thedrifter
10-12-03, 04:55 PM
Pilot Error
Fort Lauderdale, Florida
December 5, 1945
The disappearance of Flight 19, a training flight of five Avenger torpedo bombers flying out of Fort Lauderdale, Florida on December 5, 1945, was the key event in the birth of the Bermuda Triangle legend. Over the ensuing 55 years, claims have been made that the men of this flight were kidnapped by UFOs or flew through some sort of time or space warp. What really happened to Flight 19?
Avenger torpedo bombers were used very effectively during World War Two. They could carry either one standard torpedo or a one-ton bomb. They could operate from an airfield or from an aircraft carrier and were used effectively against Japanese warships. They carried a three-man crew consisting of a pilot, a gunner, and a radioman.
At the end of World War Two, Fort Lauderdale Naval Air Station was one of the places where Avenger pilot training was taught, and part of the training was something called "Navigation Problem No. 1." This problem consisted of the following:
Depart Fort Lauderdale 27 degrees 03 minutes north and 80 degrees 07 minutes west. Fly 091 degrees (east)for 56 miles to Hens and Chicken Shoals, 22 miles north of Bimini in the Bahamas for low-level bombing practice. After bombing, continue 091 degrees for 67 miles.
Fly 346 degrees (northwest) for 73 miles.
Fly 241 degrees (southwest) 120 miles back to Fort Lauderdale.
"Navigation Problem No. 1" was not difficult. It was a routine exercise in flying to a target, dropping bombs, and returning to base.
The crew lists of the five Avengers scheduled to fly this training exercise were:
1. FT. 28 Lt. C.C. Taylor, USNR
G.F. Devlin, AOM3c, USNR
W.R. Parpart, ARM3c, USNR
2. FT. 36 Capt. E.J. Powers, USMC
H.Q. Thompson, Sgt., USMCR
G.R. Paonessa, Sgt., USMC
3. FT. 117 Capt. G.W. Stivers, USMC
R.P. Gruebel, Pvt., USMCR
R.F. Gullivan, Sgt., USMC
4. FT. 81 2nd Lt. F.J. Gerber, USMCR
W.E. Lightfoot, Pfc., USMCR
5. FT. 3 Ens. J.T. Bossi, USNR
A.H. Thelander, S1c, USNR
B.E. Baluk, JR., S1c, USNR
FT. 81 was one man short because Marine Corporal Allen Kosner had asked to be excused from the exercise. All of the pilots were qualified navy pilots, with an average of 300 hours flight time. This was a VTB Type Advanced Training exercise. They were not beginners, but advanced students.
The instructor for the flight was Lt. Charles Carroll Taylor, who had recently transferred to Ft. Lauderdale from Miami. This was his first flight on this training course, but he was a seasoned pilot with over 2,000 hours flight time. He had spent 10 months flying combat missions in the South Pacific.
Sequence of Events
Flight 19 was scheduled to take off at 1:45, but Lt. Taylor was late in arriving at the briefing room. When he did arrive, at 1:15, he went to the duty officer and asked to be relieved. However, there was no one else to take his place, and his request was denied.
All five planes of Flight 19 were in the air at 2:10. They made the flight to Hens and Chicken Shoals as planned. They practiced dropping bombs, taking turns making low-level passes at the target. At 3:00 they proceeded to fly the 67 miles of the second part of this leg of the flight. A fishing boat skipper saw them flying east.
At about 3:45, another flight instructor, Lt. Robert Cox, picked up a transmission on 4805 kilocycles. The speaker was asking someone named Powers what his compass showed and made the statement:
I don't know where we are. We must have got lost after that last turn.
Although the speaker did not identify himself, it is likely that it was Lt. Taylor. It would seem that either Taylor's compass had failed or that he had become disoriented and did not believe his and Powers' compass readings.
Lt. Cox radioed Ft. Lauderdale and alerted them that a ship or plane was lost. He then tried to contact the speaker on 4805 kilocycles. He was unable to do so for several minutes. There was a lot of static on that frequency, plus interference from a Cuban radio station. Finally, at about 4:21, he received a response:
This is FT-28. Both my compasses are out and I'm trying to find Fort Lauderdale. I'm over land but it's broken. I'm sure I'm in the Keys, but I don't know how far down...
Lt. Cox radioed Ft. Lauderdale and alerted them that a ship or plane was lost. He then tried to contact the speaker on 4805 kilocycles. He was unable to do so for several minutes. There was a lot of static on that frequency, plus interference from a Cuban radio station. Finally, at about 4:21, he received a response:
This is FT-28. Both my compasses are out and I'm trying to find Fort Lauderdale. I'm over land but it's broken. I'm sure I'm in the Keys, but I don't know how far down...
