Amelia Earhart PNG Theory
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In response to Rog747
Rog,
We were unable to go in during 2010 due to my son sustaining injuries in a Mining accident from which he has since fully recovered.
We did go in last year, the whole team once in June/July where I had the misfortune to break my left arm while descending a steep incline. After it cured, I went back alone in August.
On these visits, the project had a portable Magnetometer which proved in the end to be no help as it gave scattered readings in a few places which could not possibly be the wreck. We know the wreck is in two main pieces, one the aircraft and the second the detached engine. I now suspect the hill is composed of iron ore. We did dig down at three "strike" locations but came down to firm clay which had been there since the dawn of time.
On my last visit in August some information came my way which said that the wreck is buried but no information as to exactly "where" and that it has been buried since around late 1996, early 1997. I will not say how we came across this information but this information now proves that we are in the correct area. We were not looking in this particular area at that time in '96 or '97 but were further to the West. We were then following the words of the Vets as to where they thought it was. This has proved to be not the case and the Vets were mistaken as to location. The WWII records made the picture clearer.
When the Australian War Memorial finished digitising the WWII records around the year 2000, I was then able to read the historical records and the actual SITREPS and gain more knowledge from the references contained in them. We then started looking in this latest area from around the year 2002. Since then we were in the area in 2004, 2006 and 2008 and saw nothing. We now know why.
I got this information about the wreck being buried in the last two days of my time there in August. I have long suspected it to be buried which was the reason I purchased the portable Magnetometer. On the last trip in, the last two days were spent scouting around in the area looking for "mounds" in likely places which fitted the description of the 1945 site as given by the ex-Lieutenant, Ken Backhouse. Where I looked at this area at this last time in, the site exactly fits with Ken's description.
The weather was very wet for the time of year and the local people say that the seasons have changed and June to September which were the drier months have now gone to the reverse. We had to move camp a couple of times due to the river rising in July and I had to move once in August.
The upshot now is that I have ordered a couple of Metal Detectors and we will be going again this year. I have firm commitments this year with my work which involves looking after aircraft on maintenance in SIN and am not available to go until around September time.
The lady in Los Angeles who is helping me with funding is shortly to put the Project into www.indiegogo.com which is a public funding website where a couple of dollars here and there mount up to assist projects like this.
So, the Project has ordered and paid for the Metal Detectors and we now await the raising of funding to be able to go again in September.
David Billings
We were unable to go in during 2010 due to my son sustaining injuries in a Mining accident from which he has since fully recovered.
We did go in last year, the whole team once in June/July where I had the misfortune to break my left arm while descending a steep incline. After it cured, I went back alone in August.
On these visits, the project had a portable Magnetometer which proved in the end to be no help as it gave scattered readings in a few places which could not possibly be the wreck. We know the wreck is in two main pieces, one the aircraft and the second the detached engine. I now suspect the hill is composed of iron ore. We did dig down at three "strike" locations but came down to firm clay which had been there since the dawn of time.
On my last visit in August some information came my way which said that the wreck is buried but no information as to exactly "where" and that it has been buried since around late 1996, early 1997. I will not say how we came across this information but this information now proves that we are in the correct area. We were not looking in this particular area at that time in '96 or '97 but were further to the West. We were then following the words of the Vets as to where they thought it was. This has proved to be not the case and the Vets were mistaken as to location. The WWII records made the picture clearer.
When the Australian War Memorial finished digitising the WWII records around the year 2000, I was then able to read the historical records and the actual SITREPS and gain more knowledge from the references contained in them. We then started looking in this latest area from around the year 2002. Since then we were in the area in 2004, 2006 and 2008 and saw nothing. We now know why.
I got this information about the wreck being buried in the last two days of my time there in August. I have long suspected it to be buried which was the reason I purchased the portable Magnetometer. On the last trip in, the last two days were spent scouting around in the area looking for "mounds" in likely places which fitted the description of the 1945 site as given by the ex-Lieutenant, Ken Backhouse. Where I looked at this area at this last time in, the site exactly fits with Ken's description.
The weather was very wet for the time of year and the local people say that the seasons have changed and June to September which were the drier months have now gone to the reverse. We had to move camp a couple of times due to the river rising in July and I had to move once in August.
The upshot now is that I have ordered a couple of Metal Detectors and we will be going again this year. I have firm commitments this year with my work which involves looking after aircraft on maintenance in SIN and am not available to go until around September time.
The lady in Los Angeles who is helping me with funding is shortly to put the Project into www.indiegogo.com which is a public funding website where a couple of dollars here and there mount up to assist projects like this.
So, the Project has ordered and paid for the Metal Detectors and we now await the raising of funding to be able to go again in September.
David Billings
Last edited by David Billings; 23rd May 2012 at 07:05.
I think I can say, those of us who follow your story closely naturally wish you and your supporters every good fortune, every devoutly wished for prospect of success, in your dogged search for the Lockheed. GO WELL DAVID.
. . . . and try not to stick your neck out .. . . . for were that to break .. !!!
We did go in last year, the whole team once in June/July where I had the misfortune to break my left arm while descending a steep incline. After it cured, I went back alone in August.
Last edited by Fantome; 24th May 2012 at 23:54.
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I'm glad that you have secured some funding to assist. A while back I suggested PayPal, however your method is a little more graceful.
Good luck and I'm sure we all wish you some serious success.
Good luck and I'm sure we all wish you some serious success.
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Hi David,
What are your thoughts on this?
EAA News - Cosmetic Jar Thought to Be Amelia Earhart's
They seem convinced.
