THE BERMUDA TRIANGLE; ANY TIPS?

The Bermuda Triangle is noteworthy for an ongoing series of both ships and airplanes being lost. The most notable is the loss of flight 19.

he Loss Of Flight 19

Related resources:

1. The Bermuda Triangle FAQ
2. McDonell, Michael, "Lost Patrol," Naval Aviation News (Jun.1973): 8-16.

Prepared by the Operational Archives Branch, Naval Historical Center

At about 2:10 p.m. on the afternoon of 5 December 1945, Flight 19, consisting of five TBM Avenger Torpedo Bombers departed from the U. S. Naval Air Station, Fort Lauderdale, Florida, on an authorized advanced overwater navigational training flight. They were to execute navigation problem No. 1, which is as follows: (1) depart 26 degrees 03 minutes north and 80 degrees 07 minutes west and fly 091 degrees (T) distance 56 miles to Hen and Chickens Shoals to conduct low level bombing, after bombing continue on course 091 degrees (T) for 67 miles, (2) fly course 346 degrees (T) distance 73 miles and (3) fly course 241 degrees (T) distance 120 miles, then returning to U. S. Naval Air Station, Fort Lauderdale, Florida.

In charge of the flight was a senior qualified flight instructor, piloting one of the planes. The other planes were piloted by qualified pilots with between 350 and 400 hours flight time of which at least 55 was in TBM type aircraft. The weather over the area covered by the track of the navigational problem consisted of scattered rain showers with a ceiling of 2500 feet within the showers and unlimited outside the showers, visibility of 6-8 miles in the showers, 10-12 otherwise. Surface winds were 20 knots with gusts to 31 knots. The sea was moderate to rough. The general weather conditions were considered average for training flights of this nature except within showers.

A radio message intercepted at about 4 p.m. was the first indication that Flight 19 was lost. This message, believed to be between the leader on Flight 19 and another pilot in the same flight, indicated that the instructor was uncertain of his position and the direction of the Florida coast. The aircraft also were experiencing malfunction of their compasses. Attempts to establish communications on the training frequency were unsatisfactory due to interference from Cuba broadcasting stations, static, and atmospheric conditions. All radio contact was lost before the exact nature of the trouble or the location of the flight could be determined. Indications are that the flight became lost somewhere east of the Florida peninsula and was unable to determine a course to return to their base. The flight was never heard from again and no trace of the planes were ever found. It is assumed that they made forced landings at sea, in darkness somewhere east of the Florida peninsula, possibly after running out of gas. It is known that the fuel carried by the aircraft would have been completely exhausted by 8 p.m. The sea in that presumed area was rough and unfavorable for a water landing. It is also possible that some unexpected and unforeseen development of weather conditions may have intervened although there is no evidence of freak storms in the area at the time.

All available facilities in the immediate area were used in an effort to locate the missing aircraft and help them return to base. These efforts were not successful. No trace of the aircraft was ever found even though an extensive search operation was conducted until the evening of 10 December 1945, when weather conditions deteriorated to the point where further efforts became unduly hazardous. Sufficient aircraft and surface vessels were utilized to satisfactorily cover those areas in which survivors of Flight 19 could be presumed to be located.

One search aircraft was lost during the operation. A PBM patrol plane which was launched at approximately 7:30 p.m., 5 December 1945, to search for the missing TBM's. This aircraft was never seen nor heard from after take-off. Based upon a report from a merchant ship off Fort Lauderdale which sighted a "burst of flame, apparently an explosion, and passed through on oil slick at a time and place which matched the presumed location of the PBM, it is believed this aircraft exploded at sea and sank at approximately 28.59 N; 80.25 W. No trace of the plane or its crew was ever found.


