The Alaska Triangle (2020–…): Season 1, Episode 1 - The Missing Douglas - full transcript

Two hours after a Douglas C-54D airplane took off from Elmendorf Air Force Base on January 26, 1950, it disappeared without a trace. Experts investigate whether an inter-dimensional portal ...

Narrator: Alaska...

A vast, remote wilderness
twice the size of texas.

Enoch: There are dangerous,
unpredictable.

Forces at work here.

Narrator:
In one of the most mysterious.

Corners of the globe...

A lot of things can kill you
out here without even trying.

Narrator: This is a place
hundreds of times more deadly.

Than the bermuda triangle.

Man: Oh, my god.

Narrator:
Stories of alien abductions...



I believe it was a ufo.

Narrator: The paranormal,
vanishing airplanes,

And strange beasts...

The alaskan bigfoot...
He can rip you in half.

These accounts
are really widespread.

[bleep] it peaked out of
the tree right there.

Narrator: Have haunted those
who dare set foot here.

In the last 30 years,

16,000 people have disappeared
without a trace.

More people have disappeared
than the bermuda triangle...

Two to three times the amount.

Narrator: Witnesses tell us
their shocking stories...

[ growling ]
I was petrified.

Narrator: And we've gathered
some of the world's.



Leading experts
in their field...

I'm always after
scientific evidence.

That can be
independently corroborated.

Narrator:
To try and unlock the mystery.

Of the alaska triangle.

♪♪

The alaska triangle is one of
the most mysterious.

And dangerous places on earth.

So few people live here,
yet so many disappear.

♪♪

Enoch: When we look at
the alaska triangle,

It's absolutely frightening.

Ships have gone missing.
Planes have been downed.

People have disappeared
and vanished.

Off the face of the earth.

Desmond:
They're there one second,

And then they're just gone.

And they don't find remains.

They don't find any good reason
for them to disappear.

Narrator:
But in the alaska triangle,

The greatest risk
is taking to the air.

More than 2,000 planes
have crashed or vanished here.

In the last 20 years.

And the disappearance
of one plane, a douglas c-54,

Has troubled investigators
more than any other.

Could the douglas craft
have flown into a portal,

And is a portal
part of the inherent mystery.

In the alaska triangle?

Enoch: I think what could have
happened to the missing douglas.

Is probably one of
the most important mysteries.

On the planet.

Narrator: What did happen
to the missing douglas?

♪♪

It's 1950,
the year after nato was formed,

The start of the cold war,

And on January 26th,

A douglas c-54
military transport plane.

With 44 people on board.

Took off from
alaska's elmendorf air base,

In the middle
of the alaska triangle.

[ Radio chatter ]

Two hours into the flight,
it disappeared.

♪♪

How, in 1950,
could a plane this size,

With 44 people on board,
vanish in the alaska triangle?

It remains a mystery
to this day.

Narrator: One man is
on a quest to find out.

What happened to the douglas.

♪♪

Veteran u.S. Air force pilot
dan hampton.

Has flown
over 150 combat missions,

Including in iraq
in the gulf war,

And is a veteran of numerous
search-and-rescue missions.

The idea that a plane
could go missing.

And never be found.

Goes against
all his training and experience.

He's now determined
to find answers.

To the airplane's disappearance.

This was a c-54 standard
military transport,

Carried people, cargo,
equipment, things like that.

Narrator: With a wingspan
of over 100 feet,

The douglas c-54 was one of
the most important planes.

In the u.S. Air force.

Hampton: This particular c-54
was carrying 36 passengers,

Some military,
some military dependents,

And 8 crew members.

The plane took off
from elmendorf air force base,

Headed east 240 miles to its
first mandatory reporting point.

Right on the border of
the yukon territory and alaska,

A little town called snag...

♪♪

Made its radio call over snag
on time using a vhf radio,

And then it vanished
without a trace.

♪♪

This happened on the fringe.

Of what's become known
as the alaska triangle.

That's where this airplane was
when it vanished.

♪♪

Narrator: The douglas was on
a well-worn flight path,

But these were volatile times.

The two great superpowers,
the u.S. And russia,

Then the soviet union,
were in a nuclear arms race,

And each would do anything
to get the upper hand.

Hampton:
Remember, this is 1950.