Here the extent of Taylor's disorientation becomes clear. Not only does he believe they are off-course, but he believes that they are many miles to the southwest, over the Florida Keys. Since Cox doesn't know their flight plan, then he has no reason to question Taylor's assertion that they are over the Keys. In truth, the "broken land" that Taylor reports is most likely the Bahamas. If Flight 19 had truly been over the Keys, they should have been able to see the Florida mainland.
Taking Taylor at his word, Cox tells him:
Put the sun on your port wing if you're in the Keys and fly up the coast until you get to Miami. Then Fort Lauderdale is 20 miles farther…what is your position? I'll fly south and meet you.
Taylor radioed back:
I know where I am now. I'm at 2300 feet. Don't come after me.
A few minutes later, at 4:25, Taylor radioed again:
We have just passed over a small island. We have no other land in sight.
Then:
Can you have Miami or someone turn on their radar and pick us up? We don't seem to be getting far. We were out on a navigation hop, and on the second leg I thought they were going wrong. I took over and was flying them back to the right position. But I'm sure now that neither one of my compasses is working.
Cox had turned and flown south because that's where he thought Flight 19 was, but as he got south of Miami, the transmissions from Flight 19 got weaker. To compound the problems, Cox's transmitter began to malfunction, and he could not transmit to Taylor.
Flight 19 was still flying north because Taylor believed they were south of Florida. The weather was getting worse. They were beginning to see whitecaps on the ocean below.
Port Everglades station was able to transmit, and at 4:45 they instructed Taylor to switch to 3000 kilocycles and to fly due west. Meanwhile, they were trying to get a fix on Flight 19, which was difficult because of the interference on 4805 kilocycles.
At 5:00, these statements were heard:
If we would just fly west, we would get home. And Dammit, if we would just fly west, we would get home.
5:07, Taylor to Flight 19:
Change course to 90 degrees for 10 minutes.
5:09, unidentified:
How long have we gone now? Let's turn and fly east two degrees. We are going too damn far north instead of east. If there is anything we wouldn't have seen it.
5:11, unidentified:
You didn't get far enough east. How long have we been going east?
5:15, Taylor to Port Everglades:
I receive you very weak. We are now flying 270 degrees.
5:16, Taylor to Port Everglades:
We will fly 270 degrees until we hit the beach or run out of gas.
But by then it was too late. They had flown so far east that they didn't have enough fuel to make it back to the mainland.
5:22, Taylor:
When the first man gets down to ten gallons of gas, we will all land in the water together. Does everyone understand that?
continued.....
Fort Lauderdale, Florida
December 5, 1945
The disappearance of Flight 19, a training flight of five Avenger torpedo bombers flying out of Fort Lauderdale, Florida on December 5, 1945, was the key event in the birth of the Bermuda Triangle legend. Over the ensuing 55 years, claims have been made that the men of this flight were kidnapped by UFOs or flew through some sort of time or space warp. What really happened to Flight 19?
Avenger torpedo bombers were used very effectively during World War Two. They could carry either one standard torpedo or a one-ton bomb. They could operate from an airfield or from an aircraft carrier and were used effectively against Japanese warships. They carried a three-man crew consisting of a pilot, a gunner, and a radioman.
At the end of World War Two, Fort Lauderdale Naval Air Station was one of the places where Avenger pilot training was taught, and part of the training was something called "Navigation Problem No. 1." This problem consisted of the following:
Depart Fort Lauderdale 27 degrees 03 minutes north and 80 degrees 07 minutes west. Fly 091 degrees (east)for 56 miles to Hens and Chicken Shoals, 22 miles north of Bimini in the Bahamas for low-level bombing practice. After bombing, continue 091 degrees for 67 miles.
Fly 346 degrees (northwest) for 73 miles.
Fly 241 degrees (southwest) 120 miles back to Fort Lauderdale.
"Navigation Problem No. 1" was not difficult. It was a routine exercise in flying to a target, dropping bombs, and returning to base.
The crew lists of the five Avengers scheduled to fly this training exercise were:
1. FT. 28 Lt. C.C. Taylor, USNR
G.F. Devlin, AOM3c, USNR
W.R. Parpart, ARM3c, USNR
2. FT. 36 Capt. E.J. Powers, USMC
H.Q. Thompson, Sgt., USMCR
G.R. Paonessa, Sgt., USMC
3. FT. 117 Capt. G.W. Stivers, USMC
R.P. Gruebel, Pvt., USMCR
R.F. Gullivan, Sgt., USMC
4. FT. 81 2nd Lt. F.J. Gerber, USMCR
W.E. Lightfoot, Pfc., USMCR
5. FT. 3 Ens. J.T. Bossi, USNR
A.H. Thelander, S1c, USNR
B.E. Baluk, JR., S1c, USNR
FT. 81 was one man short because Marine Corporal Allen Kosner had asked to be excused from the exercise. All of the pilots were qualified navy pilots, with an average of 300 hours flight time. This was a VTB Type Advanced Training exercise. They were not beginners, but advanced students.
