All language subtitles for The.Bermuda.Triangle.Into.Cursed.Waters.S01E05.Alien.Abyss.1080p.AMZN.WEB-DL.DDP2.0.H.264-BurCyg_track3_[eng]

[dramatic music]

narrator: Tonight...
- Dive, dive, dive!

narrator:
On "The Bermuda Triangle:

Into Cursed Waters,"

two Air Force planes vanish.

- They actually disappeared
off the radar

at very high altitudes.

- No one knows what happened
to those aircrafts.

narrator:
Did they crash or collide

with some unexplained
phenomenon?

- Extremely fast.
Like Mach 4, Mach 5.

- Sensitive military equipment

picked up on something
zooming through the skies.

- On this particular night,
there were fast movers.

- The UAP threat is real.

narrator: How many planes
have been taken down?

- I hope you're sitting down.

- One disintegrated.

narrator:
The team dives for answers.

- The tail was missing.

It looked like someone took
a Ginsu knife to the aircraft.

And we realized
we don't know where Jim is.

We got one minute and then we
were going to abort the dive.

♪ ♪

We got a problem here.

♪ ♪

narrator: There is a place

that evokes fear
and fascination.

Bounded by Florida, Bermuda,
and Puerto Rico,

the Bermuda Triangle has
swallowed countless ships,

planes, and people.

But why?

♪ ♪

Now an elite team dives in.

- These are dangerous dives.

- Any sane person would
not be doing this.

narrator:
Their secret weapon--

a map decades in the making

which pinpoints
unidentified wrecks.

- There's all these
shipwrecks out there

in the Bermuda Triangle
that there's no names to.

- Dive, dive, dive.

narrator: The mission,

solve the mystery
of the Bermuda Triangle

one wreck at a time.

- Mother Nature is gonna
take these wrecks away,

and these mysteries are
never gonna be solved.

The clock is ticking.

♪ ♪

♪ ♪

- My passion is trying
to identify wrecks,

because you can unravel
this history.

It is coming, right?

♪ ♪

Once you can identify,
give its real name,

then you'll get
the real story.

You'll know the final chapter.

But there's still
a potential risk.

You have to be concerned
about everything.

Whether it be the weather,

the dive conditions,

and other potential threats.

You have to be aware
of that risk.

We have a new target,

Snowy Grouper Wreck.

narrator: Today,
marine biologist and explorer

Mike Barnette and his
team of elite divers

are investigating
a case where history

and science fiction
may collide,

called
the Snowy Grouper Wreck.

It's one of the targets
on Barnette's

closely-guarded map.

It's 45 miles off
the coast of Southern Florida

sitting at a depth that is
out of reach for most divers.

- It's about 360 foot water.

So it's a deep, deep dive.

So we gotta be in
our A game here.

I mean, the depth
in the current

usually is enough
to dissuade any--

- Who's gonna go dive that?

- Any sane person would
not be doing this.

- Diving out here is
like a box of chocolates.

You never know what
you're gonna get.

narrator: Like many
targets on Barnette's map,

he heard about the wreck
from a fisherman,

one who was fishing
for snowy grouper,

a fish found
in the western Atlantic.

- So from the fisherman that
gave us the intelligence,

all he knew was
there was a fairly

large structure on the bottom.

He didn't know what it was.

narrator: Whatever it was,
it kept cutting his nets.

- He hooked into a large fish.

And the line would cut off.

So he was trying
to figure out

what the structure was
on the bottom

that was so easily able
to cut his lines.

Very sharp wreckage.

So knowing that, there's most
likely metal in the bottom.

narrator:
Barnette knows of one type

of wreck that could do that,
and it's not from a ship.

- If it's an aircraft,
you have very sharp aluminum

consistent with
a lot of break offs.

Still in the heart
of the triangle,

and there's been a lot of
vessels and a lot of aircraft

in particular that have
gone missing in this area.

narrator:
The presence of aluminum

could provide a clue
to the real identity

of Snowy Grouper.

On August 28th, 1963,
two US Air Force Stratotankers

based out
of Homestead, Florida

are deep inside the triangle
on a mission.

Stratotankers are
like flying gas trunks

designed to deliver fuel
mid-air

to bombers and fighter planes.

Team member and retired
Air Force pilot, Jason Harris,

also flew
refueling aircraft

and has studied
what happened next.