The cold war
has begun in earnest.

Russia is in this mad scramble.

To face off against us
ideologically.

All over the world.

Narrator:
Alaska is only 56 miles.

From the soviet union...

And the soviets knew
that u.S. Nuclear bombers.

Could be over their territory
within minutes.

The world was on the brink,
and all eyes were on alaska.

♪♪

Historian sascha auerbach
has been looking into.

Recently released government
files from the cold war.

♪♪

Nuclear weapons were the most
powerful thing.

That the u.S. Had.

They always had more of them
than russia did,

And they wanted them within
reach of the soviet union,

So alaska was the natural
launching point for the bombers.

They want every
strategic advantage,

And alaska is absolutely
the key to that.

Hampton:
Elmendorf was built in anchorage.

To protect the northern edge
of the united states.

It's equipped with
all the latest technology,

Radar, strategic bombers,
and fighters,

Specifically to combat the
threat from the soviet union.

Auerbach:
We're talking about.

One of the most-surveilled
air spaces.

In the world at the time.

This was supposed to be
where america was most prepared.

For an invasion,
where it was most concerned.

About russian planes
coming over.

So the fact
that they lost a plane.

With all these radio assets,
watching this whole area,

Must have been really galling.

♪♪

What is also interesting is that
this happened the same year.

That the u.S. Was about.

To have its first
operational hydrogen bomb,

So I'm sure the tension
was super high.

Narrator: The u.S. Military were
immediately concerned.

That the soviets might have
downed the douglas.

♪♪

But when it disappeared,

The douglas was flying directly
away from the soviet union.

It would have been impossible
for any soviet fighter planes.

To get this far east
without being spotted.

♪♪

The alaskan airspace is not
an ordinary airspace.

It is monitored very closely,
very carefully, all the time.

Why?

Because it's sitting right next
to the adversary.

Of the united states... russia.

So every motion,
every object that's moving in.

And out of that area
is being tracked.

[ Radio chatter ]

Hampton: After snag,

There was no further contact
with the c-54.

Nobody thought anything of it.

But about an hour after it
was supposed to land.

In great falls, montana,
way down in the south,

Didn't show up,
it was declared missing.

And an enormous search effort
sprang into action.

♪♪

Narrator: At the time of
the disappearance,

The u.S. And canadian
armed forces.

Were about to start
a big war-games operation.

♪♪

But now the missing plane
took top priority.

Hampton:
They canceled the war games.

And put all those resources
and people.

Into the search effort.

Narrator:
Confidence was high.

The u.S. Military in alaska were
experts in search and rescue.

Man: The rescue coordination
center at elmendorf.

Keeps busy the year 'round,

Including air force and army
search-and-rescue efforts.

In alaska's vast inland region.

♪♪

Narrator: 7,000 ground troops
and 85 aircraft.

Were deployed
to help in the search.

What this is comes out
of the original.

Air force accident reports.

This shows the extensive,
enormous search area.

That these 85 planes undertook
to try to find this c-54.

Auerbach: They end up searching
about 300,000 square miles.

Of territory, which is massive.

It's a space
the size of venezuela.

♪♪

Hampton: The scale of this
is unprecedented,

So it makes you wonder,

Was there really something
special or unique.

About this flight,
that it had to be found?

Was it because there's
somebody on board.

That made it necessary
to find it?

♪♪

Narrator: A list of
the passengers and crew reveals.

No one out of the ordinary.

It was a routine flight.

♪♪

Perhaps there was
something on board...

A secret piece of tech,
top-secret information,

Evidence of some kind
that the authorities.

Wanted to remain hidden.

Or was it necessary to find it
because of where it went down?

Narrator: Disappearing right on
the edge of the triangle...

Was it a sign of some
unknown force at work,

Something more dangerous perhaps
than any human adversary?

♪♪

♪♪

Narrator: Veteran pilot
dan hampton is investigating.

The case of the douglas c-54
that went missing.

In the alaska triangle in 1950.

Hampton:
This was called a form 14,

And it's the report
of the aircraft incidents.

So what this indicates is,

They did not know
the cause of the accident.

They're very plain about that.

They can't find the crash site.

The weather was not a factor,

And the last reporting position
was over snag.

♪♪

Gough:
The douglas just goes missing.

