Flight 19

Disappearance of Flight 19

A similar flight of five Grumman TBF Avengers
Occurrence
Date	December 5, 1945
Summary	Disappearance
Site	Atlantic Ocean
Aircraft
Aircraft type	Grumman TBM Avenger
Operator	United States Navy
Flight origin	NAS Fort Lauderdale
Destination	NAS Fort Lauderdale
Crew	14
Fatalities	14
Injuries	0
Missing	14
Survivors	0

Flight 19 was the designation of a group of five General Motors TBM Avenger torpedo bombers that disappeared over the Bermuda Triangle on December 5, 1945, after losing contact during a United States Navy overwater navigation training flight from Naval Air Station Fort Lauderdale, Florida. All 14 naval aviators on the flight were lost, as were all 13 crew members of a Martin PBM Mariner flying boat that subsequently launched from Naval Air Station Banana River to search for Flight 19.

A report by Navy investigators concluded that flight leader Lt. Charles C. Taylor mistook small islands offshore for the Florida Keys after his compasses stopped working, resulting in the flight heading over open sea and away from land. The report was later amended by the Navy to read "cause unknown" to avoid blaming Taylor for the loss of five aircraft and 14 men. The report attributed the loss of the PBM search aircraft to an explosion in mid-air while searching for the flight.