Flight 19
Flight 19 was a group of five General Motors Eastern Aircraft Division TBM Avenger torpedo bombers that disappeared over the Bermuda Triangle on December 5, 1945. All 14 airmen on the flight were lost, as were all 13 crew members of a Martin PBM Mariner flying boat that subsequently launched from Naval Air Station Banana River to search for Flight 19. Investigators have assumed that the PBM most likely exploded in mid-air while searching for the flight.
About Flight 19 in brief
Flight 19 was a group of five General Motors Eastern Aircraft Division TBM Avenger torpedo bombers that disappeared over the Bermuda Triangle on December 5, 1945. All 14 airmen on the flight were lost, as were all 13 crew members of a Martin PBM Mariner flying boat that subsequently launched from Naval Air Station Banana River to search for Flight 19. The PBM aircraft was known to accumulate flammable gasoline vapors in its bilges, and professional investigators have assumed that the PBM most likely exploded in mid-air while searching for the flight. The flight leader was United States Navy Lieutenant Charles Carroll Taylor, who had about 2,500 flying hours, mostly in aircraft of this type, while his trainee pilots each had 300 total, and 60 flight hours in the Avenger. Flight 19 undertook a routine navigation and combat training exercise in TBM-type aircraft. Each aircraft was fully fueled, and during pre-flight checks, it was discovered they were all missing clocks. The apparent lack of timekeeping equipment was not a cause for concern as it was assumed each man had his own watch. Radio conversations between the pilots were overheard by base and other aircraft in the area. The practice bombing operation is known to have been carried out because at about 15: 00 a pilot requested and was given permission to drop his last bomb. The flight was to continue on that heading for another 67 nmi before turning onto a course of 346° for 73 nmi, in the process over-flying Grand Bahama island.
The exercise involved three different legs, but the actual flight should have flown four. After take off, they flew on heading 091° for 56 nmi until reaching Hen and Chickens Shoals where low level bombing practice was carried out. After taking off from NAS Fort Lauderdale, they were to turn left to then return to NAS Ft. Lauderdale. The mission was intended to teach dead reckoning principles, which involved calculating, among other things, elapsed time. The assignment was called \”Navigation problem No. 1\”, a combination of bombing and navigation, which other flights had completed or were scheduled to undertake that day. A request for help from the others in the flight for the same mission came on FT-28, this is FT-74, what is your trouble? A man identified as Edward Joseph Powers, one of the students, replied: ‘I don’t know where we are. We must have got lost after that last last turn; I am trying to find Fort Lauderdale. I’m sure I’m over the Keys in Florida, but it’s broken and I don’tknow how to get to Fort Lauderdale’ The response after a few moments was a request for others to help, and a few minutes later a man identified as George William Stivers, U.S. Marine Captains, said he was trying to land in the Keys but it was too far away. The call signs started with ‘Fox Tare’
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This page is based on the article Flight 19 published in Wikipedia (as of Dec. 06, 2020) and was automatically summarized using artificial intelligence.
