NAVY REPORTS 5 PLANES LOST OVER ATLANTIC.

SEARCH UNDER WAY OFF FLORIDA COAST; 10 CREWMEN ABOARD.

Miami, Fla. (UP) -- A flight of five navy torpedo bombers disappeared off the southeast Florida coast last night, and today a full-scale search aided by aircraft carrier was launched over a wide area.
The escort carrier Solomons, with 25 or 30 planes which could scour the Atlantic region was called into the search by the navy here. Planes from the carrier were joined by all available coast guard, navy and army aircraft and rescue vessels.
Navy officials here said only that the Solomons
"happened to be in the neighborhood." It was not known if it were returning to a United States port from a war area.
All merchant shipping in the coastal waters also was asked by radio to aid in the search, the largest air-sea rescue operation for the stations in this area.
The planes, from the naval air station at Fort Lauderdale, Fla., were reported overdue when they failed to return from a routine flight. Each carried two crewmen.
None of the planes sent out distress messages, apparently, and the exact location of any mass disaster was a mystery. The Fort Lauderdale station did not release the names of the missing men.
All coast guard planes and surface craft in the area were sent out in the search for the planes, which were believed about 100 miles off the coast. It was thought that as many as 100 aircraft and 15 or 20 surface vessels would take part in the search.
Early today it was reported that navy planes from the base at Banana River, Fla., had seen flares and oil slicks on the water in the possible area of the planes disappearance.
Search planes were also sent out from Nassau.
Officials of the Fort Lauderdale station confirmed that the planes were missing, but said no details of what might have happened were known. The exact location of any possible disaster was also said to be a mystery were identified as TBM's stationed at the base there.

Charleston Daily Mail West Virginia 1945-12-06
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Researched and Transcribed by Stu Beitler. Thank you, Stu!