I really do hope that you have success. A lot of research has gone into your theory.
What are your thoughts on this?
EAA News - Cosmetic Jar Thought to Be Amelia Earhart's
They seem convinced.
I really do hope that you have success. A lot of research has gone into your theory.
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The "freckle cream" jar...
VH-XXX
Oh Yes.... the "Freckle Cream" Jar....
Then there are: the bits of plexiglass, the size 10 shoe, the "Cats-Paw" heel, the metal box with a Consolidated Part No. on it, the ragged piece of aluminium with rivet holes in it, the jack-knife blade, the cigarette lighter, the so-named: "dado", the bronze bushes found in the old Carpenter's hut, the shard of human bone (or is it a shard of turtle bone ?), the piece of coprolite, the broken mirror and some pieces of something resembling face "rouge".
All circumstantial bits and pieces none of which can be said to have belonged to an Electra, a Pratt & Whitney S3H1 Wasp or to Earhart and Noonan.
Before TIGHAR got there to Nikumaroro and when it was named Gardner Island, there were the bones found there in 1940, examined by a British Doctor named Hoodless on Fiji and then said to be of a mixed-race male, 5 feet 6 inches tall. TIGHAR puts the measurements made by Dr. Hoodless, through a computer, the new result being that the bones belong to a Nordic female, five feet nine inches tall.... now who would that be ?
TIGHAR completely dismisses the thought and will not purposely mention, that 11 souls from the S.S. Norwich City were lost in 1929 when that ship ran aground on the reef there in atrocious weather and only four bodies were buried in the coral of the island. A later Survey Team visited the island in 1938 and recorded the beach as being littered with human bones.
Aircraft were lost in the Phoenix Group during WWII on Canton Island and on Sydney Island. Of those lost, one at least was a Consolidated Liberator B-24. If anyone has seen photographs of wrecks left on Pacific Islands, it will be realised that local people are metals hungry and will chop out pieces and utilise them for all sorts of things.
During WWII a LORAN Station was operating on Gardner Island and in attendance were some 20-odd U.S. Coast Guardsmen. They used the island for walks, had target practice sessions with the weapons they had and probably had BBQ's by the beaches with the fresh food flown in by Catalina aircraft landing and taking off at the lagoon. "Bored out of their brains", they would find anything different to do rather than stay in their accommodation building when not on duty. It was exactly the same for me when I was stationed on Labuan Island in 1960. I too used to go exploring that island, in many places which still had copious relics from WWII still there.
Who is to say the supposed "Freckle Cream" jar (incidentally, which is not yet proven as a "Dr. Berry's Freckle Cream" jar....) did not belong to one of those US Coast Guardsmen stationed on the island.... do men not get freckles ?
The now named Nikumaroro Island has been contaminated with European presence for well nigh nine decades and inter-island traffic by the local people would have brought items from the other islands as well.
TIGHAR has done good research on "what" they have found, but so far, none of it is related to the ill-fated Earhart and Noonan flight.
David Billings
www.earhartsearchpng.com
Oh Yes.... the "Freckle Cream" Jar....
Then there are: the bits of plexiglass, the size 10 shoe, the "Cats-Paw" heel, the metal box with a Consolidated Part No. on it, the ragged piece of aluminium with rivet holes in it, the jack-knife blade, the cigarette lighter, the so-named: "dado", the bronze bushes found in the old Carpenter's hut, the shard of human bone (or is it a shard of turtle bone ?), the piece of coprolite, the broken mirror and some pieces of something resembling face "rouge".
All circumstantial bits and pieces none of which can be said to have belonged to an Electra, a Pratt & Whitney S3H1 Wasp or to Earhart and Noonan.
Before TIGHAR got there to Nikumaroro and when it was named Gardner Island, there were the bones found there in 1940, examined by a British Doctor named Hoodless on Fiji and then said to be of a mixed-race male, 5 feet 6 inches tall. TIGHAR puts the measurements made by Dr. Hoodless, through a computer, the new result being that the bones belong to a Nordic female, five feet nine inches tall.... now who would that be ?
TIGHAR completely dismisses the thought and will not purposely mention, that 11 souls from the S.S. Norwich City were lost in 1929 when that ship ran aground on the reef there in atrocious weather and only four bodies were buried in the coral of the island. A later Survey Team visited the island in 1938 and recorded the beach as being littered with human bones.
Aircraft were lost in the Phoenix Group during WWII on Canton Island and on Sydney Island. Of those lost, one at least was a Consolidated Liberator B-24. If anyone has seen photographs of wrecks left on Pacific Islands, it will be realised that local people are metals hungry and will chop out pieces and utilise them for all sorts of things.
During WWII a LORAN Station was operating on Gardner Island and in attendance were some 20-odd U.S. Coast Guardsmen. They used the island for walks, had target practice sessions with the weapons they had and probably had BBQ's by the beaches with the fresh food flown in by Catalina aircraft landing and taking off at the lagoon. "Bored out of their brains", they would find anything different to do rather than stay in their accommodation building when not on duty. It was exactly the same for me when I was stationed on Labuan Island in 1960. I too used to go exploring that island, in many places which still had copious relics from WWII still there.
Who is to say the supposed "Freckle Cream" jar (incidentally, which is not yet proven as a "Dr. Berry's Freckle Cream" jar....) did not belong to one of those US Coast Guardsmen stationed on the island.... do men not get freckles ?
The now named Nikumaroro Island has been contaminated with European presence for well nigh nine decades and inter-island traffic by the local people would have brought items from the other islands as well.
