MYSTERY OF FLIGHT 19 "THE LOST PATROL" On December 5th 1945, at 2:10 pm. a flight of five Navy TBF Avenger torpedo bombers embarked on a routine navigational training exercise from Ft. Lauderdale, Florida over the Atlantic Ocean. Two hours later every plane, and the fourteen men on board, vanished without a trace in the "Bermuda Triangle."

 

The following is an excerpt from the transcript of the last recorded communication between the base at Ft. Lauderdale and Flight 19.

 

Commanding Officer Flight 19: "Cannot see land. We seem to be off course."

Tower: "What is your position?" (Silence)

 

Co flight 19: "We cannot be sure where we are. Repeat: Cannot see land."

 

Ten minutes of silence... The next communication was from one of the Flight 19 crewmen and was bordering on hysteria...

 

Pilot trainee: "We can't find West. Everything is wrong. We can't be sure of any direction. Everything looks strange, even the ocean."

Pilot trainee: "We can't tell where we are...everything is ...can't make out anything."

Pilot trainee: "It look like we are entering white water... We're completely lost."

Flight 19 was never heard from again.

 

Minutes later, two Mariner flying boats were dispatched to the last known coordinates of Flight 19 in an effort to find them. One of the search and rescue aircraft disappeared and was never seen or heard from again. After six days of extensive search and rescue efforts, not a single clue was found. Was their disappearance due to navigational errors?

 

Was it due to equipment malfunction? Or was it something else...something not of this Earth?

 

To this day, no trace of Flight 19 has every been found.

Realistic Detail Each Aircraft features:

 

*Opening canopy and crew hatch

*Retractable landing gear

*Opening torpedo bay doors

*Moving wing surfaces

*Folding wings

*Turning prop