Six planes disappeared without a trace 75 years ago and the legend of the Bermuda Triangle was born

A few months after the end of World War II, the December 6, 1945 Five US Navy TBF Avengers have left the Fort Lauderdale military base in Florida. The squadron was to rise over the Atlantic to the east and conduct a test bombardment on sandbanks. For circumstances that have never been specified, all the pilots are gone. No trace of the plane was found.

Even a sixth seaplane, the Martin Mariner, came to his rescue, got lost in that fateful afternoon. The final report represented 27 victims. This event with inexplicable flavors, which marks the 75th anniversary this Sunday, gave rise to the Myth of the Bermuda Triangle.

Lieutenant Charles Carroll Taylor, who was in command of Flight 19, was the only one with combat experience. The rest of his escorts were trainees with less than 300 flight hours.

What we know today is that they came to finish the exercise, but then the confusion spread like a blur on the faces of the pilots. Some have reported failure of the compasses, others have reported dizziness from the strong waves. Taylor recommended aiming at the Sun, which represented north, to return to base.

Using various ground stations, the aircraft’s position was triangulated. Thus, it was established that they were approximately 190 kilometers north of the Bahamas and east of the Florida coast. When the coordinates were sent to them, it was too late: the five radar points they will extinguish.

Following this incident, more than seventy ships lost in the Bermuda Triangle. Freighters, private boats, and even a twin-engine jet that a family was traveling in. Which opened the door to all kinds of guesswork.

The most sensationalists have claimed that a magnetic vortex was dragging ships towards a parallel dimension. There was also talk of kidnappings, sea monsters and the city of Atlantis.

The most consensual scientific argument holds the existence of methane hydrate deposits under the continental plates. It is an unstable substance, which can gasify under disturbance such as a sudden change in pressure or temperature.

“An underwater seismic event (earthquake) can cause the sudden release of methane at depth and as it rises, it doubles its volume every 10 meters, so that, for example, the gas released at a depth of 100 meters increases its volume. in Mmore than 1000 times when reaching the surface. A boat that will pass just where and when the methane hits the surface Couldn’t stay afloat and would sink“, explains the Bugle scientist Eduardo A. Gómez, director of the Argentine Institute of Oceanography (CONICET-UNS).

In 2015, an expedition with four Argentines aboard the “Maratonga”, a 52-foot ship that planned to cross the Atlantic Ocean and arrive in the Azores within 40 days, disappeared at the tip of this deadly peak.

According to the GPS log monitoring him, he was sailing at four knots and suddenly, as if something was propelling him or hitting him to the side, he increased his speed to 12 knots and suddenly came to a stop. The signal was lost and nothing more was heard from the crew.

Magnetic forces

the Bermuda Triangle It is a geographical area located in the Atlantic Ocean, between the Bermuda Islands, Puerto Rico and the city of Miami. By joining these three points by an imaginary line, an equilateral triangle of approximately 1800 km sideways.

Another possible explanation for the disappearances of planes and boats in the area could be linked to Earth’s magnetic field anomalies, as explained by geophysical geologist Jorge Spagnuolo, professor at the chair of geophysics at the National University of the South.

“The Earth’s magnetic field is neither uniform nor static. And although there are two main poles, there are several othersand areas where the Earth’s magnetic field – which is the shield that protects us from cosmic radiation – weakens. Such is the case with the so-called South Atlantic Anomaly which stretches from South America to South Africa, with its center in Uruguay. Under certain circumstances, the increased influx of cosmic rays can affect compasses (compasses) and electronic instruments in general. It is possible that something similar can happen in the Bermuda Triangle, which could explain the problems encountered with aircraft in the sector, ”Gómez charts.

Many inexperienced sailors fearfully confessed that by crossing this ocean triangle, the needles of their compasses began to turn madly. Indeed, instead of marking the geographic north (located at the north pole), they pointed magnetic north, next to Greenland.

This angle on the coordinate axes is called “magnetic declination”. The difference between the two points can be up to 20 degrees. If this mismatch is not immediately compensated for, the vessel may deviate from its course and navigate awkwardly.

And although magnetic north is moving northwest, between the 1950s and 1980s the magnetic declination line crossed the Bermuda Triangle. A mariner or pilot who was unaware of these recordings could become confused and disoriented.

In addition to these complications, the majority of tropical storms and hurricanes of the Atlantic pass through this peak which is known as the “hurricane lane”. These phenomena are unpredictable and can generate waves of up to 4 meters.

In addition, the Gulf Stream is causing rapid and violent climate changes in the region. This ocean current is characterized by being hot and extremely fast and turbulent. This erases all traces of the sea in a few seconds.

Devil’s apex

The first investigations into the alleged disappearance of boats – by Edward Van Winklen Jones, reporter for the Associated Press – date back to 1950. In his columns, he used the expression “Devil’s Triangle” to designate the enchanted region.

The name by which this troubled maritime area is referred to is the work of writer Vincent Gaddis, who first used it in an article published in 1964. However, there were still ten years to consolidate its legend.

It was not until 1974 that Charles Berlitz published “The Bermuda Triangle”, a book that became a bestseller. In his pages, he has achieved an explosive mixture of imagination and fantasy, with real testimonies.

The US Meteorological Agency (NOAA) does not agree with the myth: it considers that there are no more disappearances in the Bermuda Triangle than in other seas. His conclusion is that the ocean is always an inhospitable place and that bad weather and poor sailing conditions are often potentially tragic conditions in any sea in the world.

DD