December 5th, 1945 (WEDNESDAY)
UNITED KINGDOM: Submarine HMS Thermopylae commissioned.
FRANCE: Banks are nationalized.
U.S.A.: At 1410 hours local, five USN TBM Avengers comprising Flight 19 take off from NAS Ft. Lauderdale, Florida, on a routine 3-hour training flight. They are scheduled to fly due east for 120 nautical miles (222 kilometers), north for 73 nautical miles (135 kilometers) and then back to the naval base. They never returned. Two hours after the flight begins, the leader of the squadron, who has been flying in the area for more than six months, reports that his compass and back-up compass have failed and that his position is unknown. The other planes experience similar instrument malfunctions. Radio facilities on land are contacted to find the location of the lost squadron, but none are successful. After two more hours of confused messages from the fliers, a distorted radio transmission from the squadron leader is heard at 1820 hours apparently calling for his men to prepare to ditch their aircraft simultaneously because of lack of fuel. By this time, several land radar stations finally determined that Flight 19 is somewhere north of the Bahama Islands and east of the Florida coast, and at 1927 hours a search and rescue PBM Mariner takes off with a 13-man crew. Three minutes later, the PBM radios to its home base that its mission is underway. The Mariner is never heard from again. Later, there is a report from a tanker cruising off the coast of Florida of a visible explosion seen at 1950 hours. No trace of the bodies or aircraft were ever found Although naval officials maintain that the remains of the six aircraft and 27 men are not found because stormy weather destroyed the evidence, the story of the "Lost Squadron" helps cement the legend of the "Bermuda Triangle" an area of the Atlantic Ocean where ships and aircraft are said to disappear without a trace. The Bermuda Triangle is said to stretch from the southern U.S. coast across to Bermuda and down to the Atlantic coast of Cuba and Santo Domingo. (Jack McKillop & Dave Shirlaw)