Flight 19
Flight 19 was the name of a training unit consisting of five torpedo bombers of the type TBF Avenger of the US Navy , which disappeared on December 5, 1945 off the east coast of Florida .
The plane crash acquired enduring importance because it is considered the best-documented incident in the history of the triangle among supporters of the Bermuda Triangle theory.
The crews
| The flight 19 crews | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Aircraft license plate * |
pilot | crew | serial number |
| FT-28 | Charles C. Taylor, Lieutenant, US Navy Reserve (USNR) | Robert Francis Harmon, Aviation Ordnanceman 3rd Class, USNR ** Walter R. Parpart, Aviation Radioman 3rd Class, USNR |
23307 |
| FT-36 | Edward J. Powers, Captain, USMC HQ | Howell O. Thompson, Staff Sergeant , US Marine Corps Reserve (USMCR) George R. Paonessa, Sergeant , USMC |
46094 |
| FT-3 | Joseph T. Bossi, Ensign, USNR | Herman A. Thelander, Sergeant First Class, USNR Burt E. Baluk, JR., Sergeant 1st Class, USNR |
45714 |
| FT-117 | George W. Stivers, Captain, USMC | Robert P. Gruebel, Private, USMCR Robert F. Gallivan, Sergeant, USMC |
73209 |
| FT-81 *** | Robert J. Gerber, 2nd Lieutenant, USMCR | William E. Lightfoot, Private 1st Class, USMCR | 46325 |
|
* The code "FT" is made up of the letter "F" for NAS Fort Lauderdale and a consecutive letter (here "T") for the training unit. ** Harmon was not a participant in the course, but was part of the crew of the base. *** This machine had one less crew member. Marine Corporal Kosnar had special permission not to have to fly that day. |
|||
Flight 19 carried out the operation as part of the Advanced Combat Aircrew Training (German: advanced training for fighter aircraft personnel) for torpedo bombers taking place at the Fort Lauderdale naval base .
The group consisted of the instructor, Lieutenant Charles C. Taylor, four naval pilots who attended the course, and nine crew members, eight of whom were also course participants. The four training pilots all had only about 300 flight hours, of which only about 60 were in the Avenger. For Flight 19, this was the last of three training flights in this region.
Taylor, on the other hand, was an experienced pilot with 2,509 hours of flight (mostly in the Avenger). However, he was only on November 21, 1945 from the Miami naval base to Ft. Lauderdale was relocated and flew this training route for the first time. Contrary to some representations, Taylor had flown combat missions, but was not a very experienced pilot.
The exercise
The training mission scheduled for Flight 19, “Navigation Problem No. 1 ”, consisted of a navigation training flight over the open sea together with a bomb targeting exercise over the Hens and Chicken Shoals. Overall, the route of the above-mentioned exercise course described a large triangle.
In detail, the flight plan was:
- Start from Ft. Lauderdale. Course 091 degrees for 56 miles to the Hens and Chicken Shoals.
- Bombs dropped from low altitude, then continued on course 091 for another 67 miles.
- Course 346 for 73 miles.
- Course 241 for 120 miles. Landing in Ft. Lauderdale.
All five Avengers had been refueled and thus (depending on speed and wind conditions) had a stay in the air of five to five and a half hours. All machines also passed the tests as part of the preflight checks . However, the ground crew had found that there was no longer an on-board clock in any machine (on-board clocks were often removed as a popular souvenir). However, since it was assumed that each crew had a wristwatch, this was not taken into account.
The weather conditions over the training area were considered "favorable". This was confirmed by another one hour before the training flight carried out by Flight 19, which reported “favorable weather conditions, moderate to rough seas”.
The start time was set at 1:45 p.m. However, Taylor didn't show up for briefing until 1:15 p.m. and asked the duty officer to have another instructor represent him. However, since he did not provide a valid justification and no substitute was available, his request was denied.
The flight
Flight 19 finally took off at 2:10 p.m. As planned, one of the course participants took the lead, Taylor (registration number FT-28) flew last as an instructor so that he could only take the lead in the event of an error.
At around 3:00 p.m. in Ft. Lauderdale's intercepted radio conversation in which a pilot asked for permission to drop his last bomb suggests that the drop exercise was successfully completed and the group made their way to the first turning point.
At about 4:00 p.m., Lieutenant Robert F. Fox, the top flight instructor in Ft. Lauderdale (license number FT-74) approaching the base when he overheard a radio conversation on frequency 4805 in which a voice asked someone named Powers (Captain Edward Powers, another Flight 19 pilot) several times for the compass readings. Finally the answer was heard: “I don't know where we are. We must have lost our way on the last tack. ”When Fox asked, the voice identified itself as FT-28 and said that Ft. Lauderdale can't find it. Taylor claimed to be able to see islands; he was certain that he was in the Florida Keys , but not exactly where (see map # 10). At the last turn he was of the opinion that his students had taken the wrong course. That's why he took the lead to get the flight back on track. However, he is now certain that both compasses on his machine are defective. Fox then instructed Flight 19 to fly north with "the sun over the port wing" to reach the Florida coast. He also instructed FT-28 to turn on the emergency IFF transmitter . FT-74 itself notified the base at 4:11 p.m. and went south to meet FT-28 and his group. The radio connection with Flight 19 got worse and worse and finally broke off when Fox moved to a position about 40 miles south of Ft. Lauderdale found. FT-74 returned to Ft. Lauderdale back.