TIGHAR has done good research on "what" they have found, but so far, none of it is related to the ill-fated Earhart and Noonan flight.
David Billings
www.earhartsearchpng.com
Last edited by David Billings; 5th Feb 2018 at 11:16.
Having flown the south and central Pacific regions in 737's in the period 1976 to 1990 I always marvelled at the sight of thousands of low altitude tiny cumulus clouds that invariably cast their shadow on the ocean below. You would swear there were atolls under each cloud because from 35,000 ft the cloud shadows could easily be mistaken for an atoll. Thousands of atolls in fact. It was by observing those cloud shadows I could understand how easy it would be for a desperately tired crew flying at 2-5000 feet to miss seeing one vital atoll.
My guess is the aircraft was forced to ditch as it ran out of fuel probably in an area of 50-80 miles surrounding its planned destination.
A similar thing happened in 1954 when an RAF Canberra bomber departed Momote airfield on Manus island north of New Guinea for the US base at Kwajalein in the Marshall Islands. Distance 1400 miles which would be around 3.5 hours in a Canberra. See the story in another Pprune forum.
In that incident the Canberra was in thick high level cloud and its radio compass failed. The crew were forced to descend earlier than planned in order to obtain a pin-point. They broke clear of low cloud at 1000 feet and were unable to find any trace of an island immediately. They were faced with ditching when an atoll was seen and short of fuel they successfully landed wheels down in the shallow water of a lagoon. It turned out they were off course and 90 miles short of Kwajalein. That was after four hours airborne whereas the Lockheed Electra would have been airborne closer to ten hours when fuel was exhausted.
My guess is the aircraft was forced to ditch as it ran out of fuel probably in an area of 50-80 miles surrounding its planned destination.
A similar thing happened in 1954 when an RAF Canberra bomber departed Momote airfield on Manus island north of New Guinea for the US base at Kwajalein in the Marshall Islands. Distance 1400 miles which would be around 3.5 hours in a Canberra. See the story in another Pprune forum.
In that incident the Canberra was in thick high level cloud and its radio compass failed. The crew were forced to descend earlier than planned in order to obtain a pin-point. They broke clear of low cloud at 1000 feet and were unable to find any trace of an island immediately. They were faced with ditching when an atoll was seen and short of fuel they successfully landed wheels down in the shallow water of a lagoon. It turned out they were off course and 90 miles short of Kwajalein. That was after four hours airborne whereas the Lockheed Electra would have been airborne closer to ten hours when fuel was exhausted.
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Your info.
Thank you for your post. I found it invaluable. I would like to know how I can get ahold of the tapes/video/transcripts of these videos.
I have used some of your text here (below).
https://www.facebook.com/IreneisAmelia?ref=hl
I have used some of your text here (below).
https://www.facebook.com/IreneisAmelia?ref=hl
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The Trailing Radio Antenna
I've read some of your posts and have a few questions. Can the report to and reply from the US Army Aid Corps be documented?
Same question for the Australian Army Patrol.
It really is absurd to think that Amelia would have continued to fly the 157-337 line. Circling to search for Howland Island for a while, might have made sense, but only until fuel got low enough to make returning unlikely.
But, if returning was the backup plan, everybody should have known it. And I've never heard a word about that until I came across this site.... What's up with that?
I have several books on Amelia and one says the long trailing antenna was damaged in the crash in Hawaii and not replaced. Another says she had it removed in Miami. I imagine if she had it at the time, she'd have used it? Perhaps that explains why she could not rdf Howland? It worked and brought her into Honolulu. It might also explain why the Itasca couldn't locate her?
Same question for the Australian Army Patrol.
It really is absurd to think that Amelia would have continued to fly the 157-337 line. Circling to search for Howland Island for a while, might have made sense, but only until fuel got low enough to make returning unlikely.
But, if returning was the backup plan, everybody should have known it. And I've never heard a word about that until I came across this site.... What's up with that?
I have several books on Amelia and one says the long trailing antenna was damaged in the crash in Hawaii and not replaced. Another says she had it removed in Miami. I imagine if she had it at the time, she'd have used it? Perhaps that explains why she could not rdf Howland? It worked and brought her into Honolulu. It might also explain why the Itasca couldn't locate her?
its reported the antenna was maybe ripped off on her last take off from Lae hence her not being able to receive tx back. (i think that's correct?)
from what i gather they did not exactly have a notified back-up plan...as such
it was assumed they would find howland and the ship...
but she said to Mr Vidal that she would turn back to try and hit the islands
if it all went wrong.
''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.
was it all rather jolly boys own stuff back then?
there is documentary and face-to face evidence of the ozzie patrols and their HQ reports plus a location map in new Britain of where the wreck thought to be her a/c was found in 1945, all of which is Dave billings's expeditions.
there is another threads going
http://www.pprune.org/aviation-histo...ane-found.html
http://www.pprune.org/non-airline-tr...rts-again.html
from what i gather they did not exactly have a notified back-up plan...as such
it was assumed they would find howland and the ship...
but she said to Mr Vidal that she would turn back to try and hit the islands
if it all went wrong.
''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.
was it all rather jolly boys own stuff back then?
there is documentary and face-to face evidence of the ozzie patrols and their HQ reports plus a location map in new Britain of where the wreck thought to be her a/c was found in 1945, all of which is Dave billings's expeditions.
there is another threads going
http://www.pprune.org/aviation-histo...ane-found.html
http://www.pprune.org/non-airline-tr...rts-again.html
Last edited by rog747; 7th Jun 2013 at 10:19.
