While filming “Expedition Bermuda Triangle,” produced by Lone Wolf Media for The HISTORY Channel, two major discoveries were made in the waters off the coast of Florida in the infamous area known as the Bermuda Triangle.

Marine biologist and lead diver Mike Barnette and his team discovered a plane wreck that was positively identified as a WWII TBM Avenger plane by former Navy pilot and WWll craft expert Roy Stafford. This plane looks to be an identical match to the missing squadron of five planes referred to as the legendary ‘Flight 19’ (prominently featured in Spielberg’s ‘Close Encounters of the Third Kind’) which took off from Ft. Lauderdale back on December 5, 1945 with 14 men on board and was never seen or heard from again. After the discovery, Mike presented his findings at the Washington Naval Yard, as chronicled in the episode, and while additional investigation is still needed to determine if there are any identifiable markings to 100% match the wreckage to one of the planes from ‘Flight 19,’ the possibility remains open.

In addition, Mike and his team also located the shipwreck remains of what they believe to be The Sandra, a famous cargo ship that vanished without a trace on April 5, 1950 in the Bermuda Triangle 71 years ago with a 12-men crew on board. The identification was based on lab tests of cargo samples taken from the wreck site as well as a combination of Lloyd’s of London records, various documentation of the ship records of transfer and ownership, and ultimately locating the ship’s original design and drawings at the Mystic Seaport Museum. The Sandra is one of the featured disappearances in Charles Berlitz seminal best-selling 1974 book The Bermuda Triangle and is among the ships frequently mentioned when the ‘mystery’ of the Bermuda Triangle’ is invoked.

“History’s Greatest Mysteries: Expedition Bermuda Triangle” chronicles a team of renowned explorers as they make startling new discoveries in the depths of the Bermuda Triangle. This enigmatic, deadly stretch of ocean has long had a reputation for mysterious disappearances, UFO sightings, and bizarre phenomena. Over the years many have sought to reveal the Triangle’s deadly secrets but now — a true game changer – three groups of investigators join forces for the biggest search for ‘Flight 19’ yet, the squadron of US Navy aircrafts that vanished in December 1945. Along the way, the team will uncover long lost ships, reveal new secrets hidden in archives, and uncover a series of unsettling clues to what makes these waters so dangerous. Have they finally solved the mystery of the Bermuda Triangle?

WHERE: “Expedition Bermuda Triangle” premieres on The HISTORY Channel as part of “History’s Greatest Mysteries,” hosted and narrated by Laurence Fishburne.

WHEN: Tuesday, September 7 at 8pm ET/PT


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