Posted on 08/06/2018 5:17:29 PM PDT by Theoria
That is the bottom line isn't it.
Look for the plane on New Britian. Tom
I think the bottom line is that the engines had to be running to operate the radio. Radio messages much after the plane was calculated to run out of fuel meant it was on land rather than in the ocean. Not enough fuel for flight but enough to crank the engine for a bit.
I think the simplest thing is they ran into a headwind, and this is known to be true. They could have made Howland but got a little off course.
When that happened, they began a cross pattern
search. They were near the Itasca, which was where it was suppose to be. They went down near the Itasca.
LOL!
As I understand it she never really understood how to operate the direction finder. She also had issues with receiving radio communication on the leg to Howland, possibly due to the plane’s belly antenna being torn off while taking off from the rough dirt field at Lae (New Guinea).
On top of it all, there was never ending confusion the radio schedule, i.e about the times she would be transmitting and the times she would be listening and the frequencies used by herself and the U.S. Navy.
The truth is she didn’t seem to like to sweat the details and in this case the result was tragedy.
Seriously though the Japanese theory has been around since before the photograph was discovered. I did not say I believe it, which I don't really. I have hard time believing that there are no records from the Japanese that would have documented this if it happened.
Very interesting read! Thanks for posting it all, Theoria.
BFL
Could be, or the numbers could’ve been written later and it could be a hoax.
Find that engine if you want to find the plane.
Hmm, I missed that followup exposing that photo as something else later misidentified.
At least they don’t seem to have used Lois Gibson as the forensic “expert” who’s falsely identified Robert Johnson in some poorly mis-dated photos and other sketchy claims.
One of the weekend morning news shows recently did a story on credible reports that numerous everyday Americans picked up Earhart distress calls days after she went missing with their shortwave radios. Apparently the atmospheric conditions bounced her signal all those thousands of miles.
Ham/SWL radio buffs will be very familiar with the tropical 90 meter band she used at night and the 49 meter band day.
In those days with many fewer signals crowding the bands, her 50 watt transmitter could propagate thousands of miles with the right conditions. That distance propagation is part of ham radio excitement.
Thanks Theoria and a fool in paradise. Seems like it's worth retracing their steps.
There was heavy fighting in New Guinea and New Britain for years during WWII. Allied air forces were very active and the rugged mountains caught a lot of planes. The big Japanese base was Rabaul on New Britain. We decided to bypass it, but it was under near constant air bombardment to keep it neutralized. Aircraft were lost in the effort.
It's hard to see that Earhart would have had enough fuel to get close to Howland and then backtrack all the way to New Britain.
That said, I agree. Worth a look to see what's there. Even if it's an allied military plane, finding it might bring someone some closure.
I doubt that she was close to Howland, but having to backtrack because they couldn't find it would be consistent with a crashed aircraft. :^)
Fascinating. I wonder if there is any way to determine forensically when exactly the aircraft ID numbers were written on that map. If they were written during the war by the patrol then that would seem to be pretty strong evidence. Also a report would have been passed along to the Americans with the aircraft information.
The more you read about this, the less impressed you are with her flying skills.
Exactly.
And being a pilot requires a lot more than steering the airplane.
She was more of a daredevil than a pilot.
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