Comment

Comment by Douglas Westfall on January 6, 2013 at 12:29pm

1) They -- being the authors of books, articles, and media who continue to push the idea of a Bermuda Triangle -- The concept of the Bermuda triangle was created in 1950 with an article by Associated Press reporter Edward Van Winkle Jones. He had a map showing an airplane flying from Bermuda toward Puerto Rico, another plane flying from Puerto Rico to Miami, and finally, Flight 19 flying from Fort Lauderdale out in the direction of Bermuda.

It looks a triangle drawn over the Atlantic Ocean. Each year, ships and planes go missing off the eastern coastline of the United States, as planes have for a century, and ships literally for hundreds of years. Yet both the US Coast Guard and Lloyds of London state that no more ships or planes go missing here than off the Pacific coastline.

Much of the story however, begins with Flight 19, aka the Lost Patrol when supposedly they disappeared suddenly into the infamous Bermuda Triangle. Flight 19 disappeared in December of 1945 but it wasn’t into the Bermuda triangle and it wasn't sudden — it took five hours for each of the TMB avengers to drop out of the sky.

2) One survivor. Radioman bailed out of FT-36 over land and was seen by an Eastern Airlines pilot. The family has contacted us since the release of the book with additional information on the lost airman. Also, his is the only headstone in Arlington of all 14 members of Flight 19 -- yet Arlington doesn't know who placed it there, nor when it was placed, but they are sure no one is under it.

Douglas Westfall, historic publisher
Discovery of Flight 19
Specialbooks.com

Comment by Lee Robinson on January 5, 2013 at 1:29pm

Forgot one .  Who are the supposed survivors?  Lee Robinson

Comment by Lee Robinson on January 5, 2013 at 1:27pm

If this is true, why do they STILL say no trace was ever found?  Where on land did they find the 2?  Where in the ocean the other 3?   Lee Robinson  W. Palm Beach.

Comment by Douglas Westfall on July 5, 2012 at 11:58am

At least two aircraft of Flight 19 are on the Atlantic ocean floor. One TBM Avenger was raised from its watery grave, plus two crashed on land.

The reasons for the flight’s failure are many-fold:
1) Navigation Problem 1 — was flawed — and would return the flight at least 10 miles north of NAS Ft. Lauderdale.
2) None of the five aircraft were refuled prior to take off. It was the 19th flight of the day.
3) Flight Leader Lt. Taylor’s RMI compass was reported bad — it was not repaired and cleared for flight.
4) Flight Leader Lt. Taylor’s High Frequency Radio switch (required during storm conditions) was reported bad — it was not repaired and cleared for flight.
5) Up to 40 knot winds were reported prior to take off.
6) Flight Leader Lt. Taylor requested the flight to be grounded — he was ordered to fly.
7) The first leg of the Navigation Problem didn’t find their target (see #1)
8) Up to 60 knot northerly winds came up in a storm and blew them into the northern Bahamas.

But the irony of Flight 19 is that none of the men died within the infamous Bermuda triangle.

My author of Discovery of Flight 19 Jon Myhre is the expert — a 20 year Army pilot, 35 air medals (+DFC), master aviator, then spent 30 years searching using unpublished Navy records, reports, weather charts, current charts, and some 50 sightings, plus exclusive interviews with the sole surviving airman of the flight, a surviving crew member of the search planes, and a Naval Review Board member. He’s pinpointed where each plane went down, discovered three crash sites and pulled one up from the ocean floor.

This is a flight that should not have happened — and was doomed before they ever left the tarmac.

Douglas Westfall, historic publisher
Discovery of Flight 19
Specialbooks.com