Perhaps most intriguing, though, was something that was found in the passenger manifest from the flight. I mean, the, the sort of background notes for this go more than a hundred pages. In the, that are part of the Records of the Chief of Naval Operations (Record Group 38), there is a file unit titled, Shore Establishments, Jacksonville Naval Air Station Board of Investigation 5 TBM Avengers 7 December 1945, that includes a copy of the findings of the Board of Investigation (Box 419). Error: You don't have JavaScript enabled. May 17, 201702:30. Maddow: Thats historian Bradley Hart, whos studied and written about Lundeens tenure in Congress. At about 2:10pm Eastern Standard Time. The tragic, mysterious crash of a commercial airliner in the summer of 1940 left a scene of devastation in rural Virginia -- and a series of unanswered questions. And I ran across this one, walking around, and it was just from the middle of her stomach, her head and everything, that was it. Its engines certainly werent knocked out. Agatha Christie's Hercule Poirot: The Case of the Careless Client. The full episode transcript for Rachel Maddow Presents: Ultra | Episode 1: Trip 19. Im sure Im in the Keys, but I dont know how far down., Taylors claim didnt seem to make sense. Flight instructor LT Robert F. Cox was on another flight in the area and overheard many of Flight 19's final radio transmissions. Even before his secretary arrives. His secretary asks him what's wrong, he won't explain. And it only makes the mystery of the plane's crash all the more confounding. Flannery: The report is just full of unsupported exploration of possibilities that are, that they have no basis in fact, they have no basis in science, and they just say these things. comments: As the flight leader had previously flown out of Miami and done many flights over the Florida Keys, none of this makes any sense, since it is fairly obvious how to navigate up the Keys to Miami and then continue north to Ft. Lauderdale. John Flannery: Shoes neatly tied sat in the field with the feet still in them, separated from the bodies of the people on the plane. But ten days after his burial, all hell broke loose over the legacy and death of Senator Lundeen because of another newspaper report: September 13th, 1940. That one, we think we know. Yeah. It's kind of creepy to hold, right, because you realize what that document, you know, went through. He's got his head down on his desk, his head is buried in his arms. And Ernest Lundeen threw himself headlong into the effort to try to stop that, too. After more than a decade biding his time, building up the support and the war chest he would need to try again, Lundeen made another run for office. Some of the transcripts include a detailed explanation of . We seem to be bereft of reason. But from the transcript it's unclear what the flight crew . And he didn't just keep it for a day, he kept it the whole rest of his life. The flight path was a triangle that would have them flying east, doing a practice bombing run and then proceeding east straight out into the empty seas. He could not contact the flight further. Maddow: A newspaper called PM had published an expos describing a scheme in which sitting members of Congress were helping an agent of Hitler's government distribute German propaganda in quantity all over the United States. The crew could only make right turns in the. Apollo 13 Transcripts . Radio Announcer: Instead of the program originally scheduled for this time, we bring you a talk by Senator Ernest Lundeen. Dammit, one man griped over the radio. HISTORY reviews and updates its content regularly to ensure it is complete and accurate. Hart: Drew Pearson is arguably the most powerful journalist in the country in this era. Maddow: It wasnt just the length of time it took to prepare the speech that set it apart. He was recently transferred to NAS Fort Lauderdale (. The collection contains 80 transcripts (approximately 45,000 pages of text). In reality, these responsibilities were scrambled during the last few hours of the flight. HistoricWings.com :: A Magazine for Aviators, Pilots and Adventurers, A Magazine for Aviators, Adventurers and Pilots, Published on December 5, 2012 The records of the 7th Naval District (Florida) and the naval air stations that were involved in the incident are in the custody of the, of the 7th Naval District. William Porter is my 92 year old Dad who actually talked to the pilots before they disappeared, he was 19 years old, serving in the Navy at the time, no one ever asked him what happened! Among the warning signs first, none of the aircraft in Flight 19 had a clock installed, a necessary instrument if one is flying time-speed-distance legs. Part of the file addresses the aircrews status as missing versus being declared dead. Hart: When the FBI agents who are sent to the scene recover his body, they find a draft of the speech that he was going to give just a few days later. Clocks are a simple navigational requirement. Our Associate Producer is Janmaris Perez. Did people lose their seat? Where was he? Could have been. Some of his pilots seemed to have recognized that he was making a mistake. 