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I'm convinced..
You don't have to convince me that it doesn't make any sense that they'd have no reason to continue to fly the line and end up near Gardner Island.
But when two authors of AE books (John Miklos & John Burke) say the 250' trailing antenna wasn't installed, why lather about it being damaged on takeoff from Lae? A few puffs of dust reported? That's absurd. We'll ignore the fact that their reports directly contradict each other.
David Billings says on a Warbirds forum that Amelia planned a 4,305 mile leg from Dakar to Aden. I don't know where he got that info? In any case, she didn't fly that. But if he's right about that, then she must have thought the Electra did have the range to make the return flight.
But then why didn't she drop onto one of the Gilbert's?
I think Mr. Billings efforts would be aided greatly if he could get the University of Wisconsin library to issue a statement confirming the information. And it would be aided even more if the USAF would confirm that the USAAC received the query and the TAG! And that they sent the reply.
Then maybe some of the funds being wasted on TIGHAR might flow to him!
But when two authors of AE books (John Miklos & John Burke) say the 250' trailing antenna wasn't installed, why lather about it being damaged on takeoff from Lae? A few puffs of dust reported? That's absurd. We'll ignore the fact that their reports directly contradict each other.
David Billings says on a Warbirds forum that Amelia planned a 4,305 mile leg from Dakar to Aden. I don't know where he got that info? In any case, she didn't fly that. But if he's right about that, then she must have thought the Electra did have the range to make the return flight.
But then why didn't she drop onto one of the Gilbert's?
I think Mr. Billings efforts would be aided greatly if he could get the University of Wisconsin library to issue a statement confirming the information. And it would be aided even more if the USAF would confirm that the USAAC received the query and the TAG! And that they sent the reply.
Then maybe some of the funds being wasted on TIGHAR might flow to him!
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earhart
Irene vs emelia. There is no way the two are the same. I am a hairdresser in the united states . Irene has very curly hair a deep wave over her right side, emelia has curly hair that goes down to form a bang she has a soft curl there is no way irene could wear her hair the way amelia did, it is not possible,curly hair is your part of your dna irene,s hair will always fall to the right this is a fact,you cannot change the way a person hair grows irene could never where a bang just my 2 cents elizabeth 79
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Earhart Search in PNG
For those that are interested in the latest effort in to locate an aircraft wreck seen in 1945 which could be Earhart & Noonan's Electra 10E please look at my new website:
www.earhartsearchpng.com
We will be going again in June this year.
Regards,
David Billings
For those that are interested in the latest effort in to locate an aircraft wreck seen in 1945 which could be Earhart & Noonan's Electra 10E please look at my new website:
www.earhartsearchpng.com
We will be going again in June this year.
Regards,
David Billings
Fabulous, fascinating 'forensics'...and then some
Lets hope that this time it all comes together for a successful conclusion.
All the very best for the search teams and Dave...its been a long haul.
Lets hope that this time it all comes together for a successful conclusion.
All the very best for the search teams and Dave...its been a long haul.
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Still a lot of Interest in the Search for Earhart and Noonan
Earhart & Noonan in Papua New Guinea Theory
I have been keeping a glass eye on this thread for the past week.... 350 views so far today and a total of 2650 views in one week.... That shows a lot of interest in an eighty-year-old mystery.
I "re-discovered" this thread one week ago and decided to enliven it with the new website address.
Some things have changed in my appraisal or in my thinking about the Earhart "Last Flight" as to the detail but the story basically has not changed. The Australian Army Patrol A1 commencing on the 15th April 1945 did find an all-metal unpainted twin-engined aircraft with Pratt & Whitney Wasp engines, that is the fact. The "how" of how that aircraft, which, from the evidence is the missing Electra, got to be there remains to be seen. Whatever the aircraft is, be it the Electra or something else, my pragmatic view is that it has to be found, because if it is not the Electra, then it will be removed from the possibles list. For me, I consider it is the Electra.
If it is the Electra, and I consider that it is, then it is a complete answer to where Earhart and Noonan ended their lives and we can start to unravel the whys and wherefores from there. The aircraft clock would be my first target in that case....
To catch up on a few questions asked within this thread:
"Was there a plan to fly DAKAR-ADEN direct ?"
Yes, there was. Earhart engaged ex-USN Commander Clarence Williams to prepare a series of strip maps for her, which encompassed all the proposed sectors which she had planned to fly on the RTW flight. The strip maps were made out as per great circle flights taking into account the Earth's magnetic changes and, for instance, the LAE-HOWLAND flight shows adjustments of magnetic course at around every four hours as the change in Magnetic Variation went from 6 degrees to near 10 degrees. The outbound Magnetic steer is shown as well as an inbound steer in case the flight was conducted for either "Eastbound" or "Westbound"'
All the strip maps were produced for NIL Wind conditions and for a Groundspeed of 150 Statute Miles per hour. This then moves anyone researching the Earhart flights to consider that all that Earhart had to do, was to convert the G/S to a forecast actual G/S by deducting a forecast headwind or adding a forecast tailwind or vectoring the value for whatever wind was forecast.
The DAKAR-ADEN Strip map shows a flight of 28 Hours and 40 Minutes for the 4307 Statute Miles of the distance (28.66r x 150 = 4300).
