Charles Carroll Taylor

Charles Carroll Taylor (October 25, 1917 - presumably December 5, 1945) was a United States Navy Lieutenant who commanded the Flight 19 squadron that disappeared without a trace in the area known as the Bermuda Triangle on December 5, 1945.

Military Background

Charles Taylor served in the United States Naval Reserve during World War II. He graduated from Naval Air Station Corpus Christi in February, 1942 and became a flight instructor in October of that year. Contrary to Bermuda Triangle enthusiasts who have since reported that Lt. Taylor was a seasoned combat pilot, and that he had a vast amount of combat experience, he in fact had only moderate combat experience. Lt. Taylor did serve during World War II, and he did serve in combat, and he flew several combat missions, but only saw minor combat zone service in the Pacific theater. It was during this time that his abilities would be called into question on at least three occasions, all of them involving ditching his plane at sea when returning to his carrier; on two of these incidents he was lost.

Over the next three years after his graduation and assignment, Taylor would ditch three planes into the ocean, twice specifically because he got lost, and was rescued all three times. These events will come into play heavily in the decades that follow his ill-fated leadership of Flight 19, in 1945. Following the war, on November 21, 1945, he was transferred to Naval Air Station Fort Lauderdale. By this time, Taylor had in excess of 2,500 hours of flight time.

Flight 19

Flight 19 was the designation of five TBM Avenger torpedo bombers which disappeared on December 5, 1945 during a United States Navy training exercise from Naval Air Station Fort Lauderdale, Florida. The assignment that day was called Navigation Problem No. 1, a combination of bombing and navigation, which other flights had or were scheduled to undertake that day. [http://www.history.navy.mil/faqs/faq15-2.htm "Lost Patrol"] Naval Aviation News June 1973, 8-16. By Michael McDonell article about Flight 19]

Trouble of an unknown nature plagued Taylor, who was to observe Flight 19 during this assignment, first with a late arrival and request to be relieved, then later with confusion and irrational fears which further worsened the students' situation by mistakenly leading them away from land. [http://channel.nationalgeographic.com/channel/nakedscience/episodes.html Naked Science] a National Geographic series, episode: Bermuda Triangle.] All 14 airmen on the flight died, as well as 13 crew members of a PBM Mariner flying boat which exploded in midair while searching for Flight 19. Navy investigators concluded that Flight 19 became disoriented and ditched in rough seas when the aircraft ran out of fuel, while the PBM was a victim of mechanical failure. Some have questioned the Navy's version in the years since the incident. "Argosy", Charles Berlitz, and Richard Winer among others used elements first described in "American Legion Magazine" as well as their own research to publish accounts which began the Bermuda Triangle legend.

However, the common and most likely belief is that Taylor became disoriented, and led his flight to the far northeast of the Bahamas, believing he was over the Florida Keys, when in fact his flight was exactly where it should have been. By flying northeast, he believed they would hit Florida in a matter of minutes. When they did not, he became more disoriented, and eventually the planes simply ran out of fuel. Also contrary to Bermuda Triangle enthusiasts, who claim it was a clear sunny day, with others claiming the weather was fair, it was in fact stormy, with high winds and waves, and rain squalls. Although the weather was moderate when Flight 19 left their base, the weather had deteriorated considerably by the time they became lost. At one point, Lt. Taylor was urged to turn the command of the flight over to one of his students, but evidently Taylor never did so.

The US Navy assessment of the incident placed the blame on Taylor. His first of many mistakes, by their estimation, was not relying on his students, who were more familiar with the area than he was. By the radio messages within the flight, intercepted on the mainland, the students seemed to know exactly where they were, and the US Navy credited the student-pilots with continuing to obey Taylor, to their own demise, despite them knowing that he was in error. The end result, as concluded by the Navy, was that Flight 19 zigzagged back and forth, most likely northeast of the Bahamas, until they ran out of fuel and ditched in turbulant seas. Even had the weather been clear, and the seas calm, the planes would not have stayed afloat for very long, and a chance for rescue, without an exact location, was slim to none.

Notes

External links

* [http://www.law.uga.edu/academics/profiles/dwilkes_more/his5_1945.html IN 1945 FLIGHT 19 FLEW TO ITS DOOM THROUGH A LARGE CLOUD OF MYSTERY] "The Athens Observer", p. 1A (November 19, 1987).
* Lee, Paul [http://www.theoutlaws.com/unexplained6.htm "The Lost Patrol"] , " [http://www.theoutlaws.com/unexplained.htm The Unexplained] ". (accessed 3/26/06)
* [http://www.check-six.com/lib/Famous_Missing/Flight_19.htm "Flight 19"] , " [http://www.check-six.com/ Check Six] " (accessed 3/26/06)
* [http://www.findagrave.com/cgi-bin/fg.cgi?page=gr&GRid=7071436 Find-A-Grave biography for Charles Taylor]