081335 AA11 20 Right Boston Sector: American 11 turn 20 degrees right. Maddow: Even decades after the fact, eyewitnesses to the crash were just haunted by what they saw that day. Now the expos did not mention Senator Lundeen by name, but the newspaper's description of the scheme, it was spot-on when it came to describing the nature of that relationship, the nature of the activities that Lundeen was up to with that German agent. On review, it seems likely that the loss of Flight 19 was more an issue of a command failure than one of little green men. The squadron (collectively called Flight 19) was led by Lieutenant Charles Taylor, who had logged over . Your email address will not be published. None found.. It was a terrible loss, but one with a clear explanation. On the other side of the story, not only were trained personnel lost, but so were several planes. In the World War II Command Files that are part of the Records of the Chief of Naval Operations (Record Group 38), there is a file unit titled Shore Establishments, Jacksonville Naval Air Station Board of Investigation 5 TBM Avengers 7 December 1945 that includes a copy of the findings of the Board of Investigation (Box 419). Theres a note pinned to the front describing how the pages of the speech were found 100 yards away from the epicenter of the plane crash site. Where would it have most likely gone down? This is FT-74, plane or boat calling Powers please identify yourself so someone can help you. (Ed. comments: These instructions would have made sense if the flight had been over the Keys, but if over the Bahamas, it was the equivalent of vectoring the flight out over the open seas. In the stormy nighttime seas, without flares and not in rafts, most likely they would have died before morning. <br> <br>All available facilities in the immediate area were used in an effort to locate the missing aircraft and help them return to base. Hart: You can imagine how this strikes the country, that this man who had been seen already as an outspoken anti-war figure, allegations already circulating that he might be pro-German, if not pro-Nazi, has suddenly died dramatically. Why was he so upset before he got on board? Modern pilots are taught to recognize the Error Chain end things before they proceed to an accident. April 1, 2014, 9:55 PM. This is in part why these series in RG 313 are often overlooked. All planes close up tight, he said. flight 19 radio transcript You may have missed . Maddow: In the hours and days that followed the crash of Trip 19, which killed Minnesota Senator Ernest Lundeen and 24 other people, there were a range of reactions across the country. Well have to ditch unless landfallwhen the first plane drops below ten gallons, we all go down together. A few minutes later, the Avengers last radio communications were replaced by an eerie buzz of static. Flannery: I think that the coincidence defies the probabilities, Lundeen: Reason? Because it turns out that in addition to U.S. "I'm over land, but it's broken. The radio transcript's format contains the following four columns: Column 1 - elapsed time from launch in hours, minutes, and seconds Column 2 - time required for a specific radio transmission Column 3 - person transmitting CC - Capsule Communicator P - Pilot Simultaneously, an inland search was carried out in hope that the aircraft had come down in the Everglades. Save for one plane that only carried two men, each of the Avengers was crewed by three Navy men or Marines, most of whom had logged around 300 hours in the air. In other words, within 100 miles of a point that is essentially 120 miles due east of Daytona Beach. The fleet, known as Flight 19, took off from a Naval Air Station in Fort Lauderdale, Florida almost 77 years ago, on December 5, 1945. . AA11: Turning right, American 11. For Training Command, Atlantic Fleet are the Confidential, Restricted and Secret General Administrative Files, 1944-1945 and the Confidential and Unclassified General Administrative Files, 1941-46. Speculation, but no proof, one way or another. Even if the Lost Patrol didnt fall victim to the supernatural, theres no denying that its disappearance was accompanied by many oddities and unanswered questions. At 1410 on 5 December 1945, five TBM Avengers comprising Flight 19 rose into the sunny sky above NAS Fort Lauderdale, Fla. The series is executive produced by myself and Mike Yarvitz, it's produced by Kelsey Desiderio. I must keep my planes intact. (Ed. Because two weeks before he got on that plane, he suddenly found himself the apparent subject of a blockbuster newspaper expos. Maddow: In the wake of the Trip 19 plane crash, the Justice Department said there was nothing to see here. No one was under investigation, it was all just a coincidence. It began as nothing more than a routine training flight. Our Technical Director is Bryson Barnes. FT-28: All planes close up tight well have to ditch unless landfall when the first plane drops below 10 gallons, we all go down together.. Even for those who clambered clear of the planes and might have gotten into rafts, those planes searching for them would have found it almost impossible to find the men. But another thing that Drew Pearson was definitely right about in his reporting was his prediction that the Justice Department was going to deny that Senator Lundeen was under investigation. I am sure Im in the Keys but I dont know how far down and I dont know how to get to Fort Lauderdale. (Ed. But if you see something that doesn't look right, click here to contact us! Nancy Beck Young: He was on the run for not only his political life, but his actual life. He hung onto that tooth until his death as a contemplation of the duality between the notion of immortality and the death that was everywhere contradicting it. Flannery: I think that the coincidence defies the probabilities. But there was even more that was strange about "Trip 19," as it came to be known. In fact, they did deny it. And Senator Lundeen is at work, even though it's Labor Day Weekend. comments: This almost certainly puts him at the northern edge of the Bahamas), FT-28: Can you have Miami or someone turn on their radar gear and pick us up? Located at the National Archives in College Park, there are two series of correspondence both the Commander, Gulf Sea Frontier and the Commander, Training Command, Atlantic Fleet. He lives about 10 minutes from where the plane went down. The transcript was taken from the tape recorder located on board Glenn's spacecraft. A special thanks to John Flannery for providing us with his incredible interviews with the eye-witnesses of the Trip 19 plane crash. But John Flannery has lived in the area for almost 20 years. Both series are arranged by the Navy Filing Manual. APPAir traffic control tower at Los Rodeos Airport PA RTPan Am aircraft radio transmission PA . ", "Whether certain foreign agents figured that they were about to be exposed, whether G-men on the plane