The Squadron That Flew Into Nowhere: The Last Flight of Flight 19

2026-07-10 · Vanished Without a Trace · 8 min read

At ten past two on the afternoon of 5 December 1945, five Grumman TBM Avenger torpedo bombers lifted off the runway at Naval Air Station Fort Lauderdale and turned east over the Straits of Florida. The exercise, logged as Navigation Problem No. 1, was routine to the point of tedium: fly out to the Hen and Chickens Shoals in the Bahamas, drop practice bombs, run two more legs of a triangle, and be back on the ground before dark. Fourteen airmen were aboard the five aircraft. Not one of them, and not a single confirmed piece of their machines, has ever been found.

The flight leader was Lieutenant Charles C. Taylor, a combat veteran with roughly 2,500 hours in the air. He had flown torpedo bombers in the Pacific from the carrier USS Hancock, and he had arrived at Fort Lauderdale only recently from Naval Air Station Miami, where he had also served as an instructor. He was experienced, but he was new to this particular stretch of coast. Behind him flew four trainees with only about 300 hours each, roughly 60 of those in the Avenger. For the students this was the third and final time they would fly a basic navigation problem before qualifying.

Reader comments (0)