At 2:10 p.m., five U.S. Navy Avenger torpedo-bombers comprising
Flight 19 took off from the Ft. Lauderdale Naval Air Station in Florida
on a routine three-hour training mission. Flight 19 was scheduled to
take them due east for 120 miles, north for 73 miles, and then back
over a final 120-mile leg that would return them to the naval base.
They never returned.

Two hours after the flight began, the leader of the squadron, who
had been flying in the area for more than six months, reported that
his compass and back-up compass had failed and that his position
was unknown. The other planes experienced similar instrument malfunctions. Radio facilities on land were contacted to find the
location of the lost squadron, but none were successful. After two
more hours of confused messages from the fliers, a distorted radio transmission from the squadron leader was heard at 6:20 p.m., apparently calling for his men to prepare to ditch their aircraft simultaneously because of lack of fuel.

On the morning of July 31, 1975, James Riddle Hoffa, one of the most
influential American labor leaders of the 20th century, was officially
reported missing after he failed to return home the previous night. 

Though he is popularly believed to have been the victim of a Mafia hit,
conclusive evidence was never found and Hoffa’s fate remains a mystery.