[airplanes whoosh]

- You had one that was
flying at 36,000 feet,

and you had the
second aircraft

that was flying
at 35,500 feet.

So a 500 foot separation.

And then the next moment
they hit a low pressure system

in the Bermuda Triangle.

narrator:
Both tankers inexplicably

drop out of radio contact.

- We knew where
they were at,

and then the next moment
all contact was lost.

Those aircraft
were not recovered.

No one knows what happened
to those aircraft.

narrator: Dozens of planes and
ships are sent by the military

to search for the
missing refuelers,

but neither aircraft nor the
bodies of 11 crew members

are ever found.

♪ ♪

Barnette thinks
the Snowy Grouper Wreck

could be one
of the Stratotankers

or pieces of both.

♪ ♪

But nothing about this
360-foot dive will be simple.

At this depth,
the divers would normally

follow the anchor line
to the bottom,

but the current here
is too strong.

- Just too much drag on you.

You'll be tired
before you even get

halfway to the bottom.

You will be exerted from
just being just whipped.

narrator: Instead,
the divers will attempt

a far riskier maneuver
called dropping in.

♪ ♪

- So right now,
we have about

two and a half
to three knots of current.

We're basically
running over the site

to determine where our
drop point needs to be.

When we get in,
we're going to have to

go straight down
to the bottom.

If the current
lets up on the bottom,

we have a straight shot
to get to the wreck.

narrator: It's almost
like a free fall.

The diver can't
control their endpoint

or the strong current.

- It's akin to skydiving.

Jumping out a plane
not directly over the target,

but the wind is blowing you in
to your destination,

and you have to use
the current to your advantage.

narrator:
But misjudge the current,

and they'll miss the wreck.

- Things could go wrong at
any point in time on a dive,

and these are dangerous dives.

We're not talking about
200 or 300 feet.

These are another ballgame.

- [breathing]

narrator: The team breaths in
a gas mixture called a trimix.

- You can't use
normal compressed air,

because at depth,
these extreme pressures,

oxygen becomes toxic.

It'll kill you, and also
nitrogen is a narcotic.

It'll be debilitating you.

Makes you feel like
you are drunk almost.

So to combat those effects,
the toxicity as well

as the narcosis,
we displace both nitrogen

and oxygen with an inert gas.

In this case, helium.

narrator: Barnette and
his team, wreck specialist

Jimmy Gadomski, and underwater
photographer Evan Kovacs,

only have 20 minutes
of bottom time

before they must start
their two-hour ascent.

If they surface
too quickly,

they risk getting
decompression sickness,

also known as the bends.

- Every minute we exceed that,
we're gonna be adding

15 to 20 minutes
of decompression.

We don't wanna go
anything past that.

- Dive, dive, dive.

♪ ♪

- Divers under at 12:32.

The clock has started.

Now we wait and watch.

♪ ♪

- On a dive of this depth,
it took us about two minutes

to get to the bottom.

We actually have
diver propulsion vehicles

or scooters.

We basically have props,
and they pull us down.

narrator: As soon as they
reach the ocean floor,

their clock begins.

- But as we got
towards the bottom,

we realized visibility was
starting to close in on us.

It was getting
murkier and murkier.

- The vis is that bad
right now.

We could just barely
see each other.

It's dark.
It's murky.

I can't see anything.

I can't see my hand
in front of my face.

- And we're just seeing
10 to 15 feet

in front of us
with our lights.

It was almost
like a night dive.

It was so dark
on the bottom,

and we're just seeing
a sand wasteland.

narrator: The dive clock
continues to tick.

♪ ♪

- Spools of fish
came out to meet us.

You see fish, you're in
proximity to a wreck.

♪ ♪

narrator: Then...

they find
what they're looking for.

♪ ♪

The wreck is covered
in fishing nets

ripped by
its sharp surfaces

just like
the fishermen reported.

- So looked to be the
edge of the left wing,

and we saw two masses
that were the engines.

So indicates this is a large
aircraft, four engines.

But what kind of aircraft
it is, we don't know yet.

narrator: The plane's size
and multiple engines

are similar to the
missing Stratotankers,

but the murky darkness makes
a positive ID difficult.

- What was curious
about it,

just after the wing,

the fuselage and the tail
were missing.

It looked like someone took
a Ginsu knife to the aircraft.

♪ ♪

narrator: But then the dive
team encounters a problem.

