80 years of one of the greatest mysteries in aviation history

December 5 marked the 80th anniversary of one of the most mysterious events in aviation history—the disappearance of six aircraft in the Bermuda Triangle. In English-language literature, the event has become known as Flight 19.

On that day in 1945, five TBM Avenger torpedo bombers from the US Navy were scheduled to conduct a training flight from Fort Lauderdale Air Base in Florida. Their mission was designated Flight 19. It was part of a program to retrain crews on a new type of aircraft. The group was led by Charles Taylor, a highly experienced flight instructor with over 2,500 hours of flight time.

At 2:10 p.m., in favorable weather conditions, the group took off. One of the pilots undergoing retraining was the lead pilot, while Taylor took up a position at the end of the formation to observe the actions of all the crews. First, they were to fly east, drop their bombs at a designated point in the sea range, then turn almost north to perform a navigation task, reach another point on the route, turn southwest, and head home.

Radio communications revealed that the crews had completed their bombing run at 3 p.m. Then the weather began to deteriorate, and with it, radio communications began to break down. In particular, Taylor reported that both compasses on his plane had failed, he had lost his bearings, and was over some islands. From subsequent fragmentary reports, it appeared that the group had initially turned east for some reason, and then had to turn west to reach the safety of Florida.

The weather continued to deteriorate, and the sun had set. At 6:20 p.m., the last message from Taylor was received. He ordered the group to close ranks and warned that if they did not reach land, they would have to land on water due to a lack of fuel.

On the ground, the return of the Avengers was not awaited, and a search and rescue operation was launched. In particular, two PBM Mariner flying boats were involved. One of them sent another radio message and also disappeared. Several ships saw a flash in the sky, leading to speculation that the plane had exploded in the air.

The search yielded no results. All six aircraft disappeared without a trace. Twenty-seven crew members were declared dead. The official investigation report was over 500 pages long, but it did not provide a definitive explanation for the tragedy. There were only theories. It was believed that Taylor's group most likely disappeared due to a loss of orientation caused by compass failure, and that the Mariner exploded due to a fuel leak (this had already happened with aircraft of this type). But many questions remained.

At that time, there was no talk of the Bermuda Triangle anomaly zone. It was only in the 1950s, thanks to the efforts of journalists, science fiction writers, ufologists, and various mystifiers, that the Triangle began to acquire a tragic and mysterious aura. Most likely, Taylor's group disappeared in its western corner, and Flight 19 became perhaps the most mystical event in the area, which has a long-standing reputation as a mysterious place where planes and ships have repeatedly disappeared.