# Flight 19 **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [February 16, 2001, 3:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/flight-19/54750 "2001-02-16T15:25:47Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![carnivorousplant](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/carnivorousplant/32/3563_2.png) [@carnivorousplant](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/carnivorousplant)\ **Post date:** [February 16, 2001, 3:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/flight-19/54750/1 "2001-02-16T15:25:47Z")
We know they crashed of ‘natural casues’ but I remember someone finding them a few years back. The closest I can find on the net is some avengers with the wrong numbers found. The guy I saw on TV (Charles Berlitx was PISSED!) had brought up a tail with the correct number of a flight 19 aircraft on it. ---
**Author:** ![Earl\_Snake-Hips\_Tucker](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/earl_snake-hips_tucker/32/3269_2.png) [@Earl\_Snake-Hips\_Tucker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Earl_Snake-Hips_Tucker)\ **Post date:** [February 16, 2001, 5:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/flight-19/54750/2 "2001-02-16T17:20:04Z")
I definitely remember the “false” sighting that turned out to be something else, but I don’t _ever_ recall the actual Flight 19’s actual discovery? This documentary wouldn’t, by any chance, have been on the same night Johnny made that lewd comment to Zsa Zsa, would it?😉 ---
**Author:** ![Spritle](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/5daacb/32.png) [@Spritle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spritle)\ **Post date:** [February 16, 2001, 5:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/flight-19/54750/3 "2001-02-16T17:20:51Z")
I need a bit more information, here. As best I can figure, you are talking about the TBF Avenger squadron that disappeared over the Bermuda Triangle. I don’t know if that was Flight 19 or not. Nor do I know who Charles Berlitx is. ---
**Author:** ![carnivorousplant](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/carnivorousplant/32/3563_2.png) [@carnivorousplant](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/carnivorousplant)\ **Post date:** [February 16, 2001, 6:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/flight-19/54750/4 "2001-02-16T18:03:41Z")
Flight 19 was indeed the avengers that crashed in the so called Bermuda triangle. Berlitz is one of the strange people who writes about the so called Bermuda triangle. ---
**Author:** ![Rayne\_Man](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/df705f/32.png) [@Rayne\_Man](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rayne_Man)\ **Post date:** [February 16, 2001, 6:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/flight-19/54750/5 "2001-02-16T18:54:33Z")
To blow apart the myth about The Bermuda Triangle read the excellant book by Lawrence David Kusche called “the Bermuda Triangle Mystery-Solved” there is a whole chapter about flight 19 will a very logical explanation why the planes disappeared. ---
**Author:** ![carnivorousplant](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/carnivorousplant/32/3563_2.png) [@carnivorousplant](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/carnivorousplant)\ **Post date:** [February 16, 2001, 7:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/flight-19/54750/6 "2001-02-16T19:00:27Z")
Yes, and he expanded the Flight 19 chapter into another book. Both are very good. ---
**Author:** ![Johnny\_L.A](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johnny_l.a/32/1084_2.png) [@Johnny\_L.A](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johnny_L.A)\ **Post date:** [February 16, 2001, 7:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/flight-19/54750/7 "2001-02-16T19:08:12Z")
> [@](#): > > To blow apart the myth about The Bermuda Triangle read the excellant book by Lawrence David Kusche called “the Bermuda Triangle Mystery-Solved” there is a whole chapter about flight 19 will a very logical explanation why the planes disappeared. Wow! I was going to mention that book. I remember reading it in the late 70s. ---
**Author:** ![curious\_george](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/b487fb/32.png) [@curious\_george](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/curious_george)\ **Post date:** [February 16, 2001, 7:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/flight-19/54750/8 "2001-02-16T19:14:47Z")
I don’t want to read a whole book about it, but I have read on the web that basically the flight leader, Taylor, lost direction and flew East into the Atlantic instead of West to Florida. The other four planes followed him and ran out of fuel over the Atlantic Ocean. Another theory says they realized there mistake, turned back West, but crashed in the Okefenokee swamp in S. Georgia, and are buried under there. ---
**Author:** ![carnivorousplant](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/carnivorousplant/32/3563_2.png) [@carnivorousplant](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/carnivorousplant)\ **Post date:** [February 16, 2001, 7:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/flight-19/54750/9 "2001-02-16T19:21:11Z")
Does anyone know anything about the planes being found? ---
**Author:** ![Diceman](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/22d042/32.png) [@Diceman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Diceman)\ **Post date:** [February 17, 2001, 1:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/flight-19/54750/10 "2001-02-17T13:02:57Z")
I heard that they found an Avenger on the seabed east of Florida, but the ID numbers proved that it wasn’t part of Flight 19. ---
**Author:** ![SmackFu](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/53a042/32.png) [@SmackFu](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SmackFu)\ **Post date:** [February 17, 2001, 8:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/flight-19/54750/11 "2001-02-17T20:13:54Z")
It seems a guy name Graham Hawkes found 5 Avengers in 1991. One of them had the same tail numbers as the one of the planes in Flight 19. But after further investigation, it turned out to be a **different** set of 5 Avengers that were lost. Here’s a page describing the found planes: [http://www.geocities.com/SoHo/Gallery/1868/netx17.html](http://www.geocities.com/SoHo/Gallery/1868/netx17.html) ---