- We were spreading out.

We find the wreck,
and I see lights behind me.

I see Evan, and I realize
Jimmy's not with him.

♪ ♪

narrator:
Barnette signals to Evan

that he's lost sight of Jimmy.

- I'm racing back and forth
like a mother hen

trying to get everyone
back together.

I go to the edge of the wing,
look up,

shining my light, flashing.

narrator: Barnette tries
signaling his dive partner,

but there's no response.

- We're flashing side to side.

We're just trying
to get their attention.

Flashing light draws
their attention that quicker.

I'm flashing.

I'm hoping he can see it,
but I see nothing.

♪ ♪

[dramatic music]

narrator: Mike Barnette
tries to remain calm

as he searches
for his diving partner,

Jimmy Gadomski.

The longer he's missing,
the more dangerous

the dive gets
for the entire team.

They've used up most of
their precious dive time.

- I made multiple trips
over several minutes

hoping that he eventually
worked his way towards us.

Now, I'm getting concerned,

so I'm constantly
zipping around.

narrator: They're attempting
to investigate

a mystery target
on Barnette's map

called
the Snowy Grouper Wreck,

360 feet below the surface
of the Bermuda Triangle.

- And we got one minute, and
we're going to have to abort

the dive and have to surface.

narrator: The divers must
make their two-hour ascent

as a group, or they could
potentially drift miles apart.

- If Jimmy decides to abort

and shoots a marker
to the surface,

the top side crew will think
everyone's all together.

They're not gonna know
for two hours

until Jimmy surfaces
that he's all alone.

The potential scenarios
that could unfold

if we don't reunite,
not a good one.

narrator:
Barnette's ultimate mission

may be to identify the wreck,

but Jimmy's safety
comes first.

- Now, one more time
off the wing

and into the edge
of the gloom.

I'm flashing.

I'm hoping he can see it,
but if he's not

looking the right direction
or he is too far away,

he's not gonna see that.

♪ ♪

And I finally see
Jimmy's light

working his way
back towards us.

- Trying to follow the line
down to the bottom,

and I lose them.

And they ended up getting
to the other side of the wreck

than I did.

- Jimmy got distracted,
got basically misled

by some debris
that's out in the sand,

and solely worked his way
back to the wreck site.

- Then I saw their lights on
the other side of the wreck,

and we ended up all looking up
on the bottom there.

- It wasn't until
I see Jimmy's lights

that I could breathe
a sigh of relief

and actually enjoy the dive.

♪ ♪

We lost about
half the dive time.

Your time is very finite.

narrator: The team
now has only minutes

to study the wreck.

- We saw a very large
aircraft, four engines,

the wings were intact,
and I also noticed

this DayGlo orange color,

which is a fairly
common pattern

used by the U.S. Air Force

for visibility
for refueling aircraft.

That led me to believe,

"This is potentially
a military aircraft."

narrator:
Unlike the back of the plane,

the front half appears
to be intact,

but the aircraft is so large

they're having trouble
exploring every detail.

- There's a door
over the wing that was open,

and then as we got
to the cockpit...

♪ ♪

narrator: Time's up.

♪ ♪

Two hours later...

♪ ♪

They reach the surface.

- [exhales]

It was kind of
stumbling around the dark,

trying to find this wreck.

Saw a large aircraft,

getting kinda excited
what this could be.

♪ ♪

narrator: Back on shore,
Jason Harris,

military historian
David O'Keefe,

and historical investigator
Wayne Abbott

join Barnette
to break down the footage

to see if there were clues
connecting it

to the two missing
Stratotankers.

- What is it right there
that we see?

- So we're seeing
some debris here.

We're on the periphery
of this aircraft.

Again, we see
the large fuselage.

- Civilian? Military?
Do we know?

- I would lend to believe
this is most likely military.

This is 40, 50 miles offshore.

There's a lot of military
training going on out here.

- So how long do you think
it's been down here?

That'll help us narrow down
the era that we're working on.

- This is a large aircraft.

I'm thinking it might
be post World War II.

Gives a vibe of maybe
the '50s into the '60s.

narrator: The wreck
is looking more and more

like Barnette's suspect,

one of the two military
refueling aircraft

or maybe parts of both.

- In August of 1963,

there were
two air refueling aircraft,

KC-135 Stratotankers.

They were on
a routine training mission

500 feet apart.

