Matter cannot be created or
destroyed, only transferred to a different state. If that’s the case, why do
things mysteriously “disappear?” How can things so large, like a plane or a
boat that’s full of people, become impossible to find in an area such as
500,000 square miles? Questions like this are the reason that conspiracy
theories are created and tested, like the conspiracy theory of the Bermuda
Triangle. One popular event surrounding the Bermuda Triangle is the well-known
Flight 19, commanded by Charles Carroll Taylor. Let’s dive in to what happened
to Taylor and his plane, Flight 19.
Charles Carroll Taylor was a United
States Naval Officer and head pilot of the infamous “Flight 19” that strangely
disappeared over the Bermuda Triangle (McElhiney 1). Taylor was born on October
25, 1917 in Texas. During World War II, he served in the United States Naval
Reserve and later graduated from NAS Corpus Christi in 1942 (1). Shortly after
his graduation, Taylor took on the role of a flight instructor to help others
learn to pilot airplanes (1). Before he began flying planes for the military,
he was a helpful and hard-working individual that spent most of his time with
others rather than on his own (1).
After being an instructor for pilots
for about a year, Taylor joined and flew with Scouting Squadron 62 and then
moved to Squadron 7 where he was a torpedo plane pilot (McElhiney 1). With all
his past flying experience in mind, he flew aboard the USS Hancock for almost a
year with Task Force 38 and then later as a member of Acorn 36 and Squadron 79
(1). Taylor has had multiple accomplishments before his role as leader of
Flight 19, which is why he was the best pick for the job (1).
Following his positions in Acorn 36
and Squadron 79, Taylor transferred from NAS Miami, where he originally spent
most of his time, to NAS Fort Lauderdale on November 21, 1945 (“McElhiney 1).
While at NAS Fort Lauderdale, he served once more as a flight instructor for
new pilots looking to join the military (1). Throughout his time of working, he
acquired over 2,500 flight hours, 600 of which were in Avenger torpedo bombers
(1). After some time instructing others, he was asked to join Flight 19 as the
commanding officer, where they were tasked with flying a training squadron of 5
Avenger aircrafts over the Bermuda Triangle to practice a bombing run (1).
Charles Carroll Taylor is not
responsible for the loss of the lives and naval aircrafts because it wasn’t his
fault for the incident. If it was just his aircraft that was lost and not
others, it would make more sense and explain why he was charged for such an
accusation, but not only was his aircraft lost and not found, but the rescue
team that went to search for the individuals on Flight 19 were also “lost and
never found” (“Bermuda Triangle...” 1). On top of this, there was no
communication between the people at Fort Lauderdale and the people on Flight
19, which is something that is likely out of his control.
Taylor was also a very helpful
individual. Throughout his life, he seemed to always put people first, whether
it be to teach them how to fly, to work for the military as a “United States
Naval Officer,” or for any other aspect of his life (McElhiney 1). Through his
actions and how he lived his life, it’s obvious that he has always prioritized
others before he took care of his own needs. When he taught others how to pilot
an aircraft, he was spending time working with others and making sure that the
pilots could become just as good, if not better, than he was. When he served in
the military, he was fighting for other’s freedom and that’s something that’s
very brave to do. Overall, he was caring for other people.
Finally, Charles Carroll Taylor was
trustworthy. This is important because he had lots of experience in his field
that led others to believe that he was the “best pick for Flight 19,” and it’s
improbable that he would suddenly change to be less trustworthy since he knew
what he was doing (McElhiney 1). Taylor’s work in both Fort Lauderdale and
Miami proved to others how strong of an individual he was and how he was the
best person to command Flight 19 on its task over the Bermuda Triangle. All of
his previous experiences prove how good and trustworthy of an individual he
truly was.
The conspiracy theory surrounding
the Bermuda Triangle first started when the disappearance of Flight 19 in
December 5 of 1945 was made public, along with when the rescue crew that was
sent out to find them did not return (Andrews 1). Both instances led people to
believe that there was something else happening out there that they were not
aware of or that there was some conspiracy going on out there.
The infamous Flight 19 started off
as a simple task where the aircrafts would take off and fly over to a location
that is inside of the Bermuda Triangle. From there, they would practice bombing
locations in a formation for the maximum efficiency. After that, they would
return to the location they took off from and continue on with another task,
but that is obviously not what happened.