There's no distress calls
whatsoever.

It has just disappeared
from the face of the earth.

Narrator: But the missing
douglas wasn't the triangle's first,

Or last,
renowned aviation tragedy.

♪♪

In October 1972,
a plane carrying the leader.

Of the house of representatives,
hale boggs,

Mysteriously disappeared
along the southern edge.

Of the alaska triangle.

People looked for weeks
for any sign of the plane,

Never found any evidence
of what happened to it.

Now, keep in mind
that 200 planes crash.

Every year in alaska.

You have to ask the question,

"how can that be?
What is causing this?"

Narrator: But the biggest
aviation mystery of the triangle.

Has to be the missing douglas.

♪♪

1,000 miles down the coast
from elmendorf,

In vancouver, canada,

Journalist jonny enoch
has uncovered.

An unlikely series of events.

Enoch: During
the search-and-rescue effort,

There were over 85 planes
looking for the c-54.

That's when strange
and unexplained things.

Started to happen,

Leading investigators to believe
that something wasn't right.

There was something mysterious
and bizarre going on.

Hampton:
An airplane was participating.

In the search-and-rescue,

Crashed down here near the
southern end of the triangle.

In this particular case,
they stalled.

They crashed.

Nobody died, and the pilot
walked about 13 miles.

To the alaska highway,
and everybody got rescued.

On the 7th of February,
another aircraft goes down.

This time it's a c-47
in the southern part.

Of the search grid.

No fatalities, but again,
what caused it to go down?

There's always an investigation
when a military aircraft.

Has an accident,
especially a crash,

And in this case, they never
disclosed what exactly happened.

But the fact the military
never said anything about it.

Is suspicious.

Narrator:
Just over a week later,

A third search plane
went down...

[ radio chatter ]

Very near to the last
recorded position.

Of the missing douglas.

But the fourth plane to crash
was the most significant,

And this wasn't
one of the search planes.

It was twice as big as a douglas.

With a cost of over $4 million.

That's over $40 million
in today's money.

Hampton: On February 14th,
the last in this bizarre.

String of occurrences happens.

A b-36,
which is a nuclear bomber,

Takes off from
eielson air force base,

North of elmendorf,

And it's heading for
fort worth, texas, nonstop.

Narrator: The nuclear bomber
was on an exercise,

Simulating a strike
against the soviets.

Auerbach: Keep in mind that
we're talking about a period.

Before the invention.

Of the intercontinental
ballistic missile.

If you're going to deliver
nuclear weapons on target,

The only way to do it
is via long-range bomber.

And most of the soviet union
and the targets.

They want to reach
are quite far away,

So they have to
test these things.

Narrator: The b-36 flew out
west over the pacific.

Before turning back
into the triangle.

With the coast in sight, as it
was returning towards juneau...

[ beeping ]

The plane lost all power.

The mark 4 atomic bomb
was jettisoned into the ocean.

The airplane then crashed
into mount kologet.

In british columbia.

The plane goes down and is lost,
along with the nuclear weapon.

And several thousand pounds of
conventional explosives as well.

Narrator:
The bomb was never found.

It was the first loss
of a nuclear bomb in history.

Auerbach:
The american military planners,

Of course, worried about
the loss of such aircraft.

I mean, these are very,
very valuable assets.

There's always the fear
that anything lost.

Is something that the soviets
are going to recover,

And they're gonna make
every effort to keep it.

Out of the public news.

A lot of the information we have
about these disasters.

Really only became available.

When the records
were declassified,

So it remained a mystery
for quite some time.

Four airplanes lost
within a 30-day period,

Including a frontline
nuclear bomber...

What is going on inside
the alaska triangle?

♪♪

Narrator: Hostile soviet
activity is ruled out.

The military had to start
considering other possibilities.

The first thing
that leaps to mind.

Is some sort of
electromagnetic interference.

With the magnetic navigation
instruments on board.

That's all they had.

Gough:
Alaska is not just remote.

It's northernly.

That part of the world,

There's all kinds of strange
magnetic forces at play.

That you don't see
anywhere else.

Enoch: I think the presence
of strange electromagnetic.

And gravitational anomalies.

Could be the reason for many
of the instrument failures.

And plane crashes plaguing
the alaska skies.

