Further Fuel for the Fire
Dave, I did a bit of work on this back in 80's & 90's, and came to no particular theory.but I notated the following, which may be able to be discounted by the better informed.(a) Did the aircraft have only a single generator (LH engine) as standard equipment. (b) There is a comment in one publication "KLM Engineers rectified a generator electrical problem in Batavia" (We all know how much load keying a HF puts on a system) (c) Numerous non radio equipped Bank Line phosphate vessels plied between Ocean Is and Aust/NZ around that time window (see British Phosphate Commission archives, Melbourne) (d) Re "ship in sight ahead" Nauru residents reported hearing an aircraft, Ocean Is. residents did not, on that night. (e) F.N. had trouble hearing time signals to set his chronometers at Lae (f) A poor understanding of radio wave propagation on the flight deck (g) and lastly somebody may be able to help me here, an eclipse of the sun occured around this time and area, I bought the entire National Geographic publications (CDs) for '37/38 but no mention of it therein.I have been unable to get info from theRoyal Observatory in Hawaii.
I do have a letter from a National kiap on an island south of Bonriki stating a Lapun recalled an aiircraft flying overhead at night before WW2. If it is credible, the location is on Finchaffen-Howland rhumb line. I wish you success.
Last edited by sundaun; 30th Jul 2009 at 18:50.