3. Flight 19 wasn’t the only flight lost by the Navy that day
As it became obvious to Navy ground controllers Flight 19 was lost, literally flying in circles as it sought its bearings, a PBY Catalina was launched to conduct a search in the area where the Navy believed the Avengers had ditched in the ocean. After dark, two additional Martin Mariner flying boats were dispatched to search the area for wreckage and/or survivors. One took off from Naval Air Station Banana River in Florida, headed for the search area, and after routine radio traffic was heard from the airplane, it was never seen or heard from again. An aircraft carrier reported it lost radar contact with a single aircraft at 9:15, the same time at which a tanker in the vicinity reported seeing an explosion. The tanker searched the area for survivors, and though it reported a large oil and aviation gasoline slick in the area, it found no survivors.
The official US Navy investigation found that Flight 19 had been lost due to pilot error following its successful simulated bombing run. Taylor had not been over the Florida Keys, but the Bahamas, and leading his flight to the northeast had taken them further out over the Atlantic. They did not fault Taylor, since the error was exacerbated by compass failure. The lost Mariner flying boat was ascribed to an internal explosion of unknown causes. The sad fact is that Taylor had been exactly where he was supposed to be when he assumed he was over the Florida Keys, and then led his flight in the wrong direction. That explanation was not enough for some in the media, which decided another nefarious external force was at work in the region. Writers and paranormal researchers have speculated on the nature of that force ever since.