It was over
the Bermuda Triangle,

and they just disappeared.

Basically went missing.

narrator: As a pilot,
this mystery

is particularly meaningful
to Jason.

- When I look
at these stories,

I realize that this could
easily be me.

Every single time
that I strap on that aircraft

and go out to do my job,
it's possible

that I won't come back,
and my wife will have

to read a story about
how I perished.

No one has ever
found the wreckage

from these two aircrafts.

- Well, it certainly puts it
in our time zone,

somewhere between
the '40s and the '60s.

So they're up high for a reason
and two of them together.

- And you've never
found the tail.

- Never.

- If we see a tail number
or a data plate,

then that's gonna help us
to identify the airplane.

narrator:
Finding the tail

would be a key goal
on a return dive,

but there's
also another clue.

- We saw this one hatch
over the wing.

It was open.

- If an aircraft
goes down,

it's likely that
that hatch

would've not been open
prior to it going down.

narrator: When the
Stratotankers disappeared

in 1963, not only were
the two planes never found.

No bodies were found either.

So if the crew bailed out,
what happened to them?

- These doors
won't spontaneously

open on their own.
- No.

- I mean, this has to
be opened by someone.

So that kind of
is a tantalizing clue.

narrator:
With little else to go on,

poor visibility,
and limited bottom time,

the team agrees that
a follow-up dive is crucial.

In the meantime, Wayne
and David see a possible link

to one of the most
frequently reported anomalies

in the Bermuda Triangle--

unidentified aerial phenomena.

- UAPs and the military, it's
a huge news story right now.

I mean, there's been
so many disappearances

in the Triangle.

Like these two
Stratotankers just

disappeared off the radar.

- The Pentagon is now reporting
400 UFO encounters,

and they want to know
what's out there.

- And there's even a quote
from the chairman

of the counterintelligence
subcommittee

that actually says that UAPs

are potential
national security threat,

and they need to be
treated that way.

- And it's also one of
the most controversial,

because of course,
as soon as you mention

disappeared planes,
there's talk of UAP.

- And is there a connection

between the number of UAP
seen in the Bermuda Triangle

with the large disappearance
of planes?

You know,
bizarre anomalies in the sky

above the Bermuda Triangle
date back

to the voyages of Columbus.

He saw strange lights
moving above the ocean waters,

and these sightings
continue to this day.

narrator: The dangerously
close encounter between

a UAP and Navy pilots
from the USS "Roosevelt"

took place just
outside the triangle.

narrator: Since then, the
Pentagon has voiced concern

about mid-air collisions.

- With this recent release
of files by the Pentagon,

I mean, the UAP threat is real.

narrator:
If the wreck the divers found

is indeed one
of the missing Stratotankers,

could a UAP have gotten
dangerously close to them,

forcing them to crash

and thereby
slicing off the tail?

The Stratotankers
were heading toward

Homestead Air Force Base.

The base is on the corner
of the Bermuda Triangle

and is at the center
of a major UAP event

that was kept secret
for decades.

- Tonight you're hearing
the stories

of some Southwest Floridians

who've reported
close encounters

both in the military
stationed in South Florida

during the Cold War
with Russia.

They say America's
sensitive military equipment

picked up on something
zooming through the skies.

[birds cawing]

- This is an incredible story.

In all my years
of research,

I've never come across
this one.

narrator: Wayne is the team's
leading expert

on UAP activity
in the Triangle.

From his previous
investigations

into the phenomenon, he has
a vast network of contacts.

With David,
he heads over to meet

Kathleen Marden, an expert
with intimate knowledge

of the Homestead event.

- Kathleen, pleasure.

I think we're both
excited to talk to you.

- You as well.

narrator: Kathleen Marden
is a world-renowned

UAP researcher and author
who has interviewed

thousands of UAP witnesses.

One of her areas of interest
is military encounters

in and around
the Bermuda Triangle.

- For decades,
people like Kathleen

were hounding
the government to release

any kind of documentations
that dealt with UAPs and UFOs.

- High-level military
officials and scientists

for the government have stepped
forward with radar evidence.

They started taking nuclear
weapons silos offline.

narrator: David O'Keefe
and Wayne Abbott

are meeting with UAP expert,
Kathleen Marden.

They're investigating
the sudden disappearance

of two military Stratotankers
based out of Homestead

Air Force Base while they were
on a mission

over the Bermuda Triangle
in 1963.