The LAE-HOW strip map in similar vein, shows 17 Hours and 01 minutes for the 2556 Statute miles of the distance (2556 / 150 = 17.04 hours). In this case, as Earhart received a forecast of 12-15 mph wind as a headwind, she deducted 12 from 150, divided 2556 by 138 and came out with 18.52 hours or 18 Hours and 31 Minutes. To people who asked she said that the flight would take over 18 hours. Logic says that if she had considered that she should take the worst case of a 15 mph headwind then she really would have been better saying "Nearly19 hours" ( 2556 / 135 = 18.93 hours), but she didn't say that. In the event the wind turned out to be worse still.
We are looking for a range of about 4170 miles into a headwind and returning with a tailwind. In the website I speak of a return path back to NUKUMANU Atoll and thence onward towards New Britain passing overhead Mortlock Island (T'au Group) and Carteret Reef and if that line is continued to the West, it does actually make landfall on New Britain at Wide Bay and pass over the area where we have been searching since 1994.
LIttle Sammy says:
"I've read some of your posts and have a few questions. Can the report to and reply from the US Army Air Corps be documented?"
I do suppose that the find was documented and went in signal traffic within the Australian Army from 13 Brigade HQ to 5th Division and from there by signal to the American Army. However, at Jaquinot Bay there was an entire Company of the American Army Regiment called the 594th EB&SR (Engineer, Boat and Shore Regiment) which had about 12 Officers and 100 or so enlisted men running 30 odd Landing Craft and assorted boats. There was an Australian Officer attached to this American Unit as a Liaison Officer and his chain of command was direct from 5th Division. As I see it, any notification of what was thought to be an "American" aircraft down in the jungle would be brought to this Officers attention to be passed on to the American Unit. Hence, we had the story of the two U.S. Army Officers visiting "D" Company of the 11th Battalion A.I.F. to speak to Lt. Backhouse but he was out on Patrol again and they left. I discuss this fully in the website.
The other companies of the 594th EB&SR were at Hollandia (now Jayapura), preparing for the Philippines and the administrative control of the company at Jaquinot Bay was handed over to another EB&SR Regiment in the Western Pacific, so we have two HQ Groups Records to go through. I have one member in our group who has searched some NARA Records in WAS but nothing found to date.
"Same question for the Australian Army Patrol."
There is a missing record (listed on the map edge) which we cannot find in the Australian War Memorial and it is numbered "63A". The "A" denotes it as an annex report and so far it has eluded us. Two personal visits to Canberra and one Professional Researcher visit have failed to produce it. As an "Annex" report it probably did detail extraneous subjects of Patrol A1, like the find of an all-metal twin-engined aircraft....
"It really is absurd to think that Amelia would have continued to fly the 157-337 line. Circling to search for Howland Island for a while, might have made sense, but only until fuel got low enough to make returning unlikely."
I agree where some do not. A square search was likely but on what was heard, this did not happen. Earhart transmitted "On the line 157-337..." only. The Contingency Plan is discussed in the website at Part 7., and is as told to me by researcher Ron Bright of Washington State, as he was involved.
"But, if returning was the backup plan, everybody should have known it. And I've never heard a word about that until I came across this site.... What's up with that?"
Earhart was to put it mildly, "secretive" and didn't discuss a lot of her plans with people, many were left in the dark, that was just her modus operandi.
"I have several books on Amelia and one says the long trailing antenna was damaged in the crash in Hawaii and not replaced. Another says she had it removed in Miami. I imagine if she had it at the time, she'd have used it? Perhaps that explains why she could not rdf Howland? It worked and brought her into Honolulu. It might also explain why the Itasca couldn't locate her?"
The trailing antenna was for Tx on 500 Kcs and so that she could contact shipping and ground stations over long ranges "if" she so desired. The website has a notation about the lack of communication possible between Earhart and the ONTARIO stationed roughly at the half-way point of the LAE-HOW flight, the Electra had HF Radio and the Ontario had LF Radio and the pair of them could not communicate...
The Trailing antenna according to reports was removed at Miami. RDF or "DF" was another matter, her Loop antenna was there for DF but again, another hitch when she asked ITASCA to TX on a frequency (7500Kcs) which was not correct... "But", she did hear letter "A's"' by listening on her DF Loop aerial. Perhaps she was just too far away from Itasca to receive a strong enough signal to obtain the null she desperately needed. Itasca had not been asked in advance to provide bearings and this took them unawares.
I am really glad I unzipped this thread because 2650 views in a week and a big spike in the website statistics means that there is still a lot of interest out there in the Earhart Mystery and in the solving of it.
When I speak to people about the revelation that came in 2016 when my memory kicked in about the house-block sized "bare patch" where a bulldozer had been working and which I saw in 1996 and which I now suppose could well be the burial site.... People are incredulous as to think that someone buried the aircraft wreck "on purpose". Well, incredulous or not, we are dealing with some people in PNG who have distinct tribal instincts. There has been a simmering land dispute in this area and the bulldozer driver was not from the local area but was from one of the tribes in the dispute and he was not in the claimants camp. We are friends with the claimants and therefore in the opponents eyes we are "with" the claimants. Ergo: "Bury it". The locals there have called the burial "Tribal Jealousy". People here in Australia (or anywhere else) who cannot visualise that, have never been to PNG...
To Wes: Yes, Wes... we'll be safe when we get there (God and Air Niugini willing that is). Thanks for the thought.
To LKinnon and aroa: Thanks for your good wishes.
Regards,
David Billings
www.earhartsearchpng.com
I have been keeping a glass eye on this thread for the past week.... 350 views so far today and a total of 2650 views in one week.... That shows a lot of interest in an eighty-year-old mystery.
I "re-discovered" this thread one week ago and decided to enliven it with the new website address.
