The day Flight 19 disappeared

65 years since the nine-member crew of the ill-fated Flight 19 went missing, the mystery of the Bermuda Triangle remains unsolved. A look at what happened that fateful day and the range of explanations offered from skeptics to believers in extraterrestrial life

Bigfoot, Jack The Ripper, Atlantis. Some of the greatest stories are wrapped around unsolved mysteries. And heading that list is the Bermuda Triangle, also known as the Devil's Triangle.

Around 2 pm on December 5, 1945, five TBM Avenger torpedo bombers, known as Flight 19 took off from the US Naval Air Station in Florida on a training flight. The planes were manned by qualified pilots, who had clocked between 350 to 400 hours flying hours, the sea was moderate to rough, there were scattered rain showers and the general weather conditions were considered stable.

A radio message intercepted at 4 pm was the first indication that Flight 19 was lost. Soon, all radio contact was lost and no trace of the aircrafts was ever found. This disappearance was what created the mythos of the Bermuda Triangle. The imaginary triangle is one of the most travelled shipping lanes, and has had -- some say -- an unusually large number of tragedies.

Is the mystery mere hype or is there more than meets the eye? Why weren't the bodies of the crew ever found, even after an extensive search? Will we ever know!

The devil's triangle
The term Bermuda Triangle was first used in an article written by Vincent H Gaddis for Argosy magazine in 1964. In the article, Gaddis claimed that a number of ships and planes had disappeared in this area without explanation. The boundaries of the triangle cover the Straits of Florida, the Bahamas and the Caribbean, and the Atlantic east to the Azores. Most of the accidents are said to be concentrated around the Bahamas and
the Florida Straits.

Possible explanations for the disappearances

Rays of energy radiating from energy crystals
Located thousands of feet below the ocean's surface is said to be the mythical island of Atlantis, which uses power from energy crystals located on the ocean floor. The theory is that the rays of energy emanating from these crystals is likely to have interfered with the technical equipment.

Abduction by extra terrestrials
Theories abound that the crew was abducted by aliens; an idea that was perpetrated by director Steven Spielberg in his sci-fi film Close Encounters of the Third Kind.

Rough weather
The area is subject to violent and unexpected storms that dissipate quickly and often go undetected by satellites. The Gulf stream, where the Triangle is located, is extremely swift, posing problems for even the most experienced sailors.

Human error due to compass malfunction
This is the only place on earth apart from the Devil's Sea off the coast of Japan where a compass points to the true north rather than the magnetic north, causing compasses to be wrongly interpreted, resulting in ships and planes going off course.

Unfortunate circumstanceu00a0
In the book The Bermuda Triangle Mystery: Solved, author Lawrence David Kusche argues that several claims of disappearances were exaggerated or of questionable origin. Official agencies claim that the number and nature of disappearances in the region is similar to that in any area of the ocean.