Hampton:
This is up near the pole.

I've flown up there.

I've had my magnetic-based
backup instruments go crazy.

Thank goodness
I didn't have to rely on them.

Like these guys did.

That's all they had.

And if you encounter a variation
in the electromagnetic field,

It's gonna cause
your compass to do this,

And if you're trying to navigate
and steer from it,

You can see the problem.

You don't really know
where you're going.

Narrator: So the long history
of air crashes.

In the alaska triangle.

Could be down to unusual and
extreme electromagnetic forces.

The douglas could have got lost,
run out of fuel, and crashed.

But if this happened,

Then surely
the plane would have been found.

So the fundamental question
remains,

"where is the douglas?"

Could there be
a more sinister explanation.

For its disappearance?

♪♪

♪♪

♪♪

Narrator: Disappearances
in the alaska triangle.

Are frighteningly commonplace.

♪♪

But there's one incident
that haunted the u.S. Military.

For more than 70 years...

44 military personnel
gone without a trace.

In one of the big mystery
disasters of the u.S. Air force,

The plane vanished.

Narrator: Why has the douglas
never been found?

♪♪

Some who have been
researching the case.

Have come up
with a disturbing theory.

Desmond:
I do think the douglas incident.

Could have been intervention
by a ufo.

♪♪

Narrator: Jessie desmond is
the alaskan state director.

For mufon,
the mutual ufo network.

Desmond: Alaska is
a great place for ufos.

Because we have this vast amount
of space and very few people,

Which means
that they can do stuff.

Without a whole lot
of onlookers.

Narrator: In 2003, there was
a reported sighting.

Of a whole mass of ufos
in a deserted area.

Just 200 miles south
of fairbanks.

♪♪

Now jessie has found
a close link between ufos.

And the military.

Alaska ufos really kind of
started with world war ii.

Because we had a couple of
sightings over the bering sea.

These were recorded by crewmen
on military boats.

We had all these radar sites,
and the military used those.

To detect ufos
over alaska airspace.

And then we had waves of ufo
sightings all over the state.

Narrator: One of the most famous
was in 1986.

When the crew
of a japanese airline flight.

Witnessed two ufos
trail their plane.

Right in the middle
of the alaska triangle.

♪♪

Is there a link
with the missing douglas?

♪♪

A top-secret intelligence report
from February 10th, 1950,

Reveals that ufos were stalking
u.S. Naval planes.

Just days before
the douglas vanished.

The first of these encounters.

Was above the naval air station
of kodiak...

Only 250 miles southwest
of the douglas' departure point.

In anchorage.

Mufon investigator jeremy ray
has been analyzing the reports.

Shortly before the disappearance
of the douglas aircraft,

There was a navy pilot
that witnessed a ufo.

This ufo was clocked on radar
going 1,800 miles per hour,

And during that time,
we didn't have anything.

That could go that fast,
so I find it very interesting.

Narrator:
The plane's radar operator.

Reported the strangest
interference he had ever seen.

The control tower was
in a state of panic.

There should have been
no other aircraft in the area.

[ Radio chatter ]

Suddenly the ufo vanished,

Only to reappear two hours later
trailing the navy plane.

It followed the aircraft
for some minutes.

Before vanishing once more.

[ Radio chatter ]

♪♪

The navy chiefs issued
a top-secret report.

To the highest levels
of the u.S. Government.

Journalist and researcher
andrew gough.

Has been on the trail
of this report.

The 1950s report
was so important.

That 36 copies of
the navy's detailed analysis.

Were sent
to various security agencies,

Such as the fbi, the cia,
the air force intelligence,

And even
the department of state.

Narrator: This document about
the kodiak ufo encounter.

Never saw the light of day
until the 1970s.

When a freedom of information
request.

Forced the u.S. Authorities
to release a redacted version.

This strikes me as yet another
government cover-up.

They know what's going on,

And they are not gonna
let the public know

'cause they are afraid that
they won't be able to handle it.

Narrator: The kodiak encounter
happened just four days.

Before the douglas disappeared.

Two days after the disappearance
came another sighting,

And this one takes us
right back to elmendorf.

Ray: There was a report of a ufo
above elmendorf air force base,

And what's really interesting
about this.

Is that that's the same
air force base.