Some things have changed in my appraisal or in my thinking about the Earhart "Last Flight" as to the detail but the story basically has not changed. The Australian Army Patrol A1 commencing on the 15th April 1945 did find an all-metal unpainted twin-engined aircraft with Pratt & Whitney Wasp engines, that is the fact. The "how" of how that aircraft, which, from the evidence is the missing Electra, got to be there remains to be seen. Whatever the aircraft is, be it the Electra or something else, my pragmatic view is that it has to be found, because if it is not the Electra, then it will be removed from the possibles list. For me, I consider it is the Electra.
If it is the Electra, and I consider that it is, then it is a complete answer to where Earhart and Noonan ended their lives and we can start to unravel the whys and wherefores from there. The aircraft clock would be my first target in that case....
To catch up on a few questions asked within this thread:
"Was there a plan to fly DAKAR-ADEN direct ?"
Yes, there was. Earhart engaged ex-USN Commander Clarence Williams to prepare a series of strip maps for her, which encompassed all the proposed sectors which she had planned to fly on the RTW flight. The strip maps were made out as per great circle flights taking into account the Earth's magnetic changes and, for instance, the LAE-HOWLAND flight shows adjustments of magnetic course at around every four hours as the change in Magnetic Variation went from 6 degrees to near 10 degrees. The outbound Magnetic steer is shown as well as an inbound steer in case the flight was conducted for either "Eastbound" or "Westbound"'
All the strip maps were produced for NIL Wind conditions and for a Groundspeed of 150 Statute Miles per hour. This then moves anyone researching the Earhart flights to consider that all that Earhart had to do, was to convert the G/S to a forecast actual G/S by deducting a forecast headwind or adding a forecast tailwind or vectoring the value for whatever wind was forecast.
The DAKAR-ADEN Strip map shows a flight of 28 Hours and 40 Minutes for the 4307 Statute Miles of the distance (28.66r x 150 = 4300).
The LAE-HOW strip map in similar vein, shows 17 Hours and 01 minutes for the 2556 Statute miles of the distance (2556 / 150 = 17.04 hours). In this case, as Earhart received a forecast of 12-15 mph wind as a headwind, she deducted 12 from 150, divided 2556 by 138 and came out with 18.52 hours or 18 Hours and 31 Minutes. To people who asked she said that the flight would take over 18 hours. Logic says that if she had considered that she should take the worst case of a 15 mph headwind then she really would have been better saying "Nearly19 hours" ( 2556 / 135 = 18.93 hours), but she didn't say that. In the event the wind turned out to be worse still.
We are looking for a range of about 4170 miles into a headwind and returning with a tailwind. In the website I speak of a return path back to NUKUMANU Atoll and thence onward towards New Britain passing overhead Mortlock Island (T'au Group) and Carteret Reef and if that line is continued to the West, it does actually make landfall on New Britain at Wide Bay and pass over the area where we have been searching since 1994.
LIttle Sammy says:
"I've read some of your posts and have a few questions. Can the report to and reply from the US Army Air Corps be documented?"
I do suppose that the find was documented and went in signal traffic within the Australian Army from 13 Brigade HQ to 5th Division and from there by signal to the American Army. However, at Jaquinot Bay there was an entire Company of the American Army Regiment called the 594th EB&SR (Engineer, Boat and Shore Regiment) which had about 12 Officers and 100 or so enlisted men running 30 odd Landing Craft and assorted boats. There was an Australian Officer attached to this American Unit as a Liaison Officer and his chain of command was direct from 5th Division. As I see it, any notification of what was thought to be an "American" aircraft down in the jungle would be brought to this Officers attention to be passed on to the American Unit. Hence, we had the story of the two U.S. Army Officers visiting "D" Company of the 11th Battalion A.I.F. to speak to Lt. Backhouse but he was out on Patrol again and they left. I discuss this fully in the website.
The other companies of the 594th EB&SR were at Hollandia (now Jayapura), preparing for the Philippines and the administrative control of the company at Jaquinot Bay was handed over to another EB&SR Regiment in the Western Pacific, so we have two HQ Groups Records to go through. I have one member in our group who has searched some NARA Records in WAS but nothing found to date.
"Same question for the Australian Army Patrol."
There is a missing record (listed on the map edge) which we cannot find in the Australian War Memorial and it is numbered "63A". The "A" denotes it as an annex report and so far it has eluded us. Two personal visits to Canberra and one Professional Researcher visit have failed to produce it. As an "Annex" report it probably did detail extraneous subjects of Patrol A1, like the find of an all-metal twin-engined aircraft....
"It really is absurd to think that Amelia would have continued to fly the 157-337 line. Circling to search for Howland Island for a while, might have made sense, but only until fuel got low enough to make returning unlikely."
I agree where some do not. A square search was likely but on what was heard, this did not happen. Earhart transmitted "On the line 157-337..." only. The Contingency Plan is discussed in the website at Part 7., and is as told to me by researcher Ron Bright of Washington State, as he was involved.
"But, if returning was the backup plan, everybody should have known it. And I've never heard a word about that until I came across this site.... What's up with that?"
Earhart was to put it mildly, "secretive" and didn't discuss a lot of her plans with people, many were left in the dark, that was just her modus operandi.
"I have several books on Amelia and one says the long trailing antenna was damaged in the crash in Hawaii and not replaced. Another says she had it removed in Miami. I imagine if she had it at the time, she'd have used it? Perhaps that explains why she could not rdf Howland? It worked and brought her into Honolulu. It might also explain why the Itasca couldn't locate her?"
