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Flight 19
C-54
Star Tiger
Samkey
DC-3 NC16002
Star Ariel
Southern Districts
Flight 441
Martin Marlin
F-104 Starfighter
Cargomasters
Pogo 22
Tyler 41
KC-135 Stratos

Bermuda Triangle Database       Flight 19        U.S.S. Cyclops

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As vast as it may seem, the Bermuda Triangle Database is only a fraction of Into The Bermuda Triangle, They Flew into Oblivion, A Passage to Oblivion and Distant Horizons.

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Missing Aircraft

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 Introduction

Maps

Missing Aircraft

Missing Ships

What is the
Bermuda Triangle?

MSQ
Flying Boxcar
B-25 N92877
Sting 27 1971

Cessna N8040L
Bob Corner
Saba Bank

   Two Year Crisis

   Introduction

1978
Fighting Tiger 524
Queen Air
Arrow III N47910
|Arrow N74801
Cherokee Six
Aero Comm.
Aztec N13986
Beech N4442
N407D 
Ted Smith N55BU

1979
Cessna 150 N60936
Cessna 172 N1GH
Piper N1435P
Musketeer
Aero Comm
Twin Bonanza

1980
Kallia III
s.s. Poet
N3808H
Baron 58 N9027Q

1982
Queen Air 65-B80
Navajo N777AA
Bonanza N5999

1983
Cessna 210
  Compassicon202

1984
Cessna 402 N44NC

1985
Cessna 337D
Cherokee

1986
Navajo
Twin Otter

1987
Cessna 402C NZ652B

1990
Piper Flight Liner

1991
Cougar

1993
Cessna 152 N93261

1994
Aztec N6844Y
Cherokee

1996
Aero Comm.
 

1998
Archer N25626

1999
Aero Comm.
 

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 Super Constellation

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Traceless Phenomenon—  Flight 441

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   One of the most tragic disappearances in the Bermuda Triangle occurred to a huge Super Constellation Naval airliner— in military parlance an R7V-1. At the time of her disappearance she was carrying 42 passengers, Naval personnel and their families being transferred overseas.  

   Flight 441 left Patuxent River NAS on October 30, 1954, bound for Lajes in the Azores. Communications with the flight follow the pattern in the other losses— regular then nothing, as if it was just erased off the Earth. The last message was very faint, being picked up at 11:30 p.m. It was simply a follow-up of routine position reports. Precise coordinates were 38o 06 NL 69o 12 WL, roughly 400 miles off the coast.

   A vast search found nothing. Not one shred of evidence was ever located to tell of her loss. This is made all the most poignant by her cargo manifest. It lists her basic cargo as: 111 life vests, 46 exposure suits, 660 paper cups and 5 life rafts— all very floatable material. If she blew apart in mid air this would be scattered liberally over the ocean. If she ditched, and therefore went down intact, she would also have had time to send an SOS.

Specs

Length: 113 feet 7 inches

Wingspan: 123 feet

Capacity: 47-106 passengers

Max. Speed 330

Cruising Speed: 304

Range: 5,150 miles

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Radar

   Obviously, the disappearance of Flight 441 was also one of the most thoroughly investigated, as regards to the plane, to the weather conditions, and the pilot’s ability to handle it. Weather  was considered “somewhat typical” for the North Atlantic at this time of year— no icing but scattered thunderstorms and minor turbulence. A flight traveling opposite at 14,000 feet reported just this, but the pilot believed that a plane at  441’s level would have been above the weather.

   The pilot of Flight 441 would have known this. In addition to the basic navigation equipment of the time, Flight 441 carried weather radar. This is, by far, an added bonus. This would have alerted the plane to any unforecast weather fronts ahead, allowing the pilot to bypass it if possible.

   An examination of the weather and of Lt. John G. Leonard, the pilot, produced the following summation:

 . . .Lt Leonard has been flying the North Atlantic routes for the past two years and it is thought that he was very familiar with this kind of weather. His choice of 17,000 feet altitude for this flight was a good one. According to the weather cross section 19,000 feet would have been an even better altitude. At any rate he should have been on top, for the most part, except for occasional buildup.

   It must be pointed out that the R7V-1 was equipped with ASP-42 Airborne Radar and is always used when flying this sort of weather. The Electronic Shop at VR-1 labeled the radar set in R7V-1 BuNo 128441 as very good. The pilots were indoctrinated in the correct use of this gear. In that commercial airliners do not have airborne radar, pilots flying the R7V-1 are at a comparative advantage in flying the weather.

A translation might read: “It’s a complete mystery.” Since Leonard had airborne radar he probably would have increased his altitude to 19,000 feet or higher to completely avoid any complications in the weather. One recalls that Tawney tried to report himself to base, perhaps more than once, and was not overheard. Leonard may have also tried to inform OATC of his higher altitude but was never overheard. The Board deduced that: “The possibility of structural failure during transit of frontal weather cannot be discounted in this accident, but the possibility appears remote.”

   Further investigation of Lt. Leonard yielded this recommendation of his flight abilities:

 Lt. Leonard was well trained in thunderstorm penetration speed and technique. It is thought that if he did enter a thunderstorm he would have entered at the correct speed and would have flown the up and down drafts without fighting them. The weather that Lt. Leonard was thought to have been subjected to was not beyond the capabilities of R7V-1, nor was it thought to be beyond his own capabilities.

  This might translate to: “He probably just flew over the weather in the first place.”

   The upshot of this investigation rendered what may yet be the best and only explanation that can be ascribed to all missing aircraft and ships in the Triangle:

It is the opinion of the Board that R7V-1 BuNo 128441 did meet with a sudden and violent force, that rendered the aircraft no longer airworthy, and was thereby beyond the scope of human endeavor to control. The force that rendered the aircraft uncontrollable is unknown.

The first book in 25 years. The primer for a new generation.

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         500 Leagues of Sea

500 Leagues of Sea
Bermuda
Miami
The Bahamas
Andros & The Tongue
Exumas
Eleuthera & More!
San Juan
The Sargasso Sea
Sea of Expanding Shapes
Somewhere Between
Through the Electronic Fog
Fantastic Journey
The Eye

The “Lost Squadron”

Disappearance of Flight 19
The Real Flight of Flight 19
The PBM Mariner
Views of the Okefenokee

Flights of Fancy

Bad Navigation?
Flight DUI
A 6th Avenger?
Through the Hoaxing Glass

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Bermuda Triangle Database
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Swiftly to follow:

C-54
Star Tiger
Samkey
DC-3 NC16002
Star Ariel

The Classics

Navy Super Constellation
Southern Districts
Martin Marlin
C-133 Cargomaster
Marine Sulphur Queen
2 KC-135 Stratotankers
C-119 Flying Boxcar

Distant Horizons

The USS Cyclops
Ellen Austin
Carroll A. Derring
Gloria Colita

Minor Classics

3 in a Week
Great Isaac’s
Carolyn Coscio
Saba Bank

1970s Triangle Fever

Ray Smithers and the Voice
The Philadelphia Experiment

The “Eyewitness”
The Scientist
The Promoters

Debunking Debunkery

 

Rebirth

My Research
Missing Aircraft
List
Missing Vessels
List

Out of the Past
Oddities & Enigmas
The Enigma of Specter
First Reactions

 

 

 

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