Flight 19

Today in History, December 5: 1945 –

Flight 19, a squadron of 5 TBM Avenger Torpedo planes on a navigational training flight out of Ft. Lauderdale, Florida, disappears without a trace within the “Bermuda Triangle”. Land based personnel could hear them by radio trying to find their way before apparently ditching at sea. 14 crewmen were lost.

In the efforts to find the lost men, a flying boat, a PBM Mariner, was also lost without a trace…almost doubling the loss of life with her 13 man crew. Hundreds of aircraft and ships searched for the lost crews without success.

Many ships and aircraft have been lost in this area…leading to speculation about aliens, magnetic anomalies, the lost civilization of Atlantis, etc. The Navy is likely correct about disorientation, but there have been an unusual amount of losses within the “Triangle.”