Naval Air Station Fort Lauderdale Museum
The Disappearance of Flight 19 - Visual Exhibit

Echelon of TBM/TBF Avengers, 1944

This exhibit presents SAMPLE artifacts and sample archival items from the Museum's collection relating to the disappearance of Flight 19 over the so called Bermuda Triangle, 5 December 1945, and the investigation that followed.
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- Headlines & Flight 19 Crew
- The PBM-5 Mariner from NAS Banana River
- Aerial Photographs of Naval Air Station Fort Lauderdale
- Sample pages from the Air & Sea Rescue Log
- Call Signs Samples
- Sample Documents from the Board Opinion
- Nautical Charts & Weather Observations
- Naval aviation article, circa 1975
- Witness stories
- Photographs of Search & Rescue Individuals
- Letters: "Mental Aberration" "Exoneration" and "Case Closed"

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Fort Lauderdale Daily News Headlines, December 6, 1945.

Flight 19 Crew
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NAS Banana River 13 more Men lost 5 December 1945
Two PBM Mariner flying boats were dispatched from NAS Banana River in Melbourne, Florida (now Patrick Air Force Base), carrying rescue equipment. Less than a half hour after take-off (at approximately 19:27), one of the PBM's (Trainer 49 - BuNo 59225) radioed the tower that they were nearing Flight 19's last assumed position. The rescue plane with a crew of 13 men was never heard from again. 

Aerial Photographs of the  Naval Air Station Fort Lauderdale Base

• Flight 19 Complete Naval Report - Testimony & Exhibits: Get the naval investigation from original microfilm, published  in book form (proceeds go to Museum).
• Support Project Mariner: An Expedition of the NAS Fort Lauderdale Museum

Sample pages from the Air & Sea Rescue Log
5 December 1945

Open larger view: Air Sea Rescue Log Sample 1

Call Signs Sample Documents

Open larger view: Calls Signs Sample 1

Sample Documents from the Board of Opinion
There are 500+ pages of the Board of Opinion

Open larger image: Board Opinion on Flight 19 Page 1

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Nautical Charts & Weather Observations

Naval Aviation News article circa 1975 - Sample pages

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Witness Stories
Lt. David White, a Senior Flight Instructor at the Naval Air Station Fort Lauderdale remembers flight 19:

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Witness story - Sample pages
Short story "A Remembrance of Things Past - Flight 19 Redux", 
by NASFL Navy Photographer John Evans, dated 5 December, 1988.
A rough draft Evans was working on before he passed away.
Warning: some explicit language.

Open larger view: by John Evans Navy Photographer

Witness Story: A December 16, 1975 typed short story, from unknown source, interviewing a "Lt. Commander Wirshing", a Station Officer on duty December 5, 1945, the same day as Flight 19's disappearance.

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The Search for Flight 19 & the PBM Mariner

The search for Flight 19. Charcoal drawing. Copyright © NAS Fort Lauderdale Museum.

Lt. Taylor "Mental Aberration" & "Exoneration" letters
​and Navy letter declaring the "Case Closed"

Flight 19 Complete Naval Report - Testimony & Exhibits: Get the naval investigation from original microfilm, published  in book form (proceeds go to Museum).
Support Project Mariner: An Expedition of the NAS Fort Lauderdale Museum

NASFL Museum Director relates the History of FLIGHT 19 on C-SPAN3 - American History TV

Brief History of Flight 19  |  More Online-Only Exhibits  |  Media Kit

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