Lost in the Bermuda Triangle

On a clear day in December 1945, a U.S. Navy training mission called Flight 19 set off from Fort Lauderdale, Florida. The 14 men on board the five planes were expected to return a few hours later. 

They were never seen again.

A plane sent out to look for Flight 19 also vanished—with 13 more men on board.

For days, hundreds of boats and planes searched. Not a single scrap of metal was found. 

It was, one U.S. Coast Guard officer noted, “as if they had flown to Mars.”

How could six planes and 27 men disappear without a trace?

Many people believe the answer lies in where the planes were flying: over a part of the Atlantic Ocean known as the Bermuda Triangle. Since the 1850s, the area has been linked with the disappearances of at least 50 ships and 20 planes—and possibly hundreds more. 

The Bermuda Triangle is often defined as the area between Miami, Florida; San Juan, Puerto Rico; and Bermuda (see "Navigating the Triangle" map, below). It is bigger than California, Texas, and Florida combined.

Some people tell of strange experiences in the Bermuda Triangle. Heavy fog appears. Compasses, which typically point north, spin uselessly. Himilco, an explorer from the ancient city of Carthage in North Africa, ventured there in 500 B.C. He wrote of “monsters of the sea” but made it out safely. Others weren’t so lucky. 

In 1918, for example, the USS Cyclops disappeared while crossing the Bermuda Triangle. The ship had more than 300 people on board. Yet it vanished without even a single radio call for help. Other boats have turned up completely empty, entire crews gone. 

Flight control officers—who help direct planes’ takeoffs and landings—also report odd occurrences. In some, a plane communicating with them one minute is suddenly gone the next.

Theories about why these eerie experiences have happened are as broad as the Bermuda Triangle is big. Many people blame aliens. Some say giant bursts of gas from the ocean floor sink vessels. 

The real culprit, U.S. officials say, is the weather. The Bermuda Triangle’s location offers warm air and warm water—two key ingredients of storms.

Even on clear days, powerful storms and tornadoes can stir up there with little warning, according to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA). Most tropical storms and hurricanes that form in the Atlantic Ocean pass through the area too. And waves there can sometimes top 100 feet. Any of those events could quickly destroy or sink a plane or boat, officials say.

The Bermuda Triangle is also one of the world’s busiest shipping areas, and many planes cross over it each year. Mishaps may feel more common simply because there is so much traffic, NOAA officials point out.

“There is no evidence that mysterious disappearances occur with any greater frequency in the Bermuda Triangle than in any other large, well-traveled area of the ocean,” the NOAA website says. 

Still, bad weather isn’t the most likely explanation for Flight 19’s disappearance, says author Gian J. Quasar. He has researched the Bermuda Triangle for decades. 

Many people suspect the men simply got lost. Back then, pilots navigated by tracking how long and how fast they flew in each direction. But Flight 19’s commander reported midflight that his compasses were broken. 

He and the other men flew for hours trying to find their way. When their fuel ran low, they may have tried unsuccessfully to land on the water. 

As for the rescue plane, records show it was heavy with fuel so it could search longer—so full that one spark could have ignited it. Indeed, a ship reported seeing a fireball near where the plane had been flying.

The only people who really know what happened to Flight 19 and the other missing craft are gone. But that doesn’t mean the search should stop, Quasar says. 

“The planes and ships were real; the people on them were real. Vast tonnages have vanished, many in bizarre circumstances,” he explains. 

The mystery lives on.