"But it was some months after World War II that a startling incident occurred, suggesting that planes flying over the area could vanish from the sky for perhaps the same reason that ships have been vanishing from the sea. This was the incident that gave the Bermuda Triangle its name." --The Bermuda Triangle an incredible saga of unexplained disappearances by Charles Berlitz, Doubleday (1974)

The controversial and convoluted history of the Devil's Triangle tempted this writer to simply post the several dozen links to information about the disappearances and run away. However, as I am devoted to the readers entertainment and need for information I will give it a try.

1840 The French vessel Rosalie was found in the Triangle area, her sails were set, her cargo intact, and although she was still on course to Havana from Europe all of her crew were missing.

1902 Freya a German ship was found soon after leaving Manzanillo, Cuba. The calendar in the captain's cabin read October the 4th one day after she had sailed. The captain and crew were never found.

1940 The Gloria Colite was found derelict 200 miles south of Mobile, Alabama. The yacht had no apparent problem other than the missing people who had been aboard when she left St. Vincent.

1969 The well-named yacht the Vagabond was found derelict on the edge of Sargasso Sea. Also in 1969 2 lighthouse keepers from Great Isaac's near Bimini simply abandon their posts without reason, and the cabin cruiser Southern Cross was found abandon near Cape May.

1999 An 18 foot day cruiser missing after what should have been a 2 hour cruise was found with no one aboard except for one survivor--a dog.

One of the most discussed of these mysterious disappearances in the Bermuda Triangle is the case of the five TBM Avengers that left Fort Lauderdale, Florida on a bright sunny day for what was supposed to be a 2 hour training mission. All members of the training team were experienced fliers. No problems were reported with the flight until roughly an hour and forty-five minutes later when the tower was actually expecting to see the planes returning at any minute. Instead they received a cryptic message from the flight leader: "Cannot see land, we seem to be off course."

The tower requested the flights position, and waited several tense minutes before hearing--"We cannot be sure where we are, repeat: we cannot see land."

When the tower next heard from the flight the voice of the flight leader, Lt. Charles Taylor was lost amid the confused communication from the other planes. "We can't find west. Everything is wrong. We can't be sure of any direction. Everything looks strange, even the ocean." During that time the tower was given to understand that Taylor might have handed over command to another pilot. Later the new flight leader is heard to say: "We think we might be about 225 miles northeast of base." This was followed by several minutes of unintelligible communication before finally: "It looks like we are entering white water...we're completely lost."

After the last communication a Mariner flying boat was on it's way to the last known location of Flight 19 prepared to carry out a rescue of the possibly downed planes. The Mariner radioed back minutes after it took off, then while attempting to follow the path of the doom planes it also disappeared.

A Navy Board of Inquiry investigation was completed with the unsatisfactory finding: "We are not able to even make a good guess as to what happened." That statement could almost be said to invite speculation and many theorist have complied with almost every imaginable possibility. A large part of the problem in researching this case above all others related to the Triangle has been the way that sources have issued reports or statements only to retract them later. For example in 1991 a salvage boat reported that they had found the down planes on the ocean floor near the Bahamas, in fact they stated that a diver had seen the number 28 on one of the aircraft. Since this was the designation of Lt. Taylor's plane confidence was high this was Flight 19, and this information was headlined by many in the media. Within days the salvage team reported that they had not actually found Flight 19 after all, but instead another mission that disappeared in the same area. This information was not reported with the same enthusiasm as the first finding however, resulting in many lost debates, and quite possibly many lost bar bets for people who only heard the first erroneous report..

Topping the list of possible explanations has been that the missing planes were abducted by UFO's. The reason given most often is that not only did the training flight vanish, but also the Mariner which was not a small aircraft. There were no debris found which would normally be expected if the planes downed, no flares from survivors, no trace was ever found of the crew, and no oil slick was spotted in the water by search planes the next morning. These complete disappearances lead some to believe that the missing flight had simply been snatched up by extra-terrestrials In Close Encounters of the Third Kind this explanation is given a nod by Steven Spielberg by having the missing crew of Flight 19 "returned" by the visiting aliens.

Magnetic influences inside the Triangle have also been pointed to as a possible explanation of what happened to Flight 19 and to the other planes, ships, and people. For many decades pilots and ships have reported problems inside the Devil's Triangle with electrical equipment, watches, or compasses that have acted strangely making them useless. It has been pointed out that these unusual problems could also explain much of what happened in the case of Flight 19. Electrical problems would explain the communication issues the flight had, and compass problems could have caused them to loose track of their location

The entire subject of the Bermuda Triangle is usually dismissed by skeptics as a non-topic. It has been pointed out frequently that if you arbitrarily choose any 3 locations in a well-populated locale, equal in distance to the points of Devil's Triangle, you would find roughly the same number of disappearances within these new parameters as well Misadventure on the ocean is fairly common due to weather, accidents, or explosions which can occur quickly, giving the crew no chance to summon help. They are also quick to point out that the area around the Bermuda Triangle has often seen illegal activity especially in modern times Boats found derelict could be more related to attacks by criminals than to alien abductions.

In the case of Flight 19 skeptics also point out that in the past some of the facts may have been a little slanted. For instance although the weather was excellent when the flight left Florida, within hours conditions had changed. In fact by the last transmission heard from the flight, at roughly 7:04p.m. not only would the planes have been very low on fuel, but the wind had picked up and the sea was now rough. A water landing with five planes involved would be tricky on a calm night, but in a choppy sea the odds were against them. The crew of the Mariner would have known what all rescue teams are aware of-- that frequently their job meant bravely flying into the very same conditions that had affected those they sought to help. 

There is much more information on the web concerning the Bermuda Triangle. Below are some links to help get you started.