Bermuda Triangle

The Bermuda Triangle is located in the South-Alantic ocean. Although many ships and aircrafts sink in the triangle, there are also many that sink outside of the Bermuda Triangle. There is no real triangle if you look at a map of all the wrecks in the Atlantic. The real goemetric shape that shoud be used is an oval or oblong circle. The triangle may just be a figment of our imagination, or maybe it's not....

Ocean Floor: North-American Continental Shelf explains the wonderful blue water of the Caribbean. In many places throughout the Caribbean Islands when flying over the shelf it is possible to see large objects submerged several feet under the water. It's a splendid sight and it would make it seem that finding a lost plane submerged in these parts quite easy, especially in this day of Black Boxes.

The Black boxes don't work very well when they are submerged. Also, when the sandy bottom of the ocean floor is disturbed it can often cause the sand to lift up into a cloud and resettle on top of whatever disturbed it. To make matters worse, if a boat has capsized it may go completely unnoticed by all but the most sophisticated sonar equipment.

But these are only minor perils when it comes to searching for sunken craft in the Triangle. The real peril is that while many people have snorkeled in the wonderful shallow areas of the Caribbean, few have gone just a few miles away from these shallow areas where the continental shelf gives way to the ocean floor! Suddenly, within a matter of miles, what was once water only a couple hundred feet deep begins an ocean thousands of feet deep. About 100 miles north of Puerto Rico is the deepest part of the Atlantic Ocean: the Puerto Rico Trench, estimated at 30,100 ft (9200 meters) deep. The Florida Straits, between Miami and the Bahamas at around 5,000 or so feet deep. This is the shallow water where so many planes and boats have disappeared with out a trace. Contrary to the Bermuda triangle legend, the water of the islands is quite deep and turbulent....

In the years since his retirement as CEO of Kockums (previously Soderhamm) forestry products factory, Tom Richardson has taken up painting as a hobby. He’s pretty good, too. He even won first prize at an arts fair in Florida, best of show out of about 300 pieces entered in the event.But another experience he had in Florida crosses his mind from time to time — a post-World War II tragedy that has inspired books, television programs, movies and a catalog of unexplained phenomena theories that have found a place in the national lexicon under the “Bermuda Triangle” heading.On Dec. 5, 1945, Richardson was assigned the role of dutyofficer at the Fort Lauderdale Naval Air Station, where that assignment fell to him once or twice a year.

And in that capacity, he became a witness to a tragedy that has become legend. It was one of his last duties in the Navy. With the war over, he had less than a month remaining in the service. He spent the rest of his days in the Navy flying missions in a massive and fruitless search for any sign of the lost aircraft and airmen. Just months after the Japanese surrender and the end of the war, Lt. Charles Taylor led a formation of five Grumman Torpedo Bombers with a combined crew of 14 on a routine training mission and disappeared without a trace. Less than an hour after their disappearance, a rescue plane sent out to try to find them exploded 13 minutes after takeoff, killing 13 more men. An aeronauticalengineering student when the war began, Richardson had enlisted with a desire to be a Navy combat pilot. As most of his class of pilots was being sent to the Pacific, Richardson was sent for additional instrument training. Instead of being sent into combat, he was assigned as a flight trainer to prepare other pilots for war. The young ensign was assigned to the Fort Lauderdale Naval Air Station as a flight instructor at the time — the same job Taylor held. Richardson had been stationed at Fort Lauderdale for a little over a year when the incident occurred, training pilots and flying the same type of torpedo bombers, also called TBFs or Avengers, as Taylor. Richardson had flown thousands of miles over the Atlantic from the base. According to an article on the Naval Historical Center’s Web site, Taylor was late for his flight briefing thatday, and whe......

The last words were innocuous: "Roger. Miami overseas, 6567." It was probably Louie Giuntoli's voice. The 41-year-old pilot of the C-119 Flying Boxcar sounded calm on the radio as he acknowledged switching to a clearer frequency of 6567 kilocycles.He didn't sound like a man in distress. He didn't sound like a man about to disappear. The crew from Milwaukee's 440th Airlift Wing was flying over the Atlantic Ocean south of Florida on the heavily traveled Yankee Route. Though maps don't identify the area as such, it's known as the Bermuda Triangle. Another half-hour and the 10 men on board should have arrived at their destination,Grand Turk Island in the Bahamas.It was a clear night with good flying weather.

When they didn't land, radio traffic controllers started calling Plane No. 680. The crew didn't answer. Nothing more was heard from Plane No. 680. Nothing was found. Not the men. Not their aircraft. Only a few scraps of debris that could have been tossed out of the cargo plane. It's as if they were just swallowed up by the turquoise waters. That was 40 years ago. It's been four decades of silence. And pain. For the families and friends and colleagues of the missing 440th crew, their questions will never be answered. And even though the Air Force Reserve wing in Milwaukee will soon close, Plane No. 680 hasn't been forgotten. All that is left now is a plaque dedicated to the crew that hangs at the440th headquarters and a C-119 plane painted exactly like the missing aircraft that's on display near one of the facility's gates. The loss left a hole in the 440th - an entire flight crew plus experienced maintenance specialists. Kids grew up without their dads, wives continued their lives without their mates, co-workers wondered about the fate of their friends and colleagues.

Two brothers, different fates It was a routine mission: drop off an engine and a maintenance crew on Grand Turk Island, pick up bundles of concertina wire in Puerto Rico and drop them off in the Dominican Republic. Then return home to Milwaukee. Dick Nugent was a loadmaster for the 440th, and so was his brother Thomas. Dick Nugent had just finished a week of air drops at Fort Benning, Ga., andsince ......

USS Niña: Niña, a 4th rate iron screw steamer, was laid down by Reaney, Son, and Archbold, Chester, Pa., in 1864; launched 27 May 1865; delivered at New York Navy Yard 26 September 1865; and placed in service as a yard tug at the Washington Navy Yard 6 January 1866, Ensign F. C., Hall commanding that ship and sister tugs Primrose and Rescue. Niña operated as a yard tug for the Washington Naval Gun Factory through May 1869 and was then converted to a torpedo boat. She commissioned 31 March 1870, LT. Godfrey Hunter in command, and then sailed for Newport R.I., arriving at the Naval Station 14 April. The ship served as a torpedo boat at Newport through 1883, refitting in May 1884 for special service, and next operated from August to October salvaging the wreck of sidewheel gunboat Tallapoosa sunk in Martha's Vineyard Sound. From 1885 to 1889 Niña served in various capacities at New York navy Yard, and then returned to Newport from 1890 to 1891.

The converted tugboat returned to New York Navy Yard in 1892 to resume her original duties, continuing her yard work and towing services there for a decade. On 8 October 1902, she commissioned as tender and supply vessel to the Torpedo Boat Flotilla during winter maneuvers in the Caribbean. The ship returned to New York 15 March 1903 and decommissioned 6 days later, once again taking up her yard towing chores. Niña was next loaned to the Lighthouse Department to verify aids to navigation near Puerto Rican waters to protect the Fleet conducting Winter maneuvers from October 1903 to April 1904. She recommissioned 9 September 1905 for special service with the Board of Inspection and Survey, Rockland, Me. Niña was ordered converted into a submarine tender on 28 December 1905. On 25 May 1906, she arrived at the Newport Naval Torpedo Station, and following a year's service, was assigned as tender for the 1st Torpedo Flotilla. For the next four years, she served with the Atlantic Fleet's infant submarine force in its pioneer coastal operations form Newport to Annapolis and Norfolk...