The Homestead Base
was the site

of another strange incident

that occurred just
four years later.

Could there be a connection?

- So there's
one event we'd like

to chat with you about that
occurred on March 31st, 1967.

Happened in southern Florida
along the eastern seaboard.

- I've spoken
to military officers

who were in the radar tower
on this particular night.

There were fast movers
that came from the north

down the East Coast.

narrator: Military radar
stationed near the Triangle

immediately locked on
to the objects.

- They realized they were
unconventional in many ways.

They would disappear
from the radar screen.

narrator:
These fast-moving targets

were traveling
at incredible speeds

of Mach 4 to Mach 5.

- Suddenly,
one of these objects

left the group.

narrator: Radar tracked
the target moving rapidly

along the edge
of the Triangle.

- Four seconds later,
it knocked out the radar.

He said that the
gauges moved backwards.

♪ ♪

- After these contacts
disappeared, what happened?

- Military officers
came to the base

and collected
the canisters of film

pertaining to these
radar sighting.

They marked them top secret.

They said, "This incident
did not occur."

narrator: And it's not
the only case of UAPs

allegedly interfering with
military targets that month.

Two weeks earlier,

eyewitnesses reported UAPs
flying over

Malmstrom Air Force Base
in Montana,

allegedly turning off
the base's nuclear missiles.

And later that month,
Marden says

the American military
intercepts radio traffic

from two Cuban MiGs
in the middle

of a close encounter.

- The Cuban MiGs
were in pursuit of

an unidentified flying object.

One of them
simply disintegrated.

As far as I am aware,
we did not

have technology
that could simply

disintegrate a Cuban MiG.

We could shoot it down.

We couldn't disintegrate it.

- What could have brought
down a Cuban MiG traveling

at high speed and have it
just simply disintegrate

into thin air?

And there was no answers
to what or why.

narrator: As David and Wayne
continue to investigate UAPs,

Jason Harris has tracked down
an existing Stratotanker.

He wants to study
the plane's features

to help Barnette and Jimmy ID
the wreck on their next dive.

- Wanted to come out and take
a closer look

at an actual KC-135
Stratotanker.

It looks like
you guys have got

a phenomenal aircraft here.

- A model was ordered
in 1955, arrived in 1957,

the first operational year of
the KC-135 with the Air Force.

One of the most
distinctive features

are these jet engines
right here.

The first jet-power
tanker aircraft

was powered by the J57.

This allowed the tanker to
match speeds with the bombers

of the time,
the B47s, the B52s,

and have a much more
efficient and safe

fuel transfer operation.

- Four-engine jet aircraft.

But we've got this backside
where all the action happens.

- This is the business end
of the KC-135.

It's easily recognizable
because of that boom pod.

- I flew up against a KC-135.

And it's quite impressive
when you're sitting there

at the controls at 25,000
feet, 450 miles an hour,

you actually can see
the whites of the eyes

of that boom operator
as they're flying

this boom down to your aircraft
to make a connection.

And it's one of the
coolest experiences

that you could ever have.

The aircraft that we found,
interestingly enough,

were missing
the entire tail section.

- Oh, my.
- So if we were to find

a tail section,
what kind of elements

would we be looking for in
addition to the flying boom?

- One of the key things
on the tail

would be the tail numbers.

Once you have those numbers,
you can run those records.

narrator:
Finding the missing tail

is key to identifying

whether the wreck is one of
the missing Stratotankers

or whether it's a different
four-engined refueling plane.

- There was likely other
types of tankers in that era

when these first came online.

- Well,
the only other tankers

would be propeller-driven
tankers.

They were not jets.

- Do you have one of
those propeller-driven

tanker aircraft in your fleet?

- Well, down there
is the Stratofreighter.

narrator: As the team
continues to try to identify

the plane wreck they found
in the Bermuda Triangle,

Jason Harris learns
of a second refueling plane

housed at
the Castle Air Museum.

This model predated
the Stratotanker

and was dubbed
the Stratofreighter.

♪ ♪

- Looking at a genuine
vintage KC-97, all original.

This is built as a
propeller-driven aircraft,

and you can visually see
how it would be much slower

and fly much lower.

You look at this,
it's very bulbous.

Straight wing,
rounded, vertical fin,

bulbous nose on it.

Great visibility,
but not very aesthetic.