From 4:26 p.m. onwards, several air and sea rescue stations along the coast began trying to capture the FT-28 using radar or radio direction finding. Difficulties were caused by the fact that the channels were superimposed by Cuban broadcasting stations.
The chief flight officer in Ft. Lauderdale had meanwhile come to believe that Flight 19 could never have reached the first turning point by 4:00 p.m. and then reached the Florida Keys. So the islands Taylor mentioned must have been the Bahamas . The five planes flew north parallel to the Florida coast (see map no. 6). Corresponding to this conclusion, at 4:30 p.m. Flight 19 was requested to “go on course 270 and fly directly towards the sun”. FT-28 apparently initially followed the request, but at 4:45 p.m. the following instruction was received: "We go on course 030 for 45 minutes, then we fly north to make sure we are not over the Gulf of Mexico ." At 5:03 p.m. he even had course 090 steered again for ten minutes. Apparently Taylor was still in doubt as to whether he was just west of Florida over the Gulf. At around the same time, radio messages from two other pilots were also picked up, asking Taylor to finally fly west. Finally, at 5:16 pm, FT-28 gave the order to fly course 270 "until we reach the coast or we run out of fuel."
In Ft. Lauderdale, at Fox's suggestion, had been considering starting the standby aircraft and flying north-east since 5:00 pm; an intensifying radio signal would have given information about the position of the flight. Due to the rapidly deteriorating weather, Taylor's announcement that he would be flying west, and in order not to complicate radio direction finding, the plan was ultimately dropped at 5:36 p.m.
At 5:50 p.m., the various radio direction finding stations finally succeeded in triangulating the position of Flight 19 within a radius of 100 miles around 29 ° N 79 ° W (see map no. 7). The facilities on the coast were instructed to turn on lights and spotlights. However, it was neglected to expressly transmit the position determination again to Flight 19. This position is more than 160 kilometers north of the borders of the Bermuda Triangle, so very far outside of it.
At 6:20 p.m. a US Coast Guard flying boat of the type PBY Catalina took off from Dinner Key airfield, but could not contact Flight 19 due to a problem with the transmitter. However, some intercepted radio messages indicated that the Avengers were running out of fuel: "We'll have to ditch if we don't reach the coast ... If the first plane falls below ten gallons, we'll all go down together." . "
At the same time, the SS Empire Viscount , a British flag tanker that was sailing north of the Bahamas, reported heavy seas and high wind speeds for the sea area in which the five machines probably had to emerge.
The search and rescue operation
In addition to the Catalina, which took off at 6:20 p.m., two Martin PBM Mariner flying boats of the US Navy took off from the Banana River base an hour later . One of the two machines, BuNo. 59225, took off at 19:27 with a crew of thirteen. A routine radio message followed at 7:30 p.m., after which contact was broken off (see card no. 8).
At 7:50 p.m. the tanker SS Gaines Mills reported “a flare-up, evidently an explosion, flames leaping up to 100 feet and burning for about ten minutes. Position 28.59 ° N 80.25 ° W. “A little later the captain reported that they were driving through a large puddle of oil on the water, but had not found any survivors. The escort aircraft carrier USS Solomons , which also participated in the search, later reported that it had radar contact with the aircraft taking off from Banana River. One had disappeared from the radar screen exactly at the time and place of the report by SS Gaines Mills (see map no. 9).
The crash site is, however, more than 200 kilometers north-northwest of the borders of the Bermuda Triangle, so very far outside.
Search operations by airplanes and ships continued until December 10, 1945. Apart from traces of oil in the area of the reported explosion, neither Flight 19 nor BuNo. 59225 found any wreckage.
Others
- The discovery (fictitious for the film) of the intact and functional aircraft in a junkyard in Mexico marks the beginning of the science fiction film Close Encounters of the Third Kind .
- In 1991, the news that an aircraft wreck near Fort Lauderdale had been identified as one of the Flight 19 aircraft caused a stir , but this quickly turned out to be a mistake.
- In the film Bermuda Triangle - Gate at Another Time , there is almost a collision with the aircraft of Flight 19 and a Boeing 747 during the course of the film.
media
- Allan W. Eckert : The Mystery of the Lost Patrol: Five planes disappeared without trace on a peacetime flight , The American Legion Magazine, Volume 72, No. 4, 1962
- Documentation by Will Aslett: Dive into the past - The Bermuda Triangle - Death trap in the Atlantic. PHOENIX, ZDF 2004
Web links
- Accurate documentation (Engl.)
- Excerpt from the investigation report of the US Navy (Engl.)
- Flight 19 - a mystery (brief overview)
Individual evidence
- ^ Page of the Museum of the Naval Air Station Ft. Lauderdale (Eng.)
- ↑ He was stationed aboard the USS Hancock (CV-19) in the Pacific from April to December 1944 , see here
- ↑ excerpt from the report of the Commission of Inquiry (Engl.)