C-change:
I tried Dick Smith about five years ago but he was too busy making jam. I don't know whether I actually got to him but I did get a response showing no interest, whoever it was from.
Smiling Monkey:
The search area is inland from Wide Bay at the southern end of the east coast of the Gazelle Peninsular. It's in that narrow neck of land 35 kms wide. In WWII the Australian Army drew the Bomb Line across there and anything that moved east of the bomb line drew some whistling things that come out of the air.
Chimbu:
The Bolam Theory has been proved to be hogwash. Bolam was known in a bank in NYC during WWII. The Catholic priest, Father James Francis Kelley was in dementia. Colonel Rollin Reineck who was a Navigator on B-29's at the end of WWII was passionate about the Bolam Theory and would never listen to the proof. His book has it that Earhart intended flying from Lae to Ni'hau Island at the western end of the Hawaiian chain (where there are no landing grounds) to sit it out for three weeks and then make a dramatic re-appearance.
Chimbu, I hope that you put that on pprune "tongue in cheek" !
While I'm here, a few words about the other theory that Earhart ended up on Nikumaroro Island (formerly Gardner Island) in the Phoenix Group..... The Theory is that Earhart reached a sunline through Howland Island but was south of Howland and flew down the line heading south until she reached Nikumaroro. Some bones found in 1940 started this one off....... ....think 1937, no navaids, zilch.
The theory has four flaws:
1. Noonan had to know his position in order to navigate from that known position to Gardner Island. He had to know where he was in Longitude and Latitude in order to steer a course to the island. It would be no good saying, "just steer SSE and we should hit something....."..... The theory
depends on the Electra being on a sunline which cuts through Howland Island but there is absolutely no evidence that they "actually" were at that sunline. The 1912GMT radio call "We
must be on you but cannot see you..." only says that Earhart
"thought" they were at Howland or very close to it (even in a lateral sense). In "thinking" they were there, that is not good enough. This points to a lack of true navigation. In other words, they were "unsure" of their position, ie: "Lost". To sum up, if Noonan was completely sure of his position in order to Navigate to Gardner, then "why" did he not say, "I know where I am, steer XXX degrees for Howland...", there would have been no need to go to Gardner.
2. If they took a stab (a chance) at finding "an" island to the South of their position, they are quite literally "INSANE". The Pacific is so large that they would have gone down literally "anywhere". Neither Earhart or Noonan were insane.
3. Earhart had stated to Gene Vidal, when asked what she would do if she could not find Howland: "I will turn back for the Gilbert Islands, find a place to put it down on the land, find a beach, or ditch close to shore." In the first attempt she made in March 1937, the plan had been to leave Hawaii with 900 USG of fuel and fly to Howland Island, a distance of 1900 miles. Her contingency was the same..."the Gilberts". Now, that means that 900 USG was enough for the 1900 miles HAWAII-HOWLAND plus another 600 miles, HOW-GILBERTS. That means 2500 miles on 900 USG. For the LAE-HOW flight she carried 1100 USG which then, was enough for 2556 + 600 miles = 3156 miles, at "Cruise" power. Why would she then, at the last minute, unsure of her position, change her mind and head for Gardner when she
was unsure of her position, instead of heading for the North-South spread of the Gilberts which extends for some 500 miles and is difficult to miss ? You cannot navigate from an "unknown" position to another "known" position, you have no means of navigating. Heading for the Gilberts would in certainty gaurantee a landfall.
4. The Hypothesis is on shaky ground in the fourth instance because it dismisses the fact that 11 Crewmen died in the wrecking of the S.S. Norwich City, a steamer plying on a Northern route across the Pacific which struck the reef edge and lodged there in 1928. Eleven crew died trying to reach shore in the shark-infested sea. Some were washed up on the beach and buried in shallow (coral) graves by the survivors. Bones found in 1940, undoubtedly came from these poor souls. Also, during WWII, some 30-odd US Navy men were based there at a LORAN station. Discarded bits and pieces from that Loran station litter the island.
I hope that I have given some more to think over. I did puit the website in my mail yesterday but a mod must have removed it. it's the usual prefix and suffix for a website with "electranewbritain" in the middle.
I'm off to PX at Port Morbid for a week tomorrow so if there are any questions or whatnot, just pm me or email me (email preferred) at the address on the website and I'll answer them, that's if the Gate WiFi is working !
Regards
Dave Billings
NOTE: Website is now:
www.earhartsearchpng.com