tangled with Lundeen in flight, or whether it was an act of God-and-the-weather may never be known.". FT-74 returned to Ft. Lauderdale. Sadly, this was only the first part of this tragedy. One the PBM-5s made a routine call at 7:30 PM and then was never heard from again. Over. Flannery: Well, they call that consciousness of guilt, when you deny something that's true. At the time, the ship radioed: At 1950, observed a burst of flames, apparently an explosion, leaping flames 100 feet high and burning for ten minutes. Maddow: Just as the journalist Drew Pearson predicted, the cause of the crash of Trip 19 has remained a mystery, indefinitely. Because these are administrative files, they are arranged using the. Senator Lundeen's secretary will later tell the FBI that they didn't talk at all for the whole ride. Radio Reporter: Today, Saturday August the 31st. Flannery: Why did this plane go down with these experienced pilots in a seemingly good airplane, in a storm that planes go through? I am over land but its broken. We have no other land in sight. (Ed. At this point, the ground systems got a good triangulation on FT-28s broadcasts, giving moderately precise indications of his location he was within a 100-mile radius of the latitude-longitude position of 29 degrees North, 79 degrees West. There are few events in U. S. history that spark the imagination to "what happened" than the disappearance of Flight 19 on December 5, 1945. When fuel began to run low, Taylor was heard prepping his men for a potential crash landing in the ocean. In addition to these records, there are related records in other series that have, been digitized in the custody of the National Archives at College Park - Textual Reference. When she hears the news, Senator Lundeen's secretary decides shes gonna go there, to try to find him. They let him ride in the caboose to the next station. Maddow: Senator Ernest Lundeen's last two weeks on earth were stressful. When she dropped her boss at the airfield for the flight, the Senator's secretary according to some accounts had noticed through the open doorway of the plane that something was happening between the passengers. Despite this knowledge, the flight's location was not adequately reported to naval air traffic control personnel at NAS Fort Lauderdale. The tail wind only increased the speed at which they flew further away from land.). comments: as FT-74 proceeded south and FT-28 proceeded north, they were flying away from each other; hence the weakening radio signal.). Everything points to something far more menacing everyday human factors. Just a few months after he lost his seat in Congress. Dont come after me., FT-74: Roger, youre at 2,300. Finally, the flight leader wasnt doing the navigating, but rather the students were flying the route prescribed estimating time and distance while holding the prescribed headings. The training flight and the aircraft were organized under Naval Air Training Command, Atlantic Fleet, which is a subordinate command to Commander, Training Command, Atlantic Fleet, and the search and rescue effort were conducted by units from the Gulf Sea Frontier. Flight 19's radio transmissions soon became increasingly faint as it meandered out to sea. The disappearance began the modern myth of the Bermuda Triangle. He and his secretary leave the Capitol building. This episode was written by myself, Mike Yarvitz, and Kelsey Desiderio. Oct. 10, 2022, 3:15 AM PDT Transcript Rachel Maddow Presents: Ultra Episode 1: Trip 19 It started with a plane crash. These, compounded by mechanical failures and what seems to be a failure of leadership, culminated in one of historys greatest aviation mysteries. Heres the lede: "If Federal authorities probe deep-enough into the crash of the Pennsylvania Central Airlines plane which carried Senator Lundeen to his death in Virginia, they may find some highly interesting facts regarding Nazi activities in the United States. It's terrible. As weird and mysterious as his death in an inexplicable plane crash would prove to be, his last two weeks before the crash were fraught with anxiety, even panic. Including: who else was on-board along with Senator Lundeen when the plane crashed. Shares. Im at 2,300 feet. In fact, the fireball was seen from the tanker ship S.S. Gaines Mills, whose captain relayed that he had seen the plane catch fire and explode. Speculation, but no proof. At some point, the storm disoriented the aircraft, and they became lost. Flying boats were notoriously accident-prone, and were even nicknamed flying gas tanks for their propensity for catching fire. He knows which windy country roads to take in order to find it. Turning east the formation headed out over the Atlantic on the first leg. He told her there was a fight on board the plane. In the 1960s and 70s, pulp magazines and writers such as Vincent Gaddis and Charles Berlitz helped popularize the idea that Flight 19 had been gobbled up by the Bermuda Triangle, a section of the Atlantic supposedly known for its high volume of freak disappearances and mechanical failures. In addition to these records, there are related records in other series that have not been digitized in the custody of the National Archives at College Park - Textual Reference. He's not sitting at his desk like usual. Radio Reporter: In this country now, in the nations capitol at Washington. Reason? As it is these series have been processed with container lists, so they are more accessible. A violent, ultra-right authoritarian movement, weirdly infatuated with foreign dictatorships. He immediately informed the Air Station of the situation and then contacted the Avengers to ask if they needed assistance. If you see something that does n't look right, because you what. With container lists, so they are more accessible you know, went through Glenn & # ;! Windy country roads to take in order to find him to stop,... A failure of leadership, culminated in one of historys greatest aviation mysteries, too suddenly found himself the subject. 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