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When Compasses Misbehave

I can’t remember where but I saw an article displaying planet earth not as a smooth round ball but as a strange irregular shape planet with bulges.

I assume that these bulges have different magnetic field.

I can not understand why 1945 Flight 19 of the five Avengers got lost.

They just had to fly into the afternoon sun or west.

A real mystery.
 
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The British Geological Survey produces a detailed, zoomable map showing magnetic anomalies over the British Isles, with red and orange showing the strongest local magnetic fields and deep blue the weakest. As you can see, London and the area due south is mostly red or orange. South Cornwall and Devon also figure highly on magnetic anomalies.
Click the URL below and select [View map] for the fully detailed version.

https://webapps.bgs.ac.uk/data/maps/maps.cfc?method=viewRecord&mapId=12033

magmapuk.jpg
 
Here's a zoomed section, with the location of The Devil's Punchbowl approximately where I've marked the blue X.
As you can see, it's in an area with a significant local magnetic field, so compass deviations shouldn't come as a surprise:

mag.png
 
Flight 19 got lost because they confused the lands near Great Sale Cay, which was near their flight path, with the Florida Keys, which were well to the south and away from their route.
 
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