49 lines
2.8 KiB
Plaintext
49 lines
2.8 KiB
Plaintext
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AP 02/27 20:42 EST
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KEY WEST, Fla. (AP) -- Treasure salvors have discovered the wreckage of
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a plane they say might be one of five Navy aircraft that disappeared more
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than 40 years ago on a routine training flight.
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The crew of Mel Fisher's Swordfish pulled a Grumman Avenger airplane from
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the 1940s out of mud in water 33 feet deep 20 miles west of Key West on
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Tuesday, said Don Kincaid, vice president of Treasure Salvors Inc.
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The disappearance of the Navy's Flight 19, consisting of the five TBM-3
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Avengers, torpedo-bombers normally based on carriers, and the loss of a
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twin-engine Navy Martin Mariner subsequently sent to search for them is
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frequently mentioned in the lore of the "Bermuda Triangle."
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The Bermuda Triangle, off the southeastern coast of the United States,
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was popularized by Charles Berlitz in a best-selling 1974 book of that title
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that told of ships and planes vanishing into a mysterious void.
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Navy and Coast Guard officials have scoffed at the theory, noting that
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some of the world's busiest shipping and flight lanes criss-cross the area
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and that over the years accidents are bound to happen.
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Key West also is far beyond the westernmost boundary of the legendary
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Miami-Bermuda-San Juan triangle.
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But Fisher has said he believes the plane could be one of the five.
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Salvors "stumbled across" the wreckage in 1971 during a search for a
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galleon and were in the vicinity again last week, Kincaid said. "Mel just
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wanted to pull it up out of curiosity," he said. "We ran across it again on
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a whim. We're not in the business of looking for Bermuda Triangle
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wreckage."
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The five Avengers left a World War II training field at Fort Lauderdale
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on a training mission Dec. 5, 1945, each carring a pilot and radio
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operator.
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The flight leader was soon lost in hazy skies, despite the prevalent
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clear and sunny weather. Radio contact was maintained until the planes ran
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out of fuel still searching for the way home.
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A Martin Mariner, a twin-engine patrol plane with 13 aboard, left the
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Banana River Naval Air Station near Cocoa Beach the next morning to search
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for the squadron.
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The plane failed to return and no trace was ever found. No human remains
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was found in the Avenger salvaged this week, according to Fisher's son
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Kim.
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When the fuselage was hoisted from the water, an open parachute spilled
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out, said Scott Nierling, a Treasure Salvors photographer.
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The plane, estimated at 40 feet from tip to tail and with a wingspan
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around 60 feet, was brought to Key West for identification. It still bears
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the paint of Navy stripes.
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Mel Fisher, who was away on vacation Friday, said earlier that he wanted
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to put it in the front yard of the Treasure Salvors Museum in Key West.
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