Cazalet’s continued fixation that Patrol A1 saw the B-17
Cazalet says: “Some B-17 cowls were painted . Some were not, Some were half painted" ......and then shows us a picture of a fully painted B-17G with Drab Olive upper surfaces and Light Grey undersides which includes the engine cowlings.
I would hazard a guess that in 1942 when 41-2429 was lost that it was painted overall as per the last picture of it at Brisbane and I certainly saw the grey paint on the underside of what remained of the centre section wing when I saw it in 2000. There was no paint on the top surfaces. There is a photo on the Pacific Wrecks site showing 41-2429 at Brisbane in full camo.
I repeat… There are no outer wing panels or intermediate wing panels on this remnant of the B-17. There is no cockpit forward of the production joint, there is no tail section.
The fuselage of this B-17 points to the West, if anything slightly South-West.
What Patrol A1 saw:
My Point 1. Lieutenant Backhouse remembers the Stbd, outer part of the wing panel being bent upwards for about ten feet from the tip.
My Point 2. A sketch made by Lt. Backhouse shows the fuselage pointing to the East.
MY Point 3. Lt, Backhouse looked down into the cockpit area which was smashed backwards.
My Point 4. They were certainly climbing the hill where the B-17 rests but more to the East. If they had seen the B-17 they would still have been climbing after leaving that site because it is on the side of the hill, not on the top. In fact they report that after leaving the site where the engine and airframe were, “the going got easy” and was downhill.
My Point 5. Where we search is not in the vicinity of the B-17 it is a mile away from there.
The Sketch
That sketch you show was drawn by myself. It was sent to Keith Nurse for comment. My capital letters are at the RHS. My Dimension of 5’ (feet) is at the top. The rest of the writing was made by Keith Nurse. I have no idea where you got the idea that there was “very little of the cowl remaining”. Keith said the cowling was there but split open with the edges of the split being straight. He says “Burst open” as can be seen. Is that indicative of “very little of the cowl remained” ?
OH, I see what you are seeing…. You are thinking that I just drew the ”Outline” of the engine cowling because I made a depiction of the engine ‘inside’ together with the faint lines of a supposed engine mount… No, not so, in fact they reported that the sheet metal of the cowling had very little corrosion except for the front cowl ring which was heavily corroded.
“Sure, the guys hoped they had found Amelia Earhart”
None of them spoke of the thought that Earhart was involved with this wreck at all. Not then and not until Don Angwin saw the TV program that her aircraft was powered by Wasp engines.
It is a pity that none of them are alive today to answer you Cazalet.
Cazalet says: "Legends like that die hard, especially when people truly madly deeply want to believe the legend.".... "Truly, madly, deeply "!!! I think you've seen too many movies.
Cazalet….You have read the website ? Something tells me you have not.
Last edited by David Billings; 26th Feb 2018 at 23:40.