Flight 19

UPDATED 18 JUL 2018

Picture credited to the LIFE Picture Collection via History.com¹

---

“We can’t find west. Everything is wrong. We can’t be sure of any direction. Everything looks strange, even the ocean…It looks like we are entering white water. We are completely lost.”

---

Flew From: Naval Air Station in Ft. Lauderdale, Florida (2:10pm, 12/5/1945)

Purpose of Flight: Routine Training Flight

Flight Plan: With a triangular flight style, they would travel east from the coast of Florida and conduct bombing runs at a place called Hens and Chickens Shoals. From there, they would change direction to north and fly over Grand Bahama Island. Lastly, they would change direction once more and head southwest back to Florida.

Flight Leader: Lieutenant Charles C. Taylor, experienced pilot and WW2 veteran

More: Each plane manned by 3 men, with an exception of one manned by 2

---

"Both my compasses are out and I'm trying to find Ft. Lauderdale, Florida."

---

After the planes had conducted the bombing runs around 2:30pm and changed direction north as planned, things started to go wrong. Taylor noticed his Avenger’s compass was malfunctioning, and feared they had been traveling in the wrong direction. The problems worsened as a front brought wind, rain, and a heavy cover of dark clouds.

Through radio, one of the pilots reported their trouble. A Navy flight instructor flying near the coast of Florida received the call and immediately contacted the base regarding the situation.

“Both my compasses are out and I’m trying to find Ft. Lauderdale, Florida. I’m over land, but it’s broken. I’m sure I’m in the Keys, but I don’t know how far down,” Taylor said anxiously.

Having flown over Hens and Chicken Shoals (Bahamas) fewer than 60 minutes ago, his claim of being strewn hundreds of miles off course did not make much sense. It is possible that Taylor could have mistaken Bahamian islands for the Keys.

Believing that he was in the Gulf of Mexico, Taylor led his men northeast--further the mainland. Eventually he switched directions and headed west, though as time passed with no sign of land, he gave the order to travel northeast once more, stating they did not travel far enough east the first time.

Some of the pilots quickly realized his mistake.

---

"We all go down together..."

---

“Dammit, if we would just fly west, we would get home,” the radio picked up from a protesting pilot. That was, of course, standard protocol. If a pilot lost his way, he was supposed to head west toward the setting sun and travel back towards the mainland. But Taylor was sure they were over the gulf.

Hours pass. Still no sign of land.

The radio caught one last order: “All planes close up tight. We’ll have to ditch unless landfall…when the first plane drops below ten gallons, we all go down together.”

Minutes afterwards, the radio picked up nothing but a spine-chilling buzz.

To this day, the location of the torpedo bombers remains unknown, but the mystery holds deeper roots than this. What caused their navigation equipment to malfunction? This strange activity is common to the Bermuda Triangle, and could be due to electromagnetic interference. The next question is: what causes this sort of interference?

Paranormal researcher Ivan Sanderson theorized navigational malfunctions are due to the Bermuda Triangle being a “vile vortice.” These are places of rough currents and temperature variations, which are thought to affect electromagnetic fields. I know what you're thinking. Paranormal researcher? This guy sounds sketchy. While his title may be self-proclaimed, his work is still a reflection of hard science. In fact, many people have continued to develop his theory of vile vortices. Below is an improved version of his theory:

Photo credited to The Mask of Reason²

---

1 http://www.history.com/news/the-mysterious-disappearance-of-flight-19^↩
2 https://maskofreason.wordpress.com/the-book-of-mysteries/mysteria-obscura/the-vile-vortices/^↩