- The bulbous nose with a face
that only a mother could love.

♪ ♪

narrator: Another detail
catches Jason's eye,

a seam in the metal
of the plane's tail.

- The tail section was prone

to breaking off
when it ditched.

It was a weakness
in the design.

It's just my own
interpretation.

You probably had water
rush up into the tail,

and all that pressure just
snapped the tail section off.

- You know,
that's interesting,

because we're missing
a tail section of the aircraft

that we found on this dive.

narrator: On the surface,
the Stratofreighter

seems like another
possible match

for the wreck they found.

- When we go back down
for the next dive,

if we find the engines
of this aircraft,

then we can make
a definitive identification

as to what it is

because we'll know if we have
a propeller-driven engine

or a jet-driven engine.

♪ ♪

narrator: At the same time,
Wayne Abbott and David O'Keefe

continued to chase a possible
link between sightings of UAPs

in the Bermuda Triangle
and disappearing planes.

They've tracked down a
former intelligence operative

who's agreed to talk.

- Bob Hanyok worked for
the NSA for many, many years.

He was in signals intelligence,
electronic warfare,

and also he was
their historian.

So if there's anybody who's had
access to classified material,

it's Bob.

The reason we need you
here today

is because we're examining
various phenomenon

in the Bermuda Triangle.

- You have this
context of people

viewing government activities
as secret, conspiratorial.

So when an incident occurs
in the Bermuda Triangle,

the tendency is to view any
incident, a disappearance

of an aircraft, that
something strange is going on,

and the government isn't
telling us anything.

narrator: Bob Hanyok
doesn't believe

the fast moving
targets described

by Kathleen Marden were UAPs.

Instead, he thinks they were
a type of classified planes

so fast it was at times
mistaken for a UAP

even by the military,
the SR-71 spy plane,

also called the Blackbird.

- The SR-71 flew over
the United States,

and people would
see this

terribly fast object
in the sky.

This would've been
1965, 1966 period.

Three SR-71s were deployed
to an airbase in Florida

to test conditions that
were similar to Asia.

The humidity and so on.

narrator: The Blackbirds were
in Florida because its climate

mirrored Vietnam.

The planes would
later take part

in the ongoing Vietnam War.

- They could outrun
just about anything.

- How fast was fast?

- Mach 3.

Roughly 2,100 miles per hour.

narrator:
Despite its abilities,

the SR-71 had a problem.

Once it took off,
it quickly needed to refuel.

- So what kind of aircraft
were used to fuel the SR-71?

- It would have been
a specialized variant

of the KC-135 Stratotanker.

♪ ♪

narrator: The very same type
of refueling tanker

that went missing over
the Bermuda Triangle in 1963.

Is it possible the
Stratotankers crashed

while refueling
the Blackbirds stationed

in Florida on some
secret training mission?

If that's the case,

it challenges the UAP theory
and adds a new twist.

♪ ♪

- With the recent release
of files by the Pentagon,

I mean,
the UAP concern is real.

The government
truly believes

that they're a threat
to national security.

- That's what the
Bermuda Triangle's all about.

As soon as you say
Bermuda Triangle,

you think of aliens,
UAPs, things like that.

Now finally,
these declassifications

of formerly-classified
material

may actually get us
closer to the answer

than we've ever been before.

♪ ♪

narrator: Meanwhile,
following up on the clues

he saw at the
Castle Air Museum,

Jason has found something.

[line ringing]

- Hey, Jason.

- I hope you're sitting down.

Been doing a little
bit of digging,

and I came across
a very interesting article

about a KC-97 accident

that crashed
or it ditched in the ocean.

♪ ♪

What do you think?

- The position
sounds about right.

This is definitely
a lead we need to run down.

narrator:
A KC-97 Stratofreighter,

the older model of plane
Jason saw at the museum

went down in
the Bermuda Triangle in 1960,

three years before
the tankers went missing.

And that's not all.

- There were 14 crew members
on board.

When they ditched
this aircraft

into the Atlantic Ocean,

there were 11 survivors
of that accident.

- It's been, what?
60 something years.

But there's a chance that
that many survivors that

we could luck out
and find someone.

That'd be huge.

That personal narrative
would be invaluable.

narrator: Armed with
this new information,

they meet to discuss
the two theories.

- We have some good suspects.

- The Stratotankers from '63.

- And Stratofreighter
on March 30th, 1960.

