The Disappearance of Flight 19

Rating:
Summary: The harsh light of reality
Review: Flight 19 is in someways the 'Holy Grail' of Bermuda triangle buffs. 5 planes led by a experienced aviator disappear on a 'routine' flight in perfect weather. The first search plane also disappears in broad daylight. Mysterious and garbled radio transmissions that hint at well at anything the writer wants them to hint at. Books have been churned out reguritating theories from UFOs to Atlantis.
Kusche simply does what a 'real' investigator should do. He does not simply recycle others' research, he goes to the source...the military records of the flight, the subsequent investigation and interviews with the surviving families. Like an onion, he peels backs the legends, the half truths, the out and out fabrications to review the knowable facts.
He makes a strong case for what logically seems to have happened. A lost training flight in bad weather running out of gas in the dark. Ongoing confusion about exactly where they were and freakishly bad radio conditions both played a part. The rescue flight that was seen to explode in midair. A military review that skirted the issue of blame to alleviate the suffering of the victims' surviving families (especially the Taylors, the leader's mother).Clearly this was a personal tragedy but a great 'Mystery' sorry no.
Kusche, to me, does not fall into the 'debunker' class, those who automatically reject anything that smacks of the bizarre. He does good research and states the knowable facts.