That the douglas aircraft
flew out of.

♪♪

Narrator: An elmendorf commander
spotted three orange objects.

Above the air base.

♪♪

They hovered at around
25,000 feet.

Then they mysteriously vanished.

♪♪

Gough: Now a lieutenant colonel,
of all people,

Sees something so bizarre,
so unusual, that he has to file.

An unidentified-flying-object
report.

That must have been something
really weird.

♪♪

Narrator: There are some
who do now believe.

That the douglas
could have been taken by a ufo.

Jeremy ray thinks the answer
could lie.

In the use of a tractor beam...

A super-strong energy beam.

Which can pull anything else
towards it.

Ray:
It is possible that the douglas.

Could have been controlled
by a ufo,

Maybe pulled in
by a tractor beam.

That is kind of possible
due to all the reports.

That we've heard about
of pilots reporting.

Ufos taking control
of the aircrafts.

Narrator:
In 1948 in kentucky,

In what is known as
the mantell incident,

A young pilot was killed after
losing control of his aircraft.

While pursuing a ufo.

In 1958 in snag,

The very area where the douglas
was last recorded,

Two men out on a moose hunt
reported a metallic, oval ufo.

Hovering above a marsh.

♪♪

The theory goes that
the c-54 was overpowered.

By superior technology,

And that's why the plane's
never been found.

Or it could be something else.

♪♪

♪♪

Narrator: Over the years, there have
been all kinds of unusual happenings.

In the alaska triangle,
from bizarre paranormal activity.

To sightings of monstrous beasts
in the lakes and forests.

But the disappearance
of one aircraft.

In the skies of the triangle.

Could be the strangest
of them all.

♪♪

Could an airplane
really be taken by a ufo?

♪♪

There's one famous case
from australia.

Where this has been suggested
as a genuine possibility.

♪♪

What I have here
is the transcript.

In one of the world's
most famous ufo cases...

Frederick valentich,
October 1978, australia.

The pilot has taken off
at 0900 and 6 minutes,

And all of a sudden
things go a little strange.

He describes
that there's something.

About 1,000 feet above him,
and he can't identify it.

It's moving really quickly.

It's got a green light
and sort of metallic.

It's all shiny on the outside.

You know,
the air-traffic controllers.

Have no response for that.

They have no idea
what that could be.

This goes on
for about six minutes,

And, finally, the last thing
he says at 0911...

"that strange craft is hovering
on top of me again.

It's hovering,
and it's not an aircraft."

In the transmission,
the last thing that's heard.

Is the sound of clashing metal.

Was this the sound of
that unidentified flying object.

Attaching itself
to frederick's plane?

Is that why it disappeared?

Is this why the douglas aircraft
also disappeared?

♪♪

Narrator:
But a few weeks after.

The douglas disappeared
in alaska,

There were strange signs.

That the plane
might still be out there.

On the 2nd of February,
faint radio signals were heard.

[ Radio static ]

♪♪

Auerbach: This is what had
the search teams.

Continuing to hold out hope.

That they were gonna
find the c-54.

So, for example, here's a story
from February 1st.

Out of whitehorse,
yukon territory,

Which is right around the first
of the main search areas,

That you had faint radio signals
on the distress band.

Which raised hopes that
this c-54 was going to turn up,

And there were
44 people on board,

So they really wanted
to find this plane.

[ Radio chatter ]

Ray: People could hear chatter
and people talking.

But not able to make out
what they were saying.

And it wasn't just in
one location.

It was scattered
around the area.

[ Radio chatter ]

♪♪

Gough: You can't pinpoint
where they're coming from.

Can you imagine
hearing these voices?

You're struggling to make out
what they're saying,

But it's too distorted.

It's too distant.

It's kind of human-sounding.
You recognize that.

But there's something
just wrong about it.

Imagine how eerie that
must have been for the people.

Who were picking this up.

♪♪

Narrator: The radio messages
continued to taunt the search teams.

For days after
the douglas' disappearance,

But gradually
they became more distant.

♪♪

Far-away voices,
magnetic anomalies...

This evidence has led
some experts.

To come up with
a startling idea.

One of the theories about
what happened to the douglas.

Is that it flew into a portal,

Which is a gateway
to another dimension.

Where time and space
are different from ours.

