On December 5, 1945, five Navy torpedo bombers took off from Fort Lauderdale on a routine navigation exercise and never came back — the disappearance that launched the legend of the Bermuda Triangle. Partway through, the flight leader, Lt. Charles Taylor, radioed that both his compasses had failed: "I am sure I'm in the Keys but I don't know how far down and I don't know how to get to Fort Lauderdale."