The Bermuda Triangle,  located between the US state of Florida, Puerto Rico and the island nation of Bermuda, is where hundreds of ships and planes mysteriously disappear, often without a trace. In fact, the name “Devil’s Triangle” was given to this area after the disappearance of the US Navy’s Torpedo Bomber Squadron 19.

Bermuda Triangle. (PH๏τo wikipedia).

On December 5, 1945, the 19th Bomber Squadron, with five TBM Avenger torpedo bombers under the command of Captain Charles Taylor, took off from Fort Lauderdale Naval Air Station, Florida, for a routine exercise. Captain Charles Taylor was an experienced pilot with over 2,500 hours of flight time and had fought in the Pacific theater during World War II. The pilots of the other four aircraft were also experienced pilots with over 300 hours of flight time. The exercise went smoothly and according to plan, and the squadron flew over Bermuda to return to base, the weather changed rapidly, although it had been clear before.

The squadron flew into dense clouds, heavy rain, and gusty winds. Taylor believed his compᴀsses were malfunctioning. One pilot radioed for help, reporting that he could not determine his bearings and that everything looked strange, including the ocean. “I don’t know where we are,” one pilot radioed. “We must have gotten lost after that last turn,” another pilot said, his voice filled with worry. Taylor’s voice grew increasingly panicked. He reported to his base commander that the squadron was flying over a patch of land, which he thought was the Florida Keys. Believing they were in the Gulf of Mexico, Taylor ordered the squadron to head northeast, ignoring the procedure for losing their bearings in the Atlantic, and headed west for the mainland.

The 19th Squadron seemed to be moving further and further out to sea as the radio signal weakened. About four hours after the 19th Squadron departed, the Fort Lauderdale base received Taylor’s final message to the other aircraft. He asked the aircraft to keep close together, ready to land in the sea when they ran out of fuel and could not see land. Then the signal was lost. The US Navy quickly sent two PBM Mariner seaplanes at 19:27 to search for the 19th Squadron. However, just three minutes later, one of the PBM Mariners, after transmitting a normal radio signal, suddenly lost signal and could not make contact and disappeared without a trace. For many months after that, the US Navy continued to search but could not find any debris or traces of the 5 TBM Avenger bombers, as well as the PBM Mariner seaplanes and a total of 27 servicemen on board.

Squadron 19 mysteriously disappeared in the Bermuda Triangle in 1945.

The TBM Avengers were designed for maritime warfare, so they could stay afloat for a long time and could be found the next day. Captain Taylor was also described as calm and confident. Flight 19 disappeared without a trace, and the commander reported unusual visual effects upon its disappearance, such as mention of “white water”, the ocean “not looking the way it usually does”, and the compᴀss spinning out of control, before simply vanishing. The PBM Mariner also disappeared afterwards, leading many to believe that aliens had abducted the American pilots, or that they had traveled back in time.

In 1963, journalist Vincent Gaddis published an article тιтled “The Bermuda Triangle of Death” in a magazine, which led to the area being nicknamed the “Bermuda Triangle”. The US Navy’s investigation concluded that there were several scenarios that could have led to the disappearance of Squadron 19, but the real cause could not be determined. The fate of Squadron 19 with the missing Avenger aircraft in the Bermuda Triangle and the PBM Mariner seaplane remains an unsolved mystery in  world history .