**Author:** ![carnivorousplant](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/carnivorousplant/32/3563_2.png) [@carnivorousplant](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/carnivorousplant)\ **Post date:** [February 17, 2001, 8:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/flight-19/54750/12 "2001-02-17T20:46:33Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by SmackFu \* > \*\*One of them had the same tail numbers > \*\* Thanks, I guess that’s it. CP ---
**Author:** ![Zebra](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/c0e974/32.png) [@Zebra](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zebra)\ **Post date:** [February 17, 2001, 10:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/flight-19/54750/13 "2001-02-17T22:14:32Z")
Down in Mexico! By that weird old man with the sunburn on one side of his face. He said angels dropped them off and that they sang to him. Jesus don’t you people remember anything?!?! OK just in case this is the opening scene of Close Encounters of the Third Kind. ---
**Author:** ![carnivorousplant](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/carnivorousplant/32/3563_2.png) [@carnivorousplant](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/carnivorousplant)\ **Post date:** [February 17, 2001, 10:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/flight-19/54750/14 "2001-02-17T22:27:21Z")
Mea culpa. - Someone keep him talking, I’ll get a net \* ---
**Author:** ![Rayne\_Man](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/df705f/32.png) [@Rayne\_Man](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rayne_Man)\ **Post date:** [February 18, 2001, 3:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/flight-19/54750/15 "2001-02-18T15:20:53Z")
A similar fate that overtook Flight 19 also happened to a US bomber in WW2. In the 50’s a French oil exploration team found the remains of a US plane deep on the Sahara desert in southern Algeria. From papers found on board the following events emerged:- The plane was based in North Africa and had been on a night bombing mission to Italy to the north. On its return flight,due either to srong tail-winds or navigation error, the plane overflew its base and continued flying south. A radio fix of the base was obtained and was ,of course, 180 degrees out. The crew ,thinking the equipment was in error,ignored the reading and kept flying on in the same direction. Instead of turning north and flying to safety, the plane kept on a southerly course going deeper and deeper into the desert until they ran out of fuel.The plane crash-landed and some of the crew initialy survived until the water and food ran out. Before they died they left notes and diaries from which the above information was obtained. ---
**Author:** ![Johnny\_L.A](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johnny_l.a/32/1084_2.png) [@Johnny\_L.A](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johnny_L.A)\ **Post date:** [February 18, 2001, 4:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/flight-19/54750/16 "2001-02-18T16:28:27Z")
That was a B-24 called _Lady Be Good_. The crew was very inexperienced. I don’t recall at the moment because of a severe caffeine deficiency, but it may have been their first mission. ---
**Author:** ![Cervaise](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cervaise/32/16693_2.png) [@Cervaise](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cervaise)\ **Post date:** [February 18, 2001, 11:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/flight-19/54750/17 "2001-02-18T23:21:42Z")
> [@](#): > > Down in Mexico! By that weird old man with the sunburn on one side of his face. He said angels dropped them off and that they sang to him. Hilarious reference. Incidentally (not that this has anything to do with anything, but I rarely miss the opportunity to throw in some odd movie-related tidbit), Bob Balaban, who played the cartographer/translator in the movie, wrote a making-of diary of _CE3K_ in which he mentioned that the old sunburned man was, in fact, a prominent and well-respected Mexican opera star, hired essentially as a no-name (to the American crew) actor for a bit part. Make of this what you will. ---
**Author:** ![hardhead365](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/71c47a/32.png) [@hardhead365](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/hardhead365)\ **Post date:** [February 19, 2001, 6:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/flight-19/54750/18 "2001-02-19T06:31:58Z")
It was the _Lady Be Good’s_ first mission. When the plane was found, it was determined that the navigator apparently hadn’t been doing any navigation, he was just following the rest of the group. By the way eventually all of the crew were found with the exception of one. It appears that two of the crew made an amazing distance through the desert with no water or supplies (200 miles IIRC) ---
**Author:** ![TwoBuyFour](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/76d3ee/32.png) [@TwoBuyFour](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TwoBuyFour)\ **Post date:** [February 19, 2001, 2:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/flight-19/54750/19 "2001-02-19T14:36:58Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Johnny L.A. \* > \*\*That was a B-24 called _Lady Be Good_. > \*\* This sounds suspiciously like the old Twilight Zone episode… ---
**Author:** ![Johnny\_L.A](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johnny_l.a/32/1084_2.png) [@Johnny\_L.A](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johnny_L.A)\ **Post date:** [February 19, 2001, 3:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/flight-19/54750/20 "2001-02-19T15:04:27Z")
> [@](#): > > This sounds suspiciously like the old Twilight Zone episode… That would be the episode [“King Nine Will Not Return”.](http://www.geocities.com/john_75915/links/tzeplist/king.html) The _Lady Be Good_ was an actual B-24 Liberator bomber that was lost in 1943. [You can read about it here.](http://www.qmfound.com/lady_be_good_b-24_bomber_recovery.htm) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/flight-19/54750.md?page=2)