The trailing antenna was for Tx on 500 Kcs and so that she could contact shipping and ground stations over long ranges "if" she so desired. The website has a notation about the lack of communication possible between Earhart and the ONTARIO stationed roughly at the half-way point of the LAE-HOW flight, the Electra had HF Radio and the Ontario had LF Radio and the pair of them could not communicate...
The Trailing antenna according to reports was removed at Miami. RDF or "DF" was another matter, her Loop antenna was there for DF but again, another hitch when she asked ITASCA to TX on a frequency (7500Kcs) which was not correct... "But", she did hear letter "A's"' by listening on her DF Loop aerial. Perhaps she was just too far away from Itasca to receive a strong enough signal to obtain the null she desperately needed. Itasca had not been asked in advance to provide bearings and this took them unawares.
I am really glad I unzipped this thread because 2650 views in a week and a big spike in the website statistics means that there is still a lot of interest out there in the Earhart Mystery and in the solving of it.
When I speak to people about the revelation that came in 2016 when my memory kicked in about the house-block sized "bare patch" where a bulldozer had been working and which I saw in 1996 and which I now suppose could well be the burial site.... People are incredulous as to think that someone buried the aircraft wreck "on purpose". Well, incredulous or not, we are dealing with some people in PNG who have distinct tribal instincts. There has been a simmering land dispute in this area and the bulldozer driver was not from the local area but was from one of the tribes in the dispute and he was not in the claimants camp. We are friends with the claimants and therefore in the opponents eyes we are "with" the claimants. Ergo: "Bury it". The locals there have called the burial "Tribal Jealousy". People here in Australia (or anywhere else) who cannot visualise that, have never been to PNG...
To Wes: Yes, Wes... we'll be safe when we get there (God and Air Niugini willing that is). Thanks for the thought.
To LKinnon and aroa: Thanks for your good wishes.
Regards,
David Billings
www.earhartsearchpng.com
Last edited by David Billings; 25th Feb 2018 at 12:26.
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Earhart Search PNG - 2018
LiDAR Survey - 2018
We now look very likely to be in receipt of a LiDAR report will give us a picture of the Search Target Hill without the tree cover.
LiDAR is marvellous stuff and we have gone completely off the idea of magnetometer work in favour of LiDAR.
We will be able to see where the bulldozer made tracks and where it has been working on the hill, all over the hull..... but more importantly we should be able to see any ground disturbance which has altered the natural slope or contour of the hill.
I am still looking for funding to help us pay our way to be able to go again in June and on the website there is a PayPal button. If those that wished for a PayPal button could contribute a little of what they can afford, I will be thankful for that.
"Every little bit helps..."
David Billings
www.earhartsearchpng.com
We now look very likely to be in receipt of a LiDAR report will give us a picture of the Search Target Hill without the tree cover.
LiDAR is marvellous stuff and we have gone completely off the idea of magnetometer work in favour of LiDAR.
We will be able to see where the bulldozer made tracks and where it has been working on the hill, all over the hull..... but more importantly we should be able to see any ground disturbance which has altered the natural slope or contour of the hill.
I am still looking for funding to help us pay our way to be able to go again in June and on the website there is a PayPal button. If those that wished for a PayPal button could contribute a little of what they can afford, I will be thankful for that.
"Every little bit helps..."
David Billings
www.earhartsearchpng.com
Last edited by David Billings; 5th Feb 2018 at 11:18.
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Significance of "S3H1"
Readers of this thread may be wondering why I have spent some 24 years on this project and have visited the jungle multiple times in search of the wreck seen in 1945 by members of an Australian Army Patrol… The veterans from that patrol were convinced that what they saw had been in the jungle for quite a few years. No military insignia was seen.
There are still many WWII aircraft which are missing in New Guinea now known as Papua New Guinea. Occasionally one of these missing WWII aircraft is found by the local people and notified to the authorities, These missing aircraft are mainly found by logging personnel or by local people out hunting game. Of late these missing aircraft are regarded as something from the past and the importance of reporting them in has diminished somewhat and sometimes, the owners of the land will now ask for money before they will lead researchers to them.
In the case of the aircraft wreck we seek, besides the WWII Patrol members who saw wreckage, only one local man has reported seeing it and he was the same man who it has been told to me, buried it with the help of the bulldozer he was using to make tracks through the forest. I have explained the tribal reason as to why he did that.
Our main evidence of the identity of the aircraft we seek, is that we have a WWII map used by the patrol which has indelible pencilled writing on the lower border of the map. The writing carried the Patrol “A1” identifier, tying the details of SITREPS (Situation Reports) to the actual patrol carried out. The writing also carries a reference “Ref: 600 H/P S3H1 C/N1055, 24/5/45”
The date in the reference was when the men of “D” Company 11th Battalion AIF, were waiting for a barge to take them up to the Unamitki River, where Japanese Troops had been reported. It is nearly five weeks after Patrol A1 was completed. An Officer from 13 Brigade HQ told the men that the U.S. Army had replied to their report of the find of a Pratt & Whitney engine in the jungle and he said, “The U.S. Army (which included the Army Air Force) have told us that the engine you saw is not one of theirs. It is a Wasp engine and they say it could possibly be from a Lockheed as Lockheed are big users of Pratt & Whitney engines.”
My attention was rivetted to the 600 H/P S3H1 C/N 1055.
A 600 Horsepower engine in WWII would be considered a “low power” engine. Most of the some 2000 U.S. Army aircraft (at one time) that were based in New Guinea during WWII were powered by engines which were anywhere in the 1200 to 2000 Horsepower or over range in power and it would be unusual for a 600 H.P. engine to be within 40 miles of Rabaul during WWII.
