Three months after World War II ended, five military planes took off from Fort Lauderdale­Hollywood Naval Air Station in Florida and vanished somewhere over the Atlantic in the area known as the Bermuda Triangle. For more than 50 years, military and civilian experts have tried to find an explanation for their disappearance.

Subscribe Today

• Did you enjoy our article?
• Read more in Aviation History magazine
• Subscribe online and save nearly 40%!!!
 

On December 5, 1945, the Fort Lauderdale/Hollywood airport was a bustling naval air station, where war-weary veterans waited for their discharge papers. For servicemen on the sprawling base, it was just another day of business as usual.

Marine Corporal Allen Kosner, Sergeant Robert Gallivan and Private First Class Robert Gruebel had just eaten lunch and were on their way back to the barracks. They were scheduled for an afternoon training flight but did not have to report for another hour. As the three Marines strolled from the mess hall they talked about their forthcoming holiday plans and decided to attend the base theater that evening to see What Next, Corporal Hargrove? starring Robert Walker and Keenan Wynn.

It was an exciting day for Robert Gallivan. Four years had passed since he had enlisted, and he had recently completed 18 months of combat duty in the South Pacific. This day would mark his last flight as an aerial gunner. He was scheduled to be discharged the next day and would be on his way home to Northampton, Mass.

Robert Gruebel was also in high spirits, even though he still had three more years before his enlistment expired. Gruebel was happy just knowing he would soon be in the air again. Although his enthusiasm for flying was insatiable, Gruebel did not plan a career in aviation. Upon leaving the Marines he intended to become a priest. He had written his parents in Long Island, N.Y., to say he would be home in time to attend Christmas Mass.

The men rested in their rooms until it was time for their preflight briefing. As Allen Kosner rose from his bunk, he suddenly decided not to go on the mission. He had already logged his required monthly time and had no difficulty getting excused. Kosner could not have known that during the next few hours a sequence of strange events would take five airplanes and 14 men on a course to oblivion.

At 1 p.m. the officers and enlisted men of Flight 19 waited impatiently in the Operations building. Four pilots were being checked out that day in TBM Avenger bombers by an instructor who would be joining them on the flight, while nine enlisted men were taking advanced combat aircrew training. The takeoff was set for 1:45, but everyone knew they would not leave on time. Their instructor had not yet arrived.

The TBM Avenger earned a reputation during World War II as the most deadly torpedo bomber ever built. Avengers had two designations, depending upon who made them–those constructed by Grumman Aircraft Corporation were called TBFs, and the General Motors version was known as the TBM.

Regardless of which plant they came from, Avengers lived up to their name while operating from both land bases and aircraft carriers. They began service in the spring of 1942 and were responsible for sinking the Japanese battleship Yamato, her escort of four destroyers and the cruiser Yahagi.

The Avenger’s wingspan was 54 feet. Its Wright Cyclone R-2600 engine developed 1,600 horsepower, giving the plane a top speed close to 300 miles per hour for 1,000 miles. The Avenger carried one standard torpedo or a 2,000-pound bomb. Armament included a .50-caliber machine gun under the forward cowl and another in a power-operated ball turret behind the cockpit. Each plane had a three-man crew–pilot, gunner and radioman.

Their instructor, Lieutenant Charles C. Taylor, arrived at the briefing room at 1:15 p.m. and went to the duty officer. Instead of offering an apology for being late, he asked to be relieved. Taylor gave no reason other than saying, ‘I just don’t want to take this one out. He was informed that no other instructors were available.

Help HistoryNet by bookmarking to