- Are they jet engines?

Are they
propeller-driven engines?

- Definitely these
aircraft are different.

The KC-135 jet engines
versus props on the KC-97.

- So what's your
game plan then?

- So I think
getting down there,

analyze the wreck
in a little more detail.

I think we'll be able to narrow
down even more on second dive.

♪ ♪

narrator:
The next day,

it's back
to the Snowy Grouper Wreck.

- In about 20 minutes,
hopefully we'll be able

to find the wreck
and figure out

what we're dealing with.

- It's super exciting to be
able to put closure to some

of these stories and
to solve the mystery

of the Bermuda Triangle.

- Dive, dive, dive.

[dramatic music]

narrator:
With improved conditions,

Barnette and the dive team
are hoping to gather evidence

needed to ID
the wrecked military plane

they've discovered
at the bottom

of the Bermuda Triangle.

- Dive, dive, dive.

♪ ♪

- We dropped in about a 10th
of a mile south of the wreck.

♪ ♪

narrator:
As they reach the bottom,

the dive clock begins again.

- These sites are
always changing.

Storms and hurricanes
can collapse wrecks.

Fishing trawlers that come
through and snag on the wrecks

and rip parts
of the wreck away.

- The fish sometimes
will dig holes

along sides of the wrecks.

♪ ♪

narrator: One of their goals
is to find

the missing tail and
the identifying information

painted on it.

- The aft section
of the aircraft was missing.

It looks like a knife cut,
and the tail was gone.

- There is no tail section.

Big cut directly
down the middle.

♪ ♪

narrator:
The clock is ticking.

10 minutes already gone.

- We actually went out
in the sand expecting

to find the aft section
of the aircraft.

- [muffled speech]

♪ ♪

- But there's nothing.

♪ ♪

narrator: With no sign of the
tail and little time to spare,

they head back to the wreck
looking for new leads.

- I was just trying to make an
identification on the wreck.

So I was looking for
any identifiable features

on the plane itself.

narrator: But the seawater
has taken its toll.

- We see
the cylinder heads,

but all this piping work
has been eaten away

because it just is
similar metals.

Every screw head
and bolt head

might tell a story to someone

that really knows
these engines.

- It's very complicated trying
to fully identify a wreck

in the short time we have.

We're just divers.

We know
the larger-scale things,

not these fine-scale things.

♪ ♪

narrator: With only
five minutes remaining,

clues finally start
to surface that could

help the team
identify the wreck.

They already knew about
the emergency hatch

over the wing
being pushed out.

But as they reach
the front of the plane,

they find another opening.

- As we got to the cockpit,
which was totally intact,

we noticed one window
was kicked out

as if the crew was trying
to escape a sinking wreck.

Then seeing the nose
of the aircraft,

seeing that DayGlo orange,

seeing all the windows,

it's almost like
a figure eight bubble hole

on a fuselage.

That was unique.

narrator: It looks like a face
only a mother could love...

♪ ♪

But it's what the divers
find next

that offers
the biggest leads yet.

♪ ♪

- Looked like it had
some kind of engines

on the wings
that had props

connected to them
at one point in time.

♪ ♪

narrator: But time's up.

[alarm blaring]

The divers start
their ascent...

♪ ♪

Only to find
they have company.

♪ ♪

- Sharks were circling us
on this dive.

♪ ♪

- We had sharks that were
getting in our personal space.

They're wild animals.

They can have
unpredictable behavior.

So you can't take them
too lightly.

♪ ♪

It's the ones that get
a little too curious

that you have
to be concerned about.

You can't call a timeout.

When you got two hours
of decompression,

you're floating there.

You have to just deal with it.

narrator: Thankfully,
the team is not alone.

[dolphins clicking]

- We had this pod of dolphin
that came through,

and they basically pushed
the sharks away from us.

There's been cases of them
protecting downed airmen

or shipwreck survivors,

'cause they can actually
kill sharks very easily.

They can hit 'em
with their nose.

You know, ram 'em
at very high speed.

♪ ♪

narrator: Two hours later,
the divers reach the surface

without any bites
and plenty of evidence

to share with the team
back on land.

♪ ♪

[dramatic music]

narrator: Barnette
and the dive team

believe they've
finally documented

the proof to identify
the mystery tanker.

Now the rest
of the team weighs in.

- So last time
we talked to you,

we had a bunch of
puzzle pieces, right?