The rarity of S3H1 being mentioned on the map, as a "Civil" engine or "Commercial" engine as against an AN-1 "Military" engine demonstrates that this engine should not be there because there were no S3H1's in the region of New Guinea before or during WWII except for Earhart’s engines and she was supposedly lost in the Pacific. If the map had “600 H/P AN-1 C/N 1055”, I would be "interested " but not so certain that it is hers, that’s the point.
The C/N1055 is definitely the Construction Number of Earhart’s aircraft, without any doubt. Her Model 10E was the 55th Model 10 built, hence “1055”.
If we even forgot that the writing includes the “C/N1055”, the very fact of a "rare" S3H1 being there and found in WWII is very strange for a Civilian engine lost there would have come from a missing Civilian aircraft and there were no Civilian aircraft powered by two S3H1’s in New Guinea before or during WWII other than Earhart’s Electra model 10E.
The U.S. Army took a look at what they had and said, "Not one of ours" points to them seeing "S3H1" and recognising it as a Pratt & Whitney “Civil” engine. For if the U.S. Army had really thought about that there might very well have been a light bulb moment…. "Hey, hang on a minute there... wait a minute..." But... there was a war going on and it got overlooked.
David Billings
www.earhartsearchpng.com
There are still many WWII aircraft which are missing in New Guinea now known as Papua New Guinea. Occasionally one of these missing WWII aircraft is found by the local people and notified to the authorities, These missing aircraft are mainly found by logging personnel or by local people out hunting game. Of late these missing aircraft are regarded as something from the past and the importance of reporting them in has diminished somewhat and sometimes, the owners of the land will now ask for money before they will lead researchers to them.
In the case of the aircraft wreck we seek, besides the WWII Patrol members who saw wreckage, only one local man has reported seeing it and he was the same man who it has been told to me, buried it with the help of the bulldozer he was using to make tracks through the forest. I have explained the tribal reason as to why he did that.
Our main evidence of the identity of the aircraft we seek, is that we have a WWII map used by the patrol which has indelible pencilled writing on the lower border of the map. The writing carried the Patrol “A1” identifier, tying the details of SITREPS (Situation Reports) to the actual patrol carried out. The writing also carries a reference “Ref: 600 H/P S3H1 C/N1055, 24/5/45”
The date in the reference was when the men of “D” Company 11th Battalion AIF, were waiting for a barge to take them up to the Unamitki River, where Japanese Troops had been reported. It is nearly five weeks after Patrol A1 was completed. An Officer from 13 Brigade HQ told the men that the U.S. Army had replied to their report of the find of a Pratt & Whitney engine in the jungle and he said, “The U.S. Army (which included the Army Air Force) have told us that the engine you saw is not one of theirs. It is a Wasp engine and they say it could possibly be from a Lockheed as Lockheed are big users of Pratt & Whitney engines.”
My attention was rivetted to the 600 H/P S3H1 C/N 1055.
A 600 Horsepower engine in WWII would be considered a “low power” engine. Most of the some 2000 U.S. Army aircraft (at one time) that were based in New Guinea during WWII were powered by engines which were anywhere in the 1200 to 2000 Horsepower or over range in power and it would be unusual for a 600 H.P. engine to be within 40 miles of Rabaul during WWII.
The rarity of S3H1 being mentioned on the map, as a "Civil" engine or "Commercial" engine as against an AN-1 "Military" engine demonstrates that this engine should not be there because there were no S3H1's in the region of New Guinea before or during WWII except for Earhart’s engines and she was supposedly lost in the Pacific. If the map had “600 H/P AN-1 C/N 1055”, I would be "interested " but not so certain that it is hers, that’s the point.
The C/N1055 is definitely the Construction Number of Earhart’s aircraft, without any doubt. Her Model 10E was the 55th Model 10 built, hence “1055”.
If we even forgot that the writing includes the “C/N1055”, the very fact of a "rare" S3H1 being there and found in WWII is very strange for a Civilian engine lost there would have come from a missing Civilian aircraft and there were no Civilian aircraft powered by two S3H1’s in New Guinea before or during WWII other than Earhart’s Electra model 10E.
The U.S. Army took a look at what they had and said, "Not one of ours" points to them seeing "S3H1" and recognising it as a Pratt & Whitney “Civil” engine. For if the U.S. Army had really thought about that there might very well have been a light bulb moment…. "Hey, hang on a minute there... wait a minute..." But... there was a war going on and it got overlooked.
David Billings
www.earhartsearchpng.com
Last edited by David Billings; 6th Feb 2018 at 04:18.
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What is your reply regarding the observation:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Amelia..._disappearance
"Pacific Wrecks, a website that documents World War II-era aircraft crash sites, notes that no Electra has been reported lost in or around Papua New Guinea. Gillespie wrote that the 2,000-mile (3,200 km) distance from Earhart's last known position to New Britain was impossible for the aircraft to fly, requiring more than 13 hours of flight when there were only four hours of fuel remaining"
http://pacificwrecks.com/aircraft/electra/earhart/
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Amelia..._disappearance
"Pacific Wrecks, a website that documents World War II-era aircraft crash sites, notes that no Electra has been reported lost in or around Papua New Guinea. Gillespie wrote that the 2,000-mile (3,200 km) distance from Earhart's last known position to New Britain was impossible for the aircraft to fly, requiring more than 13 hours of flight when there were only four hours of fuel remaining"
http://pacificwrecks.com/aircraft/electra/earhart/