which revealed that at least one of the Avengers were lost and did not know how to return to base. Furthermore when Fox tried to communicate with the aircraft, Taylor came on and reported the failure of his compasses and requested guidance to land on NAS Fort Lauderdale.

The Avengers were off course, 50 km north-west from the assigned path. Some claim that this was due to Taylor's fault as he appeared disoriented and confused right before take-off. However according to facts, Taylor was a man with an impeccable record who served 2509.3 flight hours.

FT-74 conveyed the information on the lost aircraft to NAS and advised Taylor on the right course to Fort Lauderdale. After some time, from the recorded conversations on the Avenger it seemed clear that there was a difference in opinion between Taylor and his students.

The question arises as to why the students did not take matters into their own hands which could have led them safely to base, but this is attributed to military discipline.

Finally, when all contact with the Avengers came to an end, it became obvious that Flight 19 was indeed lost. NAS dispatched a PBY Catalina and two PBM Mariner seaplanes to look for the Avengers. Unfortunately one of the PBM Mariner aircraft with a crew of 13 men vanished off the radar and never returned to base. It was reported to have exploded near the coast of Florida by a tanker SS Gaines Mills.

Strangely, the wreckage of Flight 19 and the PBM Mariner were never discovered.

Perhaps the disappearance can be explained away as a result of magnetic disturbances or quite simply as a result of bad weather and lack of fuel.

Some suggest that The Bermuda Triangle had nothing to do with Flight 19, while others propose that the disappearance had something to do with a vortex or a time warp. Sadly we are no closer to the truth than we first began investigating in 1945.

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