The 'Bermuda Triangle' started with a lost wing

In the years since his retirement as CEO of Kockums (previously Soderhamm) forestry products factory, Tom Richardson has taken up painting as a hobby. He’s pretty good, too. He even won first prize at an arts fair in Florida, best of show out of about 300 pieces entered in the event.
But another experience he had in Florida crosses his mind from time to time — a post-World War II tragedy that has inspired books, television programs, movies and a catalog of unexplained phenomena theories that have found a place in the national lexicon under the “Bermuda Triangle” heading. On Dec. 5, 1945, Richardson was assigned the role of duty officer at the Fort Lauderdale Naval Air Station, where that assignment fell to him once or twice a year. And in that capacity, he became a witness to a tragedy that has become legend. It was one of his last duties in the Navy. With the war over, he had less than a month remaining in the service. He spent the rest of his days in the Navy flying missions in a massive and fruitless search for any sign of the lost aircraft and airmen. Just months after the Japanese surrender and the end of the war, Lt. Charles Taylor led a formation of five Grumman Torpedo Bombers with a combined crew of 14 on a routine training mission and disappeared without a trace. Less than an hour after their disappearance, a rescue plane sent out to try to find them exploded 13 minutes after takeoff, killing 13 more men.

An aeronautical engineering student when the war began, Richardson had enlisted with a desire to be a Navy combat pilot. As most of his class of pilots was being sent to the Pacific, Richardson was sent for additional instrument training. Instead of being sent into combat, he was assigned as a flight trainer to prepare other pilots for war.

The young ensign was assigned to the Fort Lauderdale Naval Air Station as a flight instructor at the time — the same job Taylor held. Richardson had been stationed at Fort Lauderdale for a little over a year when the incident occurred, training pilots and flying the same type of torpedo bombers, also called TBFs or Avengers, as Taylor. Richardson had flown thousands of miles over the Atlantic from the base.

According to an article on the Naval Historical Center’s Web site, Taylor was late for his flight briefing that day, and when he arrived he told the training duty officer he didn’t want to take that flight out, and asked that another officer take over. No other training officer was available, the novice pilots were anxious to make the flight — the final part of a three-flight sequence for that phase of their training.

The men were scheduled to fly a route called Navigation Problem 1, which ran as follows: (1) depart NAS Fort Lauderdale 26 degrees 03 minutes north and 80 degrees 07 minutes west and fly 091 degrees distance 56 miles to Hens and Chickens Shoals to conduct low level bombing and, after bombing, continue on course 091 for 67 miles, (2) fly course 346 degrees for 73 miles and (3) fly course 241 degrees for a distance of 120 miles, returning to NAS Fort Lauderdale. In short, a triangular route with a brief stop for some glide bombing practice on the first leg out.

by www.thesupernaturalworld.co.uk