wb9omc@ee.ecn.purdue.edu (Duane P Mantick) (05/18/91)
From: wb9omc@ee.ecn.purdue.edu (Duane P Mantick) I see by the news that some salvage-types searching for a spanish galleon may have accidentally stumbled across the remains of the so-called Lost Squadron. Five TBM Avengers disappeared December 5th, 1945 during a training flight from Fort Lauderdale, FL. No trace was ever found and the loss has often been attributed to the supposed "mysterious" forces of the Bermuda Triangle, an area bounded by Bermuda, Miami and Puerto Rico where ships and planes are claimed to just vanish without a trace. The five aircraft that were found are definately TBM's, one of them sporting the number 28 which was the number on the lead plane of Flight 19. The letters FT are clearly visible on at least one; this was the Navy's designator for planes based in Ft. Lauderdale. In fact, four of the planes are claimed to be in good condition, with the leaders plane being broken in half. Given this, it is likely that they ran out of fuel and elected to ditch. They were found within about two miles of each other, so they may have elected to ditch together, reasoning that there may have been safety in numbers. No human remains were found in the wreckage, although a more thorough search will be done with robot submersibles. According to one account, the leader may have had them as close as 10 miles to Ft. Lauderdale when they were forced down. I have seen some video tapes taken from the wreckage area, and the planes really do look remarkably good. There is sand and silt and so forth on them, but I think you'd expect that - when submersibles went down to look for debris after the Challenger accident only days after, some parts were already quite covered. So after 45 or so years, being able to find them is pretty good. I have no doubt that if someone wanted to recover them, most likely the four unbroken ones would present few problems. The planes are in about 750 feet of water depth. A judge in Florida has granted a salvage claim to the folks who found the planes, although the Navy has been given a chance to contest that. So far as I known, the Navy has had no comment. Duane