The instructor for the flight was Lt. Charles Carroll Taylor, who had recently transferred to Ft. Lauderdale from Miami. This was his first flight on this training course, but he was a seasoned pilot with over 2,000 hours flight time. He had spent 10 months flying combat missions in the South Pacific.
Sequence of Events
Flight 19 was scheduled to take off at 1:45, but Lt. Taylor was late in arriving at the briefing room. When he did arrive, at 1:15, he went to the duty officer and asked to be relieved. However, there was no one else to take his place, and his request was denied.
All five planes of Flight 19 were in the air at 2:10. They made the flight to Hens and Chicken Shoals as planned. They practiced dropping bombs, taking turns making low-level passes at the target. At 3:00 they proceeded to fly the 67 miles of the second part of this leg of the flight. A fishing boat skipper saw them flying east.
At about 3:45, another flight instructor, Lt. Robert Cox, picked up a transmission on 4805 kilocycles. The speaker was asking someone named Powers what his compass showed and made the statement:
I don't know where we are. We must have got lost after that last turn.
Although the speaker did not identify himself, it is likely that it was Lt. Taylor. It would seem that either Taylor's compass had failed or that he had become disoriented and did not believe his and Powers' compass readings.
Lt. Cox radioed Ft. Lauderdale and alerted them that a ship or plane was lost. He then tried to contact the speaker on 4805 kilocycles. He was unable to do so for several minutes. There was a lot of static on that frequency, plus interference from a Cuban radio station. Finally, at about 4:21, he received a response:
This is FT-28. Both my compasses are out and I'm trying to find Fort Lauderdale. I'm over land but it's broken. I'm sure I'm in the Keys, but I don't know how far down...
Lt. Cox radioed Ft. Lauderdale and alerted them that a ship or plane was lost. He then tried to contact the speaker on 4805 kilocycles. He was unable to do so for several minutes. There was a lot of static on that frequency, plus interference from a Cuban radio station. Finally, at about 4:21, he received a response:
This is FT-28. Both my compasses are out and I'm trying to find Fort Lauderdale. I'm over land but it's broken. I'm sure I'm in the Keys, but I don't know how far down...
Here the extent of Taylor's disorientation becomes clear. Not only does he believe they are off-course, but he believes that they are many miles to the southwest, over the Florida Keys. Since Cox doesn't know their flight plan, then he has no reason to question Taylor's assertion that they are over the Keys. In truth, the "broken land" that Taylor reports is most likely the Bahamas. If Flight 19 had truly been over the Keys, they should have been able to see the Florida mainland.
Taking Taylor at his word, Cox tells him:
Put the sun on your port wing if you're in the Keys and fly up the coast until you get to Miami. Then Fort Lauderdale is 20 miles farther…what is your position? I'll fly south and meet you.
Taylor radioed back:
I know where I am now. I'm at 2300 feet. Don't come after me.
A few minutes later, at 4:25, Taylor radioed again:
We have just passed over a small island. We have no other land in sight.
Then:
Can you have Miami or someone turn on their radar and pick us up? We don't seem to be getting far. We were out on a navigation hop, and on the second leg I thought they were going wrong. I took over and was flying them back to the right position. But I'm sure now that neither one of my compasses is working.
Cox had turned and flown south because that's where he thought Flight 19 was, but as he got south of Miami, the transmissions from Flight 19 got weaker. To compound the problems, Cox's transmitter began to malfunction, and he could not transmit to Taylor.
Flight 19 was still flying north because Taylor believed they were south of Florida. The weather was getting worse. They were beginning to see whitecaps on the ocean below.
Port Everglades station was able to transmit, and at 4:45 they instructed Taylor to switch to 3000 kilocycles and to fly due west. Meanwhile, they were trying to get a fix on Flight 19, which was difficult because of the interference on 4805 kilocycles.
At 5:00, these statements were heard:
If we would just fly west, we would get home. And Dammit, if we would just fly west, we would get home.
5:07, Taylor to Flight 19:
Change course to 90 degrees for 10 minutes.
5:09, unidentified:
How long have we gone now? Let's turn and fly east two degrees. We are going too damn far north instead of east. If there is anything we wouldn't have seen it.
5:11, unidentified:
You didn't get far enough east. How long have we been going east?
5:15, Taylor to Port Everglades:
I receive you very weak. We are now flying 270 degrees.
5:16, Taylor to Port Everglades:
We will fly 270 degrees until we hit the beach or run out of gas.
But by then it was too late. They had flown so far east that they didn't have enough fuel to make it back to the mainland.
5:22, Taylor:
When the first man gets down to ten gallons of gas, we will all land in the water together. Does everyone understand that?
continued.....