You should also know the boundaries of the triangle


Bermuda (or "Devil's") Triangle

The Bermuda Triangle (a.k.a. the Devil's Triangle) is a triangular area inPhoto credit: NASA the Atlantic Ocean bounded roughly at its points by Miami, Bermuda, and Puerto Rico. Legend has it that many people, ships and planes have mysteriously vanished in this area. How many have mysteriously disappeared depends on who is doing the locating and the counting. The size of the triangle varies from 500,000 square miles to three times that size, depending on the imagination of the author. (Some include the Azores, the Gulf of Mexico, and the West Indies in the "triangle.") Some trace the mystery back to the time of Columbus. Even so, estimates range from about 200 to no more than 1,000 incidents in the past 500 years. Howard Rosenberg claims that in 1973 the U.S. Coast Guard answered more than 8,000 distress calls in the area and that more than 50 ships and 20 planes have gone down in the Bermuda Triangle within the last century.

http://skepdic.com/bermuda.html



http://www.history.navy.mil/faqs/faq15-1.htm

By the way, welcome to a2k. Any further questions just trot them out and we'll try to help.

Thank you so much, bobsmythhawk. I actually like the source of Flight 19. Maybe I might do a speech on it. *laughs* Thanks, man. I'm gonna put down some points on my Word and then I will do a real copy on the weekends. *wink, wink*

:wink: :wink:

There's little mystery to the Flight 19 story. Of the 5 planes comprisin' the ill-fated trainin' mission, 4 were flown by relatively inexperienced student pilots, none of whom yet were instrument qualified. The 5th was piloted by a recently-qualified Flight Instructor, Lt. Charles Taylor, aged 28, who, during WWII, amassed a record of 3 at-sea ditchin's, 2 of which were direct results of gettin' lost and runnin' out of fuel, with the third attributed to mechanical failure of a nature likely to have been avoidable had Taylor properly pre-flighted the plane in question. Taylor also was involved in a couple of aircraft-damaged-during-taxi incidents, barely qualified for Carrier Landing, and scored barely acceptable on his initial instrument qualification, with that particular, among others, receiving subsequent categorization as "Needs Improvement" in his Service Record. He just wasn't a very good pilot. One of the developments of the Navy's investigation into the incident was an unfavorable evaluation placed in the Permanent Service Record of the officer who had signed off on Taylor's qualification as Flight Instructor.

Some say it has something to do with a certain type of gas in the water leaking from the sea bed.If it mixes with the water, anything like a boat sailing in it immediately loses its bouyancy, hence ships dissapear.
Cant explain aeroplanes tho.

My tutor said that a comet might've crashed in that area, a metal one. Maybe that's why the compasses have been causin' a havoc. *shrugs* It's kinda possible.

Yeah, always an implausible answer to any indeterminate phenomenon. Thats called "superstition".

Hi intense:

Here's a site debunking some of the mysteries.

The Bermuda Triangle
Debunking the Bermuda Triangle mystery.

The Bermuda Triangle
An Encarta Encyclopedia entry.

Bermuda Triangle
"Exorcizing the Devil's Triangle".

The Unnatural Museum - the Bermuda Triangle
The Un-Mystery of the Bermuda Triangle.

http://english.unitecnology.ac.nz/resources/units/unsolved_mysteries/bermuda.html

There are no compass problems if your compasses are electronic. Even the old fashioned gimble mounted ones had gaussing bars in the rims and this compensated quite well. Ive crewed on a number of sailing trips throught that area and was on a RV in the trench area. The only story about ships that ever made sense was based upon the discovery of methane hydrate deposits on the continental shelf. These methane hydrates (clathrates) , if disturbed , would bubble up like soda pop in which you dump a handfull of M&Ms. The foam decreases the bouyancy as material girl said and this can cause almost any boat to sink.
Statistically , however, Im betting that there are no more ships sunk in the triangle than anywhere else. Probably a whol;e lot less than are sunk on the Columbia River Bar or the Diamond shoals. We sailed up through the diamond shoals on a weekend race that I helped out as a crew. That was some scary water.

A generally overlooked point relevant to the so-called Bermuda Triangle is that it essentially is open ocean, with strong, diverse currents and unpredictable weather, readilly accessible to relatively inexperienced voyagers, both nautical and aeronautical. Among the most heavilly trafficked open-ocean areas on the planet, it stands to reason it would be the site of a comparatively large number of just plain screwups. Quite simply put, there's often no explanation for some of the stupid things some folks will do - and no end to the trouble they get themselves into thereby.

Considerin' the traffic volume the area experiences, there's nothin' at all statistically anomalous about the region - apart from the abnormally high proportion of successful rescues given the number and frequency of distress calls. If you insist on gettin' yourself into trouble, the Bermuda Triangle might just be the safest place in the world to do so.