Lost US Air Force Squadron

Nowadays the Bermudas Triangle is the area constantly crossed by boats and planes pursuing intensive commercial routes in the Atlantic Ocean. The pilots and sailors have no fear of crossing this area which was the scene of one of the most mysterious tragedy in 20th century.

It was a sunny day in December, with no cloud in the sky. Squadron 19 under the command of Lieutenant Charles Taylor  was going to fly on the training assignment over the shore of Florida. The pilots in the squadron  were the veterans of World War II which ended shortly before. Their planes -  “Evanger” torpedo bombers had a technical examination before the flight and all their devices and navigation equipment were in perfect order. Every plane had fuel enough for 5.5 hours of flying. The pilots were in a good mood, but suddenly one of them became nervous and said he refused to fly because he had “a feeling that something bad is going to happen”. However, this incident was forgotten soon, and the planes took off.

Evangers left the aerodrome at 2:30 pm, and 1.5 hours later the planes were heading back for the air base after training session in torpedo bombing. All of a sudden, squadron commander Charles Taylor contacted the Air Base command and reported that they probably were having the situation of emergency:«We seem to lose our way because we cannot see the ground». The air base controlling officer inquired the Evangers to report their location. Their reply shocked the officer: “We are unable to determine our location and have no idea where we are. Perhaps we got lost!»  The command ordered the squadron to fly West. However, the pilots could not locate the West. The command was puzzled – the Western side could be easily located with the help of the Sun. However, the pilots replied they could not see the Sun! They added that the ocean looked unusual.  The command tried to give recommendations to pilots, but they could hardly hear them because of the hindrances in connection. The flying control officers sometimes could hear the phrases from the pilots conversations from time to time.  Sometimes the connection was lost. By 5 pm the pilots were about to lose the control over their psychic. A pilot could be heard nervously shouting on the air: “Devils, we’d be home long ago if we’d flown West!» And another voice: “What strange white fog!» Then the connection with the squadron broke. 
 
The news about the five planes’ accident put the Air Base in alarm. The bigger plane with twelve pilots was sent to rescue the torpedo bombers, but it was lost as well. At 7 pm the flying control officers received the weak signal of two letters: “FT... FT...”, which were a part of the code name for the lost squadron – “FT-28”. The signal was received two hours later the estimated time when the planes were supposed to run out of fuel. 
 
The search for the lost planes continued for two weeks. Many military ships, rescue boats, planes and submarines were looking for the lost squadron, but in vain. The special government commission could not find the causes for the planes accident. The official reports stated that the pilots had a non-standard situation during the flight, had an accident resulted in their death, the planes supposedly drowned in the ocean. The mystery of the tragedy seemed never to be understood.

Recently Professor of University of California Michael Crane said that the pilots were in so called “anomaly time zone”.  There are moments when time passing slows down or speeds up under the influence of the magnetic field anomalies. There were similar cases in history. During the World War II a Soviet bomber plane passed its aerodrome near Moscow when returning from its military assignment. The bomber landed in the Urals region one thousand kilometers away from Moscow. Its pilot did not notice something was wrong and was thinking he had landed in Moscow area.

In 1934 году Swiss pilot Viktor Guddart was having a training flight in the Alps area. Suddenly the pilot saw African savanna and a herd of zebras running on it!  This landscape vanished as suddenly as it appeared before. The pilot was hardly able to contact the aerodrome to inquire the coordinates of his plane location, and was questioned by the surprised flight controllers where he had been for three hours. The cases of such quick transportation have one peculiarity: they all happen in unusual white fog environment.

Such white fog is common in the Bermudas Triangle area. There was a case when the plane  heading for Miami found itself in “weird fog” and immediately disappeared from the radar screens for 10 minutes. Then the plane was seen with the radars again, and then all the people aboard discovered their watches showed the time 10 minutes behind! Recently the American press reported about another unusual transportation in space. The submarine was patrolling along the USA shore at the depth of 70 meters. All of a sudden, its crew members heard a strange noise and felt the sub body was vibrating. Soon this stopped, but after lifting to the water surface the submariners discovered they were in the Indian Ocean 10 thousand kilometers from the shore of North America.

Professor Michael Crane believes the squadron of Evangers  found itself in the anomaly time zone, passed the coast of Florida and arrived in the Mexican Gulf area. The pilots continued looking for the ground in the West (meanwhile the ground was in North-East) and spent all the fuel supplies. Then they landed onto the water. The sea was storming, and the planes immediately drowned. The pilots were probably alive for some time because they had saving devices allowing to stay afloat for several hours. Dr Crane considers the Mexican Gulf to be the area where the lost torpedo bombers should be searched for. 
 
Recently the “mystery of the century” seemed to be revealed. Five torpedo carriers constructed in 40s were found lying in a row in the Mexican Gulf! Many American newspapers immediately had “sensational” statements that the case of the lost squadron was solved. However, it was too early to be excited – the planes in the Gulf were Evangers, but they were not from the lost squadron. They had different numbers on their sides! Instead of solving the puzzle, Americans had the another one: the torpedo bombers found in the Mexican Gulf were not identified. Their numbers were not enumerated in military registers! The military archives stated that five Evangers were lost in the USA only once – on December 5, 1945! 
 
Ekaterina Vorontsova