November 18, 2005
December 5, 1945 a flight of 5 Avenger aircraft took off from the Naval Air Station at Ft. Lauderdale, Florida. Flight 19, as it would become known, had become lost over the Bermuda Triangle. In radio messages for several hours the flight Leader Charles Taylor, had become disoriented by malfunctions of the gages in his aircraft. Of course the aircraft finally ran out of fuel and vanished. One of the search aircraft also disappeared. In all 27 US Naval Aviators died. None of the wreckage from any of the six aircraft was ever found.
Yesterday in the US House of Representatives a resolution (H RES 500) was introduced by Congressman Clay Shaw (R-Fla.) honoring the 60th anniversary of the loss of these men.
Recognizing the 60th anniversary of the disappearance of the 5 naval Avenger torpedo bombers of Flight 19 and the naval Mariner rescue aircraft sent to search for Flight 19.
(Introduced in House)
HRES 500 IH
109th CONGRESS 1st Session H. RES. 500
Recognizing the 60th anniversary of the disappearance of the 5 naval Avenger torpedo bombers of Flight 19 and the naval Mariner rescue aircraft sent to search for Flight 19
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
October 18, 2005
Mr. SHAW submitted the following resolution; which was referred to the Committee on Armed Services
RESOLUTION
Recognizing the 60th anniversary of the disappearance of the 5 naval Avenger torpedo bombers of Flight 19 and the naval Mariner rescue aircraft sent to search for Flight 19.
Whereas on December 5, 1945, the 5 Avenger torpedo bombers of Flight 19, originating at the Naval Air Station of Fort Lauderdale, Florida, and its crew of 14 Navy airmen, disappeared;
Whereas the Mariner rescue aircraft sent to search for Flight 19 , originating at the Naval Air Station of Banan River, Florida, and its crew of 13 Navy airmen, also disappeared on that date;
Whereas December 5, 2005, marks the 60th anniversary of the disappearance of Flight 19 ;
Whereas the loss of Flight 19 occurred during peacetime;
Whereas the disappearance of Flight 19 sparked one of the largest air and sea rescue searches in history covering over 250,000 square miles;
Whereas all investigations of the disappearance of Flight 19 have failed to recover any aircraft, debris, or remains;
Whereas there remain unanswered questions concerning the disappearance of Flight 19 ; and Whereas there are continuing efforts with the latest technology to determine the location of the lost aircraft and crews:
Now, therefore be it
Resolved , That the House of Representatives--
(1) recognizes the 60th anniversary of the disappearance of the 5 naval Avenger torpedo
bombers of Flight 19 and the naval Mariner rescue aircraft sent to search for Flight 19 ;
(2) honors the memory of the 27 Navy airmen lost in these disappearances;
(3) recognizes the historical significance of Flight 19 ;
(4) acknowledges continuing efforts to determine what caused these disappearances; and
(5) commends the Naval Historical Center for preserving the history of
Following is a list of the crew of Flight 19
(I was unable to locate the names of those lost on the search plane.)
FT. 28 Lt. Charles .C. Taylor , USNR
G.F. Devlin, AOM3c, USNR
W.R. Parpart, ARM3c, USNR
FT. 36 Capt. E.J. Powers, USMC H.Q.
Thompson, Sgt., USMCR
G.R. Paonessa, Sgt., USMC
FT. 117 Capt. G.W. Stivers, USMC
R.P. Gruebel, Pvt., USMCR
R.F. Gullivan, Sgt., USMC
FT. 81 2nd Lt. F.J. Gerber, USMCR
W.E. Lightfoot, Pfc., USMCR
FT. 3 Ens. J.T. Bossi, USNR
A.H. Thelander, S1c, USNR
B.E. Baluk, JR., S1c, USNR