We had an escape hatch
that was blown out...

♪ ♪

And we also had
a panel in the cockpit

that seemed to be kicked out.

- Looking at all
the details,

you see that
it's a military aircraft.

It's a four-engine,
propeller-driven aircraft.

narrator: Everything points
to the third

missing tanker aircraft
that the team uncovered

late in their investigation.

- We were able to correlate

that this was
the Stratofreighter

from the accident
in March of 1916.

♪ ♪

We have all the features
on the wreck

that line up with
the accident report.

This is a KC-97
Stratofreighter.

- This is amazing.

- Well done, boys.

narrator: And then
an unexpected addition

to the story.

One of the Stratofreighter's
surviving crew

heard about the dive.

- I was quite
shocked and stunned

that an actual survivor
reached out to me.

He's saying,
"That's my aircraft."

[thunder booms]

narrator: Jason and Mike
jump at the chance

to fill in the missing parts
of the story.

- Have you ever had
a survivor actually

reach out to you based
on a video you've posted?

- No, first time.

- Marshall, hi.
- Barnette.

- Hi, nice to meet you.
- Nice to meet you.

narrator: Barnette
and Jason are meeting

with Marshall Taft.

- This is exciting.

narrator:
His 85-year-old father

was on the Stratofreighter
that ditched

off the coast of Florida
in 1960.

[thunder booming]

- It was a pretty scary night.

It was--
the plane was bouncing around.

There was lightning.

narrator: Joe Taft
is one of 11 who survived.

Sadly, three airmen did not.

After reaching out,
the elder Taft

has declined
to appear on camera,

instead letting his son
tell the story.

- The plane was just bouncing
all over the place.

He had never felt it
like that before.

He talked about looking out
the windows of the aircraft

and seeing wings
bouncing up and down

and basically flapping.

He called it like a duck wing.
- Oh, wow.

♪ ♪

- The hail punched the holes
in the oil tanks.

So all the oil drained out.

Two engines shut down,
and they had to ditch.

He might not make it back.

I can't even imagine
how terrifying that must be.

- You're now starting
a continuous descent down.

You're doing
1,000 feet a minute.

- It was quite the impact
hitting the water.

♪ ♪

He went out through
a hatch over the wing

and jumped off the
forward edge of the wing.

♪ ♪

- Seeing the escape hatch open

where Joe actually
evacuated the aircraft.

- Just, it's unbelievable.

How did your dad end up
being by himself?

- He inflated his
one-man life raft.

They were going to try
to tie 'em together.

But before they could get
together, he had drifted away.

So he was by himself.

♪ ♪

narrator: Finally, an oil
tanker comes to his rescue.

He's the last one saved,

but he's in dire need
of medical attention.

- And when he got in
the sick bay on the ship,

took off his flight suit,
and he said a lot of the skin

on his stomach and his legs
came off with his flight suit

because of the chemical burns.

- Wow.

narrator: One large
mystery remains.

What happened to the
back-end of Joe's plane?

- There may be something
you can clear up for us,

'cause when we first
dived the wreck,

Very intact,

but then just after the wing,
it's just like a knife cut,

and there's no tail.

Do you have any insight to
what happened to the aircraft

and why it's only
half of an aircraft?

- Dad talked about
how incredibly loud it was

when the plane hit the water,

the metal ripping and grinding.

The tail section broke off,
and it sank pretty quick.

- Usually, when I'm diving
an unidentified shipwreck,

once I identify it,
I feel my task is done.

But then your father
pulled me back into it.

I wanted to learn
about his experience,

and it's just been
an amazing journey.

- Oftentimes, we see
accidents and discoveries,

but there's nothing
that's very real about it.

- Mm-hmm.
- This one's real.

- Dad had told us various
things over the years,

but, you know,

I just always wanted
to know more.

What else is out there?

It feels way more complete now.

- I appreciate you
just taking this time

to share this with us, man.

Thank you for being willing
to just have this conversation,

'cause it means a lot.

♪ ♪

narrator: For our team
of investigators,

one mystery solved.

- It's another Bermuda Triangle
victim identified.

- I think that's the
biggest takeaway for me

is that we need
to act swiftly.

We need to get out to the sites
as quick as possible.

They're not gonna
last forever,

and it's erasing history.

And so it's a race against time
to answer these mysteries.

♪ ♪