After the five planes took off from
Fort Lauderdale, they flew out and mysteriously vanished four hours later
(“Bermuda Triangle...” 1). This was a big deal for the military because these
planes were known to be the strongest and most reliable planes they had (1).
Another aircraft was dispatched to locate the missing airplanes, but the team
that was sent out disappeared without a trace (1). There was no wreckage found
and no communication from the people ever again (1).
The legend of the Bermuda Triangle
goes all the way back to when Christopher Columbus first sailed to America and
wrote about how he saw strange lights over the area (“Bermuda Triangle...” 1).
Since Columbus’ sightings, multiple planes and boats have disappeared without a
wreck, call, or even a distress signal (1). With all these disappearances, the
Bermuda Triangle has become one of the most popular conspiracy theories and the
most wild and interesting possibilities about what could be in that area (1).
The specific mission of Flight 19
was to leave from Fort Lauderdale and simulate a bombing run over Hens and
Chickens shoals, where they would then return to Fort Lauderdale and land
(McElhiney 1). Thought it was a simple mission, it ended up having a large
problem. On the way back after the bombing, Charles Carroll Taylor became
worried and reported that he was lost at sea and didn’t know where he was
heading (1). At this time, the weather around the group of bombers got seemingly
worse and the sun got lower (1). As he frantically tried to guide his group of
men home, he accidentally led them further out to sea and supposedly ran out of
fuel and crashed the planes (1).
After the incident, Charles Carroll
Taylor was found as “guilty of mental aberration” which deeply upset his
family. Charles’ mother, Katherine Taylor, conducted her own investigation of
the incident and successfully exonerated Charles of his mistakes. However, two
years after the incident, Charles Carroll Taylor was found responsible “for the
loss of lives and naval aircraft.”
The reason why this conspiracy is
such a popular one is because of the multiple occurrences that have happened.
On top of Flight 19, other boats and aircrafts have mysteriously disappeared and
lost contact with others, which is unique to this conspiracy. Some people don’t
believe in conspiracies because they believe in a scientific explanation to
things, but in a recent survey, it was found that about 56% of people believe
that there are some weird things happening around the Bermuda Triangle that
have no scientific explanation, while the others believed that there is some
explanation that can prove why things disappear in that location (My survey).
Overall, the conspiracy about the
Bermuda Triangle is an interesting one, as there isn’t a real explanation for
the disappearances and it’s a reoccurring event. Some conspiracies are about an
event that happened one time, whereas this one is quite different from that.
Matter cannot be created or
destroyed, only transferred to a different state. If that’s the case, why do
things mysteriously “disappear?” How can things so large, like a plane or a
boat that’s full of people, become impossible to find in an area such as
500,000 square miles? Questions like this are the reason that conspiracy
theories are created and tested, like the conspiracy theory of the Bermuda
Triangle. Though there is no confirmed reason as to why planes and boats
disappear, there are plenty of conspiracy theories about what happens in that
are, some including aliens, while others include other strange phenomenons.
Works Cited
Andrews,
Evan. “The Mysterious Disappearance of Flight 19.” History.com, A&E
Television Networks, 4 Dec. 2015, www.history.com/news/the-mysterious-disappearance-of-flight-19.
Bermuda
Triangle: What Happened to Flight 19? BBC YouTube,
3 Apr. 2009, www.youtube.com/watch?v=FfsQBeXWktU.
“Bermuda
Triangle: Where Facts Disappear.” LiveScience, Purch,
www.livescience.com/23435-bermuda-triangle.html.
History.com
Editors. “Bermuda Triangle.” History.com, A&E Television Networks, 7 Oct.
2010, www.history.com/topics/folklore/bermuda-triangle.
McElhiney,
Allan. “Taylor.” Naval Air Station Fort Lauderdale Museum,
www.nasflmuseum.com/taylor.html.
The
Editors of Encyclopaedia Britannica. “Bermuda Triangle.” Encyclopædia
Britannica, Encyclopædia Britannica, Inc., 2 Apr. 2019,
www.britannica.com/place/Bermuda-Triangle.
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