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It's entirely possible that the Earth's magnetic field is particularly dense there, for some reason. Perhaps as Naughty_Felid says, it may be an iron meteorite of huge size.
There is such a thing as magnetic deviation caused by local magnetic interference (e.g., magnetized rock strata). See:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Magnetic_deviation

The area south of Flight 19's first (eastward) leg is a relatively intense source of such interference / deviation.

However, the effects on a magnetic compass are relatively minor - enough to cause a navigation error of a few degrees, but nothing that would (e.g.) cause the compass to oscillate or spin wildly. Such bizarre behavior is a creative gloss in Flight 19 / Bermuda Triangle dramatizations, not a representation of anything known to have occurred during the flight.

In any case, neither Taylor nor any of the student crewmen reported such bizarre compass behavior. They simply claimed one or both of their compass instruments were malfunctioning. The first voice other than Taylor's heard over the radio didn't even mention a compass problem, but simply claimed he / they seemed to have gotten lost. Some of the fliers seemed to have maintained accurate situation awareness on their actual location and general heading(s) regardless of what their instruments were or weren't doing.
 
It's entirely possible that the Earth's magnetic field is particularly dense there, for some reason. Perhaps as Naughty_Felid says, it may be an iron meteorite of huge size.
here's a site with a map and instructions:
http://geokov.com/education/magnetic-declination-inclination.aspx
This map doesn't show any particularly interesting field fluctuations.
It's not a very detailed map though.

also their chart is just a single page off of the NOAA site anyways.
https://ngdc.noaa.gov/geomag/WMM/image.shtml
Also doesn't show anything interesting, but is a rather large scale map.

Hmmm here's the only small scale one I could find:
https://www.banyanpilotshop.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/06/BMOT_VFR-Chart-2018.pdf
it's not a deviation chart though, but has info on magnetic headings needed to go from island to island AFTER adjusting for local magnetic field variations.

At any rate, if magnetic charts like this had a major deviation... it'd be a known quantity everyone who flies in the area would have available. Whatever the spinning compass thing is... is either intermittent or very highly localized.

Hunh... I found this, but I'm not sure what their map is actually charting.
http://www.huttoncommentaries.com/article.php?a_id=78
 
Experienced pilots can become disorientated, even in good weather with functioning navigation instruments.

The British captured their one and only intact Fw 190 fighter in 1942 when its Luftwaffe pilot became confused after an air-to-air combat, started flying on a reciprocal compass course (north, when he should have been heading south), mistook the Bristol Channel for the English Channel, and landed at a Welsh RAF base, having triumphantly performed a celebratory wing waggle to announce his victory!

maximus otter
 
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With flight 19 the leader lost confidence in his interment's, got lost,
the rest of the flight felt compelled due to military discipline to follow
the leader and all were lost, a very powerful thing is military discipline.

:omr:
 
With flight 19 the leader lost confidence in his interment's, got lost,
the rest of the flight felt compelled due to military discipline to follow
the leader and all were lost, a very powerful thing is military discipline.

:omr:

Well, the whole purpose of the training flight was to teach dead-reckoning navigation, and Lt. Carroll was the instructor.

maximus otter
 
Bermuda Triangle's most famous mystery unravelled 76 years on with 'important discovery'

"...A new scientific investigation into the mysterious disappearance of the aircraft is the focus of the History Channel documentary "History's Greatest Mysteries," which airs next week.
In a preview for the show, lead underwater explorer Mike Barnette said: "We see this round piece of wreckage with teeth, like for gears.
"I'm thinking to myself, this looks like a turret. Emotions are running off the chart. Could this be an Avenger?"
It was the wreckage of an Avenger, leading to the question of whether it is from the mysterious Flight 19 that disappeared in 1945...."


