2nd Lt. Forrest James Gerber
U.S Marine Corps
​Flight 19 - Pilot of FT-81

​Flight 19 - The Lost Squadron
Great Aviation Mysteries

Forrest James "Jimmy" Gerber war born 1921 in New Ulm, Minnesota.  He joined the United States Marine Corps January 1942,  just after Pearl Harbor.  Jimmy trained in San Diego, California, where he became Ground Marine, then transferred to Naval Station Bremerton, in Washington.  He was soon transferred to Adak Army Field, in Alaska.  At Adak, he was part of the operation to keep the Japanese from taking any other islands in the Aleutians chain: The Aleutian Islands Campaign (June 1942-August 1943). United States troops fought to remove Japanese garrisons established on a pair of U.S owned islands west of Alaska.  In June 1942, Japan had seized the remote, sparsely inhabited islands of Attu and Kiska. A battle to reclaim Attu was launched on May 11, 1943, and completed following a final Japanese banzai charge on May 29.  On 15 August 1943, an invasion force landed on Kiska in the wake of a sustained three-week barrage, only to discover the Japanese had abandoned the island on July 29.  It was the only U.S soil Japan would claim during the war in the Pacific. 

After the Aleutian campaign, Jimmy got recommended for officer training in naval aviation. He was transferred to NAS Corpus Christi, Texas, and in July 1945, he became a fully trained pilot in the United States Marine Corps.  With this accomplishment, he was promoted to Officer. He was then transferred to NAS Miami, where he would join training Squadron 79.  Jimmy would accumulate 360.5 hours of flight time, 61.8 were on the Avenger torpedo bombers alone. His final assignment would be at NAS Fort Lauderdale.

On the fateful day of 5 December 1945 at NAS Fort Lauderdale, Jimmy (along with 13 other crewmen), was assigned to a training squadron of 5 Avenger aircraft that would be known as Flight 19. The squadron was to perform a routine navigation exercise, and mock bombing run over the Hen and Chickens shoals in the Bahamas, and then return to the NAS Fort Lauderdale. The planes never returned. Neither did a PBM Mariner rescue seaplane with 13 crewmen aboard, that was dispatched to search for their lost colleagues.  In total, 6 aircraft and 27 men disappeared that afternoon. A massive search was organized, and nothing was found. Their disappearance launched one of the largest air and sea searches in history, and began the legend of the Bermuda Triangle. To this date, Flight 19 remains one of the great aviation mysteries.

2nd Lt. Forrest James Gerber was the pilot on FT-81, a TBM-1C Avenger with BuNo 46325.  There would be only one crewman with him:  Pfc. William Lightfoot, USMCR.  That day, the third crewman Corporal Allan Kosnar, had asked to be excused from this exercise.  2nd Lt. Forrest James Gerber was 24 yrs old.

American troops hauling supplies on Attu in May 1943

2nd Lt. Forrest James Gerber

Aerial view of U.S fleet ready to move against Kiska.

​Flight 19 Project Research by Matthew J. Bloom,
Curated by Benjamin Walter-Range & Minerva Bloom

• Flight 19 Complete Naval Report: 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.