Ep 65: Flight 19 Part 1

Avengers in Formation

Courtesy the Naval Air Station of Ft Lauderdale Museum.

Charles Carroll Taylor

Instructor, Flight 19. Courtesy the NAS Ft Lauderdale Museum.

George Devlin

Aviation Ordinance Man 3rd Class, George Francis Devlin. This is the man who enlisted when he was underaged at 15. He was 17 when Flight 19 vanished. There are many more crew pictures at the amazing The Naval Air Station Ft Lauderdale Museum Website! Photo Courtesy NAS Ft Lauderdale Museum.

NAS Ft. Lauderdale

Aerial View. Courtesy Naval Air Station Ft Lauderdale Museum.

NAS Ft. Lauderdale

Aerial View with Avenger Squadrons flying over in celebration of the end of WWII. Courtesy Naval Air Station Fort Lauderdale Museum.

Possible Image of FT-117 from Flight 19

Courtesy Naval Air Station Museum Ft. Lauderdale Museum.

The Bermuda Triangle

Courtesy Naval Air Station Ft Lauderdale Museum

Headlines Around the World

Courtesy Naval Air Station Ft Lauderdale Museum.

Accident Report 1

Courtesy Naval History and Heritage Command

Accident Report 2

Courtesy Naval History and Heritage Command

Accident Report 3

Courtesy Naval History Heritage Command

Accident Report 4

Courtesy Naval History Heritage Command

Accident Report 5

Courtesy Naval History Heritage Command

Corsair Compass Rose

To help understand Bearing/Degrees and Directions. There was not one with an Avenger on it!

George HW Bush in his Avenger

Public Domain

Avenger TBM

Courtesy of the National Aviation Museum

 

Ft. Lauderdale-Hollywood Int'l Airport, formerly US Naval Air Station Ft. Lauderdale, where Flight 19 departed from on December 5th, 1945.

 

Background

The fate of a US Naval training flight, designated as “Flight 19” remains one of the American military’s most enduring mysteries, but also one of the signature stories from the legendary region known as “The Bermuda Triangle.”  On December 5, 1945, a squadron of five Grumman TBM Avenger torpedo bombers departed Naval Air Station Fort Lauderdale, Florida at 2:10 p.m. on what should have been a routine overwater navigation training exercise.  After successfully completing their practice bombing runs and some course change maneuvers, the formation radioed that they were not sure of their location or heading.  Several hours later it was clear that the squadron was lost and their situation was dire.  Flight instructor Lt. Charles Taylor, USN would make his last transmission around this time and it would be the last he and his 13 airmen would ever be heard from again.  A rescue operation was launched, but it too would suffer a terrible tragedy.  Was this merely a series of unfortunate but explainable errors and Flight 19 simply fell victim to the natural danger of the sea, or would they be claimed by the purported treachery of the Bermuda Triangle?

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Show Notes Links

• Flight 19 http://bit.ly/2mBlZkq

• The Disappearance of Flight 19 by Lawrence David Kusche http://a.co/8cNw4KG

• Loss of Flight 19 Official US Naval Accident Reports http://bit.ly/2nj6de5

• NAS Jacksonville Board of Investigation "Finding of Facts" http://bit.ly/2mFvj36

• The Fog: A Never Before Published Theory of the Bermuda Triangle Phenomenon, by Rob MacGregor and Bruce Gernon http://a.co/5AZONep

• Beyond the Bermuda Triangle: True Encounters with Electronic Fog, Missing Aircraft, and Time Warps by Bruce Gernon and Rob MacGregor, coming out 7/24/2017 http://a.co/hEOgpH9

• The Bermuda Triangle http://bit.ly/1LtPMAo

• The Mystery of Flight 19 article from the NAS Ft. Lauderdale Museum http://bit.ly/1rvwGjr

• Flight 19: "Lost Patrol" By Michael McDonell from Naval Aviation News June 1973, 8-16. http://bit.ly/2nBzzBZ

• Fresh Search for Lost Patrol by Jim Moore 4-24-2015 http://bit.ly/2mSNwLw

• Recognition of the 60th Anniversary of Flight 19 by the US House of Representatives Congressional Record http://bit.ly/2nOlLDp

• Radar Bulletin 8-A: Homing procedure for lost planes http://bit.ly/2mFt7Je

• Distance to the Horizon calculator http://bit.ly/2mSQL5E

• Grumman TBF Avenger Torpedo Bomber http://bit.ly/2nBnlcx

• Consolidated PBY Catalina patrol bomber and rescue aircraft http://bit.ly/1qXSLKQ

• Martin PBM Mariner flying boat http://bit.ly/2n7WPJS

• TBM Avenger at the National Naval Aviation Museum http://bit.ly/2mFbxF4

• Against the Sun opening scene of a torpedo bomber water ditch http://bit.ly/2n7LpFQ

• WWII Training Film - preflight radio inspection for fighter aircraft http://bit.ly/2mFbYiM

• "Dumbo" air-sea rescue http://bit.ly/2nBoq3J

• Dumbo, the 1941 animated classic Disney movie http://bit.ly/1sWmNzQ

• The US Navy’s AUTEC - The “Area 51 of the Atlantic Ocean” http://bit.ly/2mbzXpE

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Credits:

Episode 65 - "Flight 19 (Part 1)" Produced by Scott Philbrook & Forrest Burgess; Audio Editing by Sarah Vorhees; Ryan McCullough Sound Design; Research Assistance by Tess Pfeifle and the astonishing League of Astonishing Researchers, a.k.a. The Astonishing Research Corps, or "A.R.C." for short. Copyright 2017 Astonishing Legends Productions, LLC. All Rights Reserved.