I do get the feeling though that I already saw a programme some time ago which looked into this bit of wreckage and managed to get engine serial numbers off the wreck and matched it up to known aircraft and ruled out any link to Flight 19.....or maybe it was a cheese dream?

https://www.express.co.uk/news/scie...d-flight-19-fort-Lauderdale-florida-discovery
 
I do get the feeling though that I already saw a programme some time ago which looked into this bit of wreckage and managed to get engine serial numbers off the wreck and matched it up to known aircraft and ruled out any link to Flight 19.....or maybe it was a cheese dream?

https://www.express.co.uk/news/scie...d-flight-19-fort-Lauderdale-florida-discovery
There definitely was a programme a few years ago where they found wreckage of at least one Avenger, but the serial numbers didn't match with Flight 19. Or maybe I dreamt it as well.
 
They made over 9,000 of them and given they were torpedo bombers
they must have spent a lot of time over water, the seas must be littered
with them, then again the oceans of this world are pretty big.
 
There definitely was a programme a few years ago where they found wreckage of at least one Avenger, but the serial numbers didn't match with Flight 19. Or maybe I dreamt it as well.
The story I heard is that the group of 5 they found is actually located along a leg of the flight plan Lt. Taylor was supposed to be following. So.. the location to find them wasn't weird, it's was a commonly used flight path. the weird part was the cluster.
 
My Dad was in the RAF, and flew over the area if the Bermuda Triangle. This would have been the 1960s. He did say that, at least on a few occasions, the compass didnt work properly. I'll ask him about it the next time I see him and see if he can provide further details.
Caught up with my Dad today and asked him for clarification on any weird stuff that happened in rhe Bermuda Triangle and the outcome is... Slughtly disappointing. Turns out I misremembered what he had said and the compasses were fine. What had happened was that he had been asleep and was woken up by one of his colleagues who said he was having problems. Dad got up and it turned out they had lost all radio communication. This lasted for about an hour when they finally made radio contact with someone called Frobisher who my Dad thought was in Canada - slowly all radio communication got back to normal.
Asked if he had anything other flying based tales of weirdness - he spent 23 years or so actually flying - and no nothing really - sunspot flares (every 11 years? 1966 - 1977 - 1988 etc) tended to cause communication systems to go down - and he knew of colleagues who witnessed ball lightning actually travel through the interior ofthe aircraft from front to back.
But that's it no other flying based weirdness from my Dad, Bermuda Triangle or otherwise.
 
What would happen were you to touch ball lightning - would you get a large electric shock, burns? I’ve heard stories before about ball lightning passing through seemingly solid aircraft cabin walls.

It’s not like ordinary lightning which would take a short path to earth itself so maybe it doesn’t carry a large voltage & is not dangerous..
 
What would happen were you to touch ball lightning - would you get a large electric shock, burns? I’ve heard stories before about ball lightning passing through seemingly solid aircraft cabin walls.

It’s not like ordinary lightning which would take a short path to earth itself so maybe it doesn’t carry a large voltage & is not dangerous..
Any charge that can ionise gas and cause a glow is perhaps not to be treated lightly.
 
Any charge that can ionise gas and cause a glow is perhaps not to be treated lightly.
It’s not a gas though is it? More of an electric or electrostatic effect of some kind I’d have thought..
 
It’s not a gas though is it? More of an electric or electrostatic effect of some kind I’d have thought..
What is being ionised? The air.
 
What would happen were you to touch ball lightning - would you get a large electric shock, burns? I’ve heard stories before about ball lightning passing through seemingly solid aircraft cabin walls.

It’s not like ordinary lightning which would take a short path to earth itself so maybe it doesn’t carry a large voltage & is not dangerous..
My mum told me once that when she was a child aged around 9 or 10 she was standing in her nightdress in front of a coal fire trying to get warm before going to her cold bedroom when a ball of lightning came down the chimney, it didn't hurt her directly but it blew out hot sparks from the fire which caught her nightdress alight. Luckily her older brothers were in the room and quickly rolled her in a rug.
 
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