If you think for a moment
that this plane could have flown.

Into a vortex, into a portal,
then what you're faced with.

Is the possibility
that you're hearing sounds.

Coming back
from another dimension.

♪♪

Enoch:
Vortices are created by powerful.

Planetary
electromagnetic forces.

My theory about what could have
happened to the missing douglas.

Is that a portal
could have opened up.

That was powered
by the alaska triangle,

Causing it to travel
into another dimension,

Or another universe.

Somewhere out there
in the multiverse,

Causing it
to disappear altogether,

And I don't think
it will ever be found.

Narrator: Could those distant
garbled voices really have been.

Mayday calls
from the crew of the douglas.

Trapped in another dimension?

♪♪

The theory goes back
to the huge amount.

Of electromagnetism in the air.

♪♪

Mike ricksecker is
a paranormal investigator.

Who's been studying
the effects of electromagnetism.

For many years.

I'm really fascinated
about how the energy.

Is connected around the globe.

Because I believe that we all
as people are interconnected,

And we are connected
with the universe.

Narrator:
For mike, vortices are a part.

Of this interconnection.

Ricksecker: A vortex is energy
from the earth's core.

That has risen to the surface,

And it can affect
electronic equipment,

Which, if it swells up
into the air,

It can affect an airplane...

Throw it off course,
cause it to crash,

And there is even theories
about it.

Being swept up
into another dimension.

Narrator: So maybe a vortex
in the triangle.

Could cause planes to crash
and even to disappear.

But is there any real evidence
of a vortex?

The best comes not from planes,
but ships,

And from an area
far to the south.

Ricksecker: These vortices
can affect objects.

That are even larger,
like ships.

You hear about
these disappearances.

In the bermuda triangle.

And ships that have gone down
there are completely missing.

Narrator: The bermuda triangle
as a vortex?

One witness says that's exactly
what he encountered.

When making a routine flight
across these waters.

And his story might hold the key
to the missing douglas.

♪♪

♪♪

Narrator:
The alaska triangle...

A land of mystery and of danger.

Over 16,000 people
have gone missing.

It's a large, untapped landmass.

With all sorts of
strange anomalies and sightings.

I think what we're looking at
here is probably.

One of the most important
mysteries on the planet.

Narrator:
In January 1950,

Shortly after
a douglas c-54 vanished,

A massive air search
was launched to find the plane.

What's really interesting is,
three of those aircraft crashed.

[ Radio chatter ]

Nobody knows why they crashed.

It's still a mystery.

Narrator: And the douglas
has never been found.

Could it have flown
into a portal,

A wormhole in space and time?

♪♪

Evidence that
this might be the case.

Comes from the furthest point
in the u.S. From alaska...

Miami, florida.

♪♪

Bruce gernon has flown the skies
over miami for over 50 years,

But he's had one flying
experience unlike any other.

[ Thunder rumbles ]

I'm the only living person
to fly through a vortex.

Most people probably
can't believe it,

And I find it
hard to believe myself.

Narrator: Bruce's story begins
on December 4th, 1970,

When he was flying
on the southern edge.

Of the bermuda triangle.

Gernon: We took off right here
from andros at 3:00,

100 miles east of miami.

And this big horizontal tunnel
formed,

And when I entered
the mouth of it,

Something amazing happened.

Instantly these lines formed,

And they were rotating
counterclockwise very slowly.

I realized I was actually seeing
the fabric of space and time.

Narrator:
When bruce entered the vortex,

He was still far
to the east of miami,

But in just seconds, he found
himself flying above the city.

Gernon:
I was in this dull-gray fog.

And then went to bright blue,

And I could see below me,
and there it was...

The city of miami beach,
right below me.

♪♪

As soon as we touched down,
I checked my time,

And the flight had only taken
47 minutes.

That doesn't make sense.

I had made this flight at least
a dozen times previously,

And it always took
an hour and 20 minutes.

I had just witnessed something
that was incredible,

That I didn't quite understand,

But I knew I would
never forget about it.

When we landed, we would
always fill up the airplane.

And top it off.

Here's the actual
gas receipt here,

And it shows you the exact date,
November 4th, 1970.

And as you can see,
we only took on 29 gallons.

And I always would take
at least 40 gallons of fuel.

