Aotea 1,696 Report post Posted December 5, 2015 [center][/center] Flight 19 was the designation of five Avenger torpedo bombers that disappeared off the coast of Florida on December 5, 1945 during a United States Navy overwater navigation training flight from Naval Air Station (NAS) Fort Lauderdale. All 14 airmen on the flight were lost, as were all 13 crew members of a PBM Mariner flying boat that exploded in mid-air while searching for the flight. Navy investigators could not determine the cause of the loss of Flight 19 but said the airmen may have become disoriented and ditched at night in rough seas after running out of fuel. The flight was a routine combined navigation and bombing training exercise called "Navigation problem No. 1” and was the 19th such mission that day from the NAS. The flight leader was United States Navy Lieutenant Charles Carroll Taylor, who had about 2,500 flying hours, mostly in aircraft of this type, while his trainee pilots had 300 total, and 60 flight hours in the Avenger. Taylor had recently arrived from NAS Miami where he had also been a Torpedo Bombing instructor. The student pilots had recently completed other training missions in the area where the flight was to take place, and had flown the same route previously. They were US Marine Captains Edward Joseph Powers and George William Stivers, US Marine Second Lieutenant Forrest James Gerber and USN Ensign Joseph Tipton Bossi. Their callsigns all begin with 'Fox Tair', the US phonetic alphabet of the time for the NAS Fort Lauderdale identifier F-T TBM-3 F-T 28 flown by Lt Charles C Taylor USNR Crew: Gunner George F. Devlin, AOM3c, USNR. Radioman: Walter Reed Parpart, Jr. ARM3c, USNR. The aircraft on the mission were four TBM-1Cs and one TBM-3. Each was fully fuelled, and during pre-flight checks it was discovered they were all missing clocks. The lack of timekeeping equipment was not a cause for concern as it was assumed each man had his own watch. Takeoff was scheduled for 13:45 local time, but the late arrival of Taylor delayed departure until 14:10. Weather at NAS Fort Lauderdale was described as "favorable, sea state moderate to rough." But in Georgia a storm front was rolling south and predicted to bringing heavy cloud and strong winds to the area after nightfall. Taylor was supervising the mission, and a trainee pilot had the role of leader out front. After take-off, they flew on heading 091° for 56 nautical miles (nm) until reaching Hen and Chickens Shoals where low level bombing practice was carried out. The flight was to continue on the same heading for another 67 nm before turning onto a course of 346° for 73 nm, over-flying Grand Bahama island and then making the final turn to 241° to and flying 120 nm to take them home. [center][/center] Radio conversations between the pilots were overheard by base and other aircraft in the area. The practice bombing operation was carried out , and at about 1500 hours a pilot requested and was given permission to drop his last bomb. Forty minutes later, another flight instructor, Lieutenant Robert F. Cox in FT-74, forming up with his group of students for the same mission, overheard a transmission. An unidentified crew member asked Powers, one of the Flight 19 students, for his compass reading. Powers replied: "I don't know where we are. We must have got lost after that last turn." TBM-1C F-T 36 flown by Captain E. J. Powers USMC. Crew: Gunner Sgt. Howell O. Thompson, USMCR. Radioman: Sgt. George R. Paonessa, USMCR. Cox then transmitted; "This is FT-74, plane or boat calling 'Powers' please identify yourself so someone can help you." The response after a few moments was a request from the others in the flight for suggestions. FT-74 tried again and a man identified as FT-28 (Taylor) came on. "FT-28, this is FT-74, what is your trouble?" "Both of my compasses are out", Taylor replied, "and I am trying to find Fort Lauderdale, Florida. I am over land but it's broken. I am sure I'm in the Keys but I don't know how far down and I don't know how to get to Fort Lauderdale." TBM-1C F-T 3 flown by Ensign Joseph T Bossi USNR. Crew: Pfc. William Lightfoot, USMCR. FT-74 informed the NAS that aircraft were lost, then advised Taylor to put the sun on his port wing and fly north up the coast to Fort Lauderdale. Base operations then asked if the flight leader's aircraft was equipped with a standard YG (IFF transmitter), which could be used to triangulate the flight's position, but the message was not acknowledged by FT-28. Instead, at 16:45, FT-28 radioed: "We are heading 030 degrees for 45 minutes, then we will fly north to make sure we are not over the Gulf of Mexico." During this time no bearings could be made on the flight, and IFF could not be picked up. Taylor was told to broadcast on 4805 kilocycles. This order was not acknowledged so he