Unwrapping the mystery of Flight 19

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Tutorcourse

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Introduction

Unwrapping the mystery of Flight 19

History is bedeviled with numerous mysteries, some of which border on myths. Of course, they are known as mysteries simply because they remain unresolved, or they have attracted differing opinions. For most of these mysteries, their explanations and subsequent explanations only end up increasing the mysteriousness surrounding them. In most cases, the complicated nature of these mysteries is blamed on the inadequacy of technology at their time of occurrence. However, it has never dawned on many people that unresolved mysteries may simply be works of nature. The simple fact that human beings have understood other planets such as Mars, Venus and Neptune blinds them to the fact that they have not understood their own planet earth fully. Unfortunately, when mysteries cannot be conclusively explained, it is always easy to blame supernatural forces. This is exactly the case for the disappearance of Flight 19.

Thesis statement: The disappearance of flight 19 was merely a work of nature.

Flight 19, the Lost Patrol or the Lost Squadron, as it is interchangeably known is arguably one of the most mysterious disappearances in the annals of history. It occurred on 5th of December 1945 when five enormous torpedo bombers disappeared in peacetime while flying on what was a routine exercise. It is worth noting that they were not flying in war zones or between distant islands or far-flung islands. They were flying over the Bermuda Triangle, the Crown of Florida. For hundreds of years, numerous boats and aircrafts have disappeared in the Bermuda Triangle (Myhre, 25). These mysterious vanishings have often been blamed on freak storms, pilot error, rogue waves, strong winds, water spouts, as well as methane bubbles from the bowels of the earth, which splits the enormous ships into two. However, these have never offered conclusive explanations for what befell Flight 19. The Squadron was being led by an experienced pilot called Lieutenant Charles Taylor. However, all the bombers lost radio contact with the fort soon after departure and the flights were veering off the course. When they were lost, it was only a matter of time before they ran on empty. Unfortunately, their wreckage has never been recovered up to this day (Myhre, 78). Could this have been a result of human error is there a certain force that revolves in the Bermuda triangle? This can only be explained as the work of nature, which human beings have not fully understood especially as pertaining to the forces that operate within the seas and other large water bodies (Myhre, 67).

First, it is worth noting that the flight did not involve one small aircraft like the Amelia Earhart that disappeared in the Pacific in 1938 or Glenn Miller that disappeared in 1944 over the English Channel. This is a disappearance that involved five enormous torpedos that were flying in times of peace. In addition, they were being guided by an experienced war veteran who had undoubtedly undertaken such missions before the fateful flight. In essence, it is highly unlikely that he was totally lost. It is also noteworthy that the planes were flying in a relatively fair weather off the eventful Florida East Coast over the Bahamas, which is an extremely crowded area (Kusche). This area offered numerous landmarks, yet, they somehow veered off course away from the Bahamas deep into the Atlantic without any sight of familiar landmarks (Kusche 89). The planes followed standard procedure and eventually flew west as they had sufficient time and fuel to get to the Florida base. It is surprising that all the five planes never returned. The planes broke every imaginable failsafe. Rather than making land, it is surprising that the experienced pilot made incorrigible calls to the radar and was unsure of the direction or course that the planes were flying (Kusche, 24). This is compounded by the fact that the compass of the planes had failed at that time, which led Lt. Taylor to believe that they were flying over the Gulf of Mexico thanks to the small island that the planes had flown over in the Florida Keys. Questions as to, why the compass of the five planes failed cannot be explained as resulting from human error (Demolay, 47). In addition, if the combat lieutenant were flying over Florida Keys, how could there have been no other islands in sight? How is it that he missed the Florida Peninsula if, in fact, he was flying over the Florida Keys? Note that the pilot was an experienced veteran who had, most likely, taken such flights before. This can only point at some natural force that totally disfigured the readings of the compass, to such an extent that even the experienced combat pilot could not tell the location of the planes’ flight. The distortion of his two compasses must have made him panic leading to the incoherent statements that he made (Bateman, 67).

Of course, there exists other theories or explanations that tend to lay the blame on the combat lieutenant. In fact, the initial navy report lamed Lt. Taylor for the disappearance of Flight 19 and went further to state that as much as he was an excellent officer and combat pilot with no problems whatsoever in the navy, he tended to fly inappropriately and got lost a number of times. On two occasions, he had to leave his planes in the Pacific from where he was rescued. However, this does not negate the fact that the disappearance was an act of nature (Bateman, 89). How could an experienced combat pilot, who had extensive knowledge on what to do in such circumstances, have been unable to apply the same knowledge in this case? If he had been lost several times before and even had the capacity to call for help appropriately, what made this case different? In addition, is it not surprising that the all the five enormous torpedo have never been recovered. This only points to a seismic force that that disabled the communication devices and compass of the five planes before sucking them to the bowels of the earth (Demolay, 56).

In conclusion, the vanishing of Flight 19 is one of the most ironical mysteries in the history of aviation. This is especially because the disappearance involved five powerful and large planes guided by an extremely experienced pilot. As much as there exists numerous explanations to this disappearance, the disaster can only be explained as a work of nature. This is especially because the compasses had been disoriented completely, which implies that the area had a certain force that did not align itself to the conventional compass readings. In addition, the fact that the wreckage five planes were never found can only point at their being sucked into the bowels of the sea by the same force. After all, other pilots who have flown in the same area had alluded to the existence of strange lights, which could point at some cosmic forces.

Works cited

Bateman, Wes. Knowledge from the Stars. New York: Light Technology Publishing 1983. Print

Myhre, Jon F. Discovery of Flight 19: The Greatest Aviation Mystery in America. New York: Paragon Agency, 2011. Print

DeMolay, Jack. The Bermuda Triangle: The Disappearance of Flight 19. New York: Rosen Classroom, 2007. Print

Kusche, Larry. The disappearance of Flight 19. New York: Harper & Row, 1980. Print

(Bateman) (Myhre) (Demolay) (Kusche)