Tag: Navy

NOW HERE THIS!! – A RESEARCH PRIMER FOR FLIGHT-19 ENTHUSIASTS

6,February 2021

Cardinal FLIGHT-19 Research Resources (Pg.2) Updated 2/23/2022

A US Navy Sailor, bugler from (C)1917? Public Domain Image

DISCOVERY – January 30th, 2021

If I have learned anything so far in my quest for the historical facts regarding Flight-19, points that really need to be shared, they are the following.

The first, is that there is an inherent risk in accepting whatever you read or hear about the story of Flight-19 at face value, no matter what the source. Yes, even official reports and documentation from the era can have misleading and incorrect information. Albeit it is often seems informed and sometimes contains expert opinion – a few sources even have corroborating documentation- and we do have to be pramatic and start somewhere right? Just keep in mind much of it has never been vetted and until it is, it is at best unfortunately nothing but circumstantial evidence based on hearsay.

“For as I believe any Historian will tell you, memories fade over time, people make mistakes, and there is always the opportunity for bias in retelling history.”

The uncertainty of even basic information, which we would normally consider as being trustworthy concerning everything from plane nomenclature, fuel capacity, equipment and maintenance work before the flight, to reports of sightings of survivors during the search and rescue should only be considered tentative facts until they are validated technically through examination of manuals or review of corroborating evidence and testimony.

I must admit that I was naïve in my belief that I could rely on the veracity of even the formal sources in the first place. Having been in the military myself I should have known better. I have seen my share of pencil whipped maintenance paperwork being submitted as authoritative documentation for one reason or another.

My second illumination, is that for the time being the legend of the Flight-19 disappearance and the Bermuda Triangle enigma are, for better or for worse, seemingly forever intertwined. I believe it’s fair to say that Flight-19 stays current in super natural lore simply because of it’s association with the Bermuda Triangle. If there were no triangle then the allure of the Flight-19 story would likely have faded into history years ago.

Conversely, it makes one wonder if the reverse were true: that if there was no Flight-19, would the luster of the Bermuda Triangle still exist? When’s the last time you heard of a ship or plane dissapearing? Whatever the case we must rely on the available evidence to find the facts to lead us forward in any working theory on either topic.

Unfortunately, until someone finds long lost documentation in the National archives or in someone’s basement, or the US Navy comes forward with some new information regarding its knowledge of events since 1945, or someone defnitively finds the planes, any speculative theory may never be proven.

A final piece of insight.

Anyone taking this research seriously needs to be forewarned of the specter that loiters in the background of even the most legitimate and seriously open minded Flight-19 research. I hesitate to call it conspiracy, but one might begin to ruminate about the possibility of subterfuge or duplicity on the part of the US Navy and perhaps the government itself. It’s an inferred correlation, speculative at best, but one that deserves some consideration just the same. There just seems to be too much coincidence regarding naval involvement and possible interferrence to ignore.

We will examine this invisible intrigue in a future blog.

Pg. 1

N.A.S Ft. Lauderdale Training Schedule for, Weds Dec 5th 1945.

5,October 2015

One of the questions I’ve had since the start of my investigation, and one subject I haven’t seen addressed very thoroughly is: How many planes were in the air that day. How many were in the air after or concurrently with the 14:10 take off of Flight- 19? How many other training or navigation problems flew out of Ft. Lauderdale? Could other planes from other ‘problems’ still have been in the air after 17:30 when darkness fell?  It is important to be able to eliminate inaccurate plane sightings.

I’ve read recently in Gian Quasars, “They Flew into Oblivion”that there were seemingly 27 Flights of planes scheduled to take off from Fort. Lauderdale Naval Air Station that day 69 years ago.  This is important to note, because though, Flight-19 (FT-28 Lt. Charles C. Taylor) was late taking off, (Flight- 18 Lt. Stoll had taken off approx 20 plus minutes earlier) there were allegedly seven other flights of aircraft, likely TBM’s scheduled to take off in 20 minute increments, after it.

That would mean that most if not all the other flights, unless scrubbed for some other reason, could have been able to get off the ground before the 15:40(3:40PM) distressed call by Taylor. ( Quasar pg. 120)” Flights 16-27 Were still up at 15:40″

Assuming that each flight had 1 Division, two sections (2 Planes per section) and a trainer, that would suggest that there were possibly up to at least 40 additional Navy training aircraft from Ft. Lauderdale: (not to mention Army or Civilian traffic), in the air along with Flight-19 at the time of its troubled flight.

Which means that the 15:00 (3PM) sighting of 4 TBM’s by the SS Ft. William and quite possibly the 17:50 (5:50) radar sighting of the USS Solomon’s of a group of 4 to 6 aircraft off Flagler Beach FL could have been other flights currently out training.

Out of all these aircraft, only a few reported contact with the flight.  Again, according to Quasar, only two other pilots had radio contact with Taylor. Lt-Cox in FT-87 (Flight 25?)and members of Flight 22?  So did no other pilot report anything in their after action briefings? Larry Kusche states in his book “The Disappearance of Flight – 19” (Pg.11) J.B. “Obie” O’Brien, Melvin Pike, and Nathan Puffer,  three other pilots up at the time heard enough of the conversation to determine someone was lost and didn’t know which way to go.”  Other than these, there were allegedly no others reported to help fill the gaps in the official Naval Inquiry Radio log evidence.