was asked to switch to 3,000 kilocycles, the search and rescue frequency. Taylor replied – "I cannot switch frequencies. I must keep my planes intact." At 16:56, Taylor was again asked to turn on his YG transmitter if he had one. He did not acknowledge but a few minutes later advised his flight "Change course to 090 degrees for 10 minutes." About the same time someone in the flight said "Dammit, if we could just fly west we would get home; head west, dammit." This difference of opinion later led to questions about why the students did not simply head west on their own. It has been explained that this can be attributed to military discipline. The predicted storm front rolled down from Georgia, with hurricane force winds at 8000 ft. As the weather deteriorated, radio contact became intermittent, and by that time the aircraft were probably more than 200 nm out to sea east of the Florida peninsula. Taylor radioed "We'll fly 270 degrees west until landfall or running out of gas" and requested a weather check at 17:24. TBM-1C F-T 81 flown by 2nd Lt Forrest J Gerber USMCR. Crew: Gunner Herman A. Thelander, S1c, USNR. Radioman: Burt E. Baluk, S1c, USNR. By 17:50 several land-based radio stations had triangulated Flight 19's position as being within a 100 nm radius of 29°N 79°W; Flight 19 was north of the Bahamas and well off the coast of central Florida, but nobody transmitted this information on an open, repetitive basis. At 18:04, Taylor radioed to his flight "Holding 270, we didn't fly far enough east, we may as well just turn around and fly east again". By that time, the weather had deteriorated even more and the sun had set. Around 18:20, Taylor's last message was received. He was heard saying "All planes close up tight ... we'll have to ditch unless landfall ... when the first plane drops below 10 gallons, we all go down together." The TBM or “Ironbird” as it was known by its pilots, was a strong but heavy beast of a plane. It would almost certainly have survived a ditching intact, even in heavy swell. But the sudden shock of impact would likely have incapacitated the crew, and the planes would have sunk quickly to the seafloor. Despite the largest peace-time search in history, no trace of the aircraft or the crew has ever been found. One PBM Mariner flying boat with a crew of 13 out of NAS Banana River searching for the flight, exploded and crashed at sea with the loss of all on board. A Naval board of enquiry into the loss of the Mariner (known unofficially as the “Flying Gas Can”) hinted that the most likely cause was a crewman lighting a cigarette. Many Avenger wrecks have been located in the waters off the coast of Florida, and some in the swamps on land, but checks of the Bureau Numbers have determined that none of these ghosts are the missing members of Flight 19. One legacy of the ill-fated mission was a term that was coined for a magazine article about Flight 19 years after the event. Author Vincent Gaddis told of the disappearance of the mission into the “Bermuda Triangle” for Argosy –a men’s adventure pulp- in 1964. A sad anniversary, but an important one for the families of the 27 men who perished on this day 70 years ago. May they all rest in peace. TBM-1C F-T 117 flown by Captain George W Stivers USMC. Crew: Gunner Sgt. Robert F. Gallivan, USMCR. Radioman: Pvt. Robert F. Gruebel, USMCR. Links to skins: F-T 28 http://live.warthunder.com/post/82723/en/ F-T 36 http://live.warthunder.com/post/82729/en/ F-T 3 http://live.warthunder.com/post/82738/en/ F-T 81 http://live.warthunder.com/post/82740/en/ F-T 117 http://live.warthunder.com/post/83105/en/ 11 Share this post Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
xoonZG 141 Report post Posted December 10, 2015 Nice post, It was a great read. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Da_Dakka_Baron 83 Report post Posted December 31, 2015 There is also a theory that their engines might have died by entering a methane pocket caused by an underwater vent eruption. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Technical Moderator Pony51 6,572 Report post Posted January 14, 2016 Bad navigation and poor leadership. RIP. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dinobubba7 4,062 Report post Posted January 15, 2016 I did read about this, and it's quite sad but since I do llive in Florida, shit happens in that area Share this post Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Merelico 9 Report post Posted February 11, 2016 they fell into swamp in florida Share this post Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
bellezza03 6,009 Report post Posted February 11, 2016 I did read about this, and it's quite sad but since I do llive in Florida, **** happens in that area florida safest place in the world Share this post Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
