Flight 19 -- NOT found! The mystery deepens.

Date: 06-05-91  10:06
From: John Hicks
Subj: FLIGHT 19 *NOT* FOUND

From the Orlando Sentinel, June 5, by Maya Bell:

  The mythic mystery of the Bermuda Triangle remained intact Tuesday with the
revelation that the Navy Avengers found off the coast of Fort Lauderdale are
not the Lost Squadron that vanished 45 years ago.

  Instead of Flight 19 - the five torpedo bombers that disappeared while on a
routine training mission from Fort Lauderdale - salvors found the Phantom
Five.

  "For those who really want to weave a mystery, instead of one group of
fighter Avengers downed in the Bermuda Triangle, we've now given you two,"
said Graham Hawkes, whose high-tech vessel, Deep See, stumbled upon the
cluster of five Avengers last month while exploring for sunken galleons 10
miles offshore.

  The big question is how the Avengers, dubbed Phantom Five by the Deep See
creew, wound up on the ocean floor within 1 1/2 miles of each other.
  While at least 139 World War II-era Avengers were lost in the waters of
Florida's coast, there is no record of five Avengers other than Flight 19
sinking together.

  One of the greatest puzzles in aviation history, Flight 19's disappearance
helped spawn the legend of the Bermuda Triangle and its mysterious forces.
About 50 planes and ships have disappeared without a trace in the patch of
ocean between Florida, Bermuda and Puerto Rico.

  Hawkes contends - and evidence reviewed by an independent wreckage research
firm supports - that the group didn't sink together but independently over a
period of several years. The explanation for their close proximity? Planes
concentrated over the site because it was the target of low-level bombing
practice.

  Historian Roy Grossnick, who heads the aviation history branch of the Naval
Historical Center in Washington, said the Navy needed more information to
confirm theories about the Phantom Five.

  The grouping, number and type of the Phantom Five aircraft fueled initial
speculation last month that the Deep See crew found the remains of Flight 19,
which vanished with 14 crewmen on Dec. 5, 1945.

  One of the sunken planes bore the number 28 on its wing, the same number on
the plane Flight 19 lead pilot Charles "C.C." Taylor was flying. Two of the
planes bore the letters FT, the same letters that Flight 19 used to designate
their base as teh Fort Lauderdale Naval Air Station.

  But closer inspection revealed that the aircraft have different numbers and
are older Avenger models than those in Flight 19. The plane bearing the 28
may even have a third digit, Hawkes said.

  The news was bittersweet for the relatives of Flight 19's crewmen,, only
one of whom was married.

                  *irrelevvent stuff deleted*

  While nobody knows where the crew of Flight 19 rests, Hawkes said the men
aboard the Phantom Five met a better fate. no human remains were evident
aboard the planes and, with the exception of the one bearing the 28, the
aircraft are intact and showed damage consistent with intentional ditching.
Their canopies were open, indicating the crews exited on the surface, Hawkes
said.

  The Deep See crewmen are continuing their search for sunken treasure. And
if they stumble on another five planes, they threaten to keep quiet about it.

  "If we find five more it will just confirm out theory there's a lot of
aliens playing with us," Hawkes said.


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