A New Take on Earhart Mystery

LA Times ^ | November 23, 2003 | Cecilia Rasmussen

[Canticle_of_Deborah]

Amelia Earhart vanished nearly 70 years ago, but her fate remains one of the nation's great mysteries.

The pioneering aviator disappeared on July 2, 1937, as she was flying an equatorial route around the globe. The official U.S. position is that she and her navigator, Fred Noonan, ran out of gas and went down in the Pacific.

But conspiracy buffs begin with the premise that she was a spy captured by the Japanese. Maybe she died. And maybe she survived, living out her life anonymously. Which brings us to Rollin C. Reineck and his new book.

"Strange indeed for one civilian, contemplating a stunt flight around the world, to have involved the entire U.S. government, up to and including the president of the United States," he wrote in "Amelia Earhart Survived," published this month by the Paragon Agency. "It is little wonder that the thought of conspiracy enters into the Earhart research."

Reineck, 83, is a retired U.S. Air Force colonel who lives in Kailua, Hawaii. He was 17 when Earhart disappeared, and he has spent the last 32 years trying to prove his theory that she survived a crash-landing in the Marshall Islands, more than 2,000 miles from Hawaii. He believes she was captured by the Japanese, secretly repatriated, and lived out her life under the name Irene Craigmile Bolam.

Why that would have happened is part of the mystery. He is not the first to suggest the idea, but he is among the more tenacious. Reineck credits the research of Joe Gervais, who hatched the theory after meeting Bolam in 1965 and noting her resemblance to "Lady Lindy."

[Canticle_of_Deborah]

Here is an interesting bit of Catholic trivia thrown in with the mystery.

------

Reineck picked up the search. In 1991, he went to New Jersey to interview Msgr. James Francis Kelley, 89, a retired psychologist, who affirmed that he had been commissioned by then-Archbishop Francis Joseph Spellman to bring Amelia Earhart back to the United States after the war and help give her a new identity. Spellman, who died in 1967, had been designated military vicar for the United States by Pope Pius XII.

Two of Msgr. Kelley's inner-circle friends also claimed to know that Bolam was Earhart.

"She was adamant that she no longer wanted to be identified as Amelia Earhart. He [Kelley] gave no reason for her inflexibility in this regard, but said only that this was her very strong demand," said one of those friends, Helen Barber of New Jersey.

When Kelley died in 1996, a few noteworthy items were found among his possessions: a folder with "Irene Bolam" written on one side and "Amelia Earhart" on the other. There was also a note, apparently written to himself, that said: "It's too bad that her mother never knew she had survived."

[Canticle_of_Deborah]

Thanks!

[Consort]

She waiting for her luggage.

[Oztrich Boy]

and because JFK was going to reveal her identity he had to be assasinated.

[tet68]

And john lennon learned the truth and so he....
Now I understand.

Disclaimer/ I do not know the truth and have never known
the truth and will take pains to not know the truth in the future. Thankyou.

[annyokie]

From what I have read, Amelia and her co-pilot died due their own arrogance. Eg: no radio, no flight plan, and most of all, lack of training.

I see no conspiracy, only romance about her being the first woman "aviator" (added and abetted by her husband) who wished to circumnavigate the globe.

[PAR35]

From what I have read, . . . no radio

She had a radio.

http://www.infoplease.com/ipa/A0192891.html
whereas Earhart had rudimentary radio communications by today's standards.

http://www.aviationposters.com/ameliaearhart.htm
She was confident, however, in her own abilities and in the plane's technically advanced radio and navigational equipment that included Morse code transmitters.

[packrat35]

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[JETDRVR]

She may have had comms , but who to talk to ???;) Certainly not Sanfransisco Radio on HF !

[tet68]

Lack of training?

She was one of the most skilled aviators of her day.

[Canticle_of_Deborah]

Sorry! I had to excerpt it because of the rules. It's a great theory, I swear!

[Nick Danger]

I take it the "Who killed Kennedy" threads are winding down.

[Canticle_of_Deborah]

This guy has an interesting, very plausible theory. He believes Earhart would not have chosen such a difficult route since her previous easier attempts ended in failure. He said the US government was interested in the Japanese naval activities in the South Pacific pre WWII and asked Earhart to fly there, stage a distress and allow the US to get in there to rescue her; ie, look around and monitor the Japanese. The Japanese allegedly found her before the US but eventually repatrioted her after the war.

He has a great story!

[annyokie]

http://www.acepilots.com/earhart.html

"little more than a passenger" stands out. Nautical miles? Who cares?

[Canticle_of_Deborah]

A good conspiracy theory should be savored like a fine wine. There's an art to it.

[annyokie]

Oh, Deb. It's a fantasy, just like JFK. She crashed and died either in the South Pacific or on that little island. Not a hero or a goat. She was a victim or her own and her husband's hubris. IMO.

[Freedom4US]

Aviatrix. Aviators are male. 'Course I don't expect anyone in LA to know that...

[19th LA Inf]

She was one of the most skilled aviators of her day.

Didn't she groundloop the Electra and wipe out the landing gear at Honolulu on an earlier RTW attempt?

[annyokie]

I don't live in LA and my husband has more than 13,000 flight hours, thank you very much.