And it helps explain
that something incredible.

Really did happen.

♪♪

Narrator: If there is a vortex
in the bermuda triangle,

It could explain one of its
most famous incidents.

The story of flight 19...

This is a classic
bermuda triangle story.

Narrator:
English journalist jerry glover.

Has been looking into the facts
behind this famous event.

Flight 19 was a u.S. Air force
squadron, a training squadron.

It flew out from fort lauderdale
in florida.

In December 1945
on a bombing-practice run...

Five avenger airplanes,
40 men altogether.

They flew east,
and after several hours,

All transmissions
from them ceased,

And the flight
completely disappeared.

Just a few hours after this
in the early evening,

A boat plane with 13 men
was sent up in search of them.

That plane, too, disappeared
with no explanation at all.

Something like 300 boats
and planes.

Were sent out
in search of flight 19,

But no trace of them
was ever found.

The whole event has been
a mystery ever since.

Gough:
What happened to flight 19.

In the bermuda triangle
may never be explained,

But it goes to show that
in places like these,

Planes can completely disappear
and without a trace.

Even though the bermuda triangle.

Is much more well-known
around the world,

It's striking
that in recent years.

We have come to find out more.

About the existence
of a possible alaska triangle.

Due to the resemblance
between mysterious cases.

Of disappearances that have
taken place in that area.

These are all reminiscent of
famous bermuda triangle cases.

Narrator:
From the safety of the ground,

Bruce is looking at a simulation.

Of the douglas' flight
through a portal.

He's curious to know if it bears
any relation.

To his own experience.

Gernon: What I'm looking at here
is an animated video.

Of what maybe the douglas
experienced in alaska.

And it shows it flying through
the tunnel.

And looks very realistic.

It's starting to reach
the very end of the tunnel.

It's almost at the end now,

But it looks like it may have
just disappeared.

Before it reached the end.

This could be the same tunnel
that I flew through.

It's almost identical.
So who knows?

Maybe the same thing happened to
the douglas that happened to me.

Narrator:
Traveling through space and time.

Is now something that even nasa
has been investigating.

♪♪

In 2011, a nasa space probe
was launched.

Containing four
spinning gyroscopes.

♪♪

Over time, the axes drifted,

Enough to show that time
and space are woven together.

This went a long way
to confirming the science.

Behind space-time vortices.

Could the douglas craft
have flown into a portal,

And is a portal
part of the inherent mystery.

In the alaska triangle?

Narrator: If there was a portal
in the triangle,

It could explain more than just.

The disappearance
of the douglas.

It could explain the mystery
of the alaska triangle itself.

♪♪

♪♪

Narrator: Whether the douglas
vanished into a portal.

Or was abducted by ufos...

♪♪

The case of the missing douglas.

Remains open and unsolved.

This mystery has taunted
the u.S. Authorities.

Since the plane vanished
70 years ago.

Or could there be
some in authority.

Who know more
than they're letting on?

Ricksecker: There are a variety of
reasons as to why governments would be.

Willing to cover up the activity
that happens in locations.

Such as the alaska triangle.

You have all these planes
that go missing,

People that go missing,
there's possible e.T. Activity,

You know, and there is also
the electromagnetic activity.

Of the vortices
that they themselves.

May be trying to harness...

The tests and experiments
that they may be doing out there.

That they don't want
other people to know about.

There is a lack of information
being released.

About the incident of the
douglas aircraft disappearance.

Narrator: And this has led some
to suspect a conspiracy.

There's a deeper horror
behind some of these stories.

That they don't want people
to necessarily know.

Narrator:
But for now,

The answer to the puzzle
remains hidden.

This is what's called
an action copy.

It's just a standard conclusion.

To any investigation
that occurred in 1950.

This is the summation
of the search-and-rescue effort.

For the c-54,

And you can see that
on the 23rd of February, 1950,

The search for the missing
c-54 aircraft is discontinued.

To this day, the original c-54
has never been found.

85 aircraft, tens of thousands
of military personnel.

Searching
400,000 square miles...

Not a trace.

It's as if it vanished
into thin air.

♪♪

Narrator: There's clearly
more to the mystery.

Of the missing douglas
than meets the eye.

The alaska triangle doesn't
give up its secrets easily.

♪♪