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."

[Freedom4US]

lol... I'm talking about the author of the article.. TGT coming down nicely?

[annyokie]

Thanks. Happy Thanksgiving to you and yours.

What is TGT?

[opbuzz]

Around 1980, when I was at the USMC historical center, the three greatest requests for information were for:

Agent Orange

Amelia Earhert

Peking Man

Go figure.

[Southack]

"Bolam sued for libel and invasion of privacy. Seven weeks after publication, McGraw-Hill pulled the books from stores. Years later, the defendants offered to settle the case for $2 million if Bolam would provide fingerprints in front of a judge. She dropped her suit instead. Before she died on July 7, 1982, she donated her body to science with strict instructions that she was not to be fingerprinted or otherwise identified. Bolam's body was cremated and her ashes were buried in a common unmarked grave. Her death certificate listed her parents as "unknown."

Talk about going to an extreme to go along with the gag!

[kinhistorian]

Some genealogist could try to do a search on Irene and find out if she was really born. With a name like Craigmile (probably a surname)it shouldn't be difficult to find. And if there is an Irene Craigmile Bolam what did she do with her life before the disappearance of Earhart.

[KellyAdmirer]

Did she go and live with that woman who claimed to be Princess Anastasia?

[Kirkwood]

She had a radio, but it has been reported that neither she nor Noonan were proficient with using it or flying by radio signals. There were US Navy ships in the area that could have responded to her radio, but unless the signal strength could have been use to triangulate her location, it wouldn't have helped. When you're lost, you're lost and the Navy couldn't have helped her get "unlost."

She was a fairly proficient aviatrix and definitely a risk taker, but lacked skills with instrument flying and flying over the open ocean (so did a lot of other aviators). Finding an island was a tough thing to do at that time. Not easy like finding a coastline. Many aviators in the south Pacific had close calls - nearly missing their targets - and some had the same fate as Earhart and were never found.

[PAR35]

but who to talk to

The Navy and Coast Guard ships stationed along her route. The islands along the route.

[PAR35]

I don't disagree with any of your points. Perhaps the most famous person to miss an island and crash in the Pacific during World War II was Eddie Rickenbacker, although he wasn't the pilot on that flight.

My original comment was focused on the factual error to which I was responding.

[yarddog]

There was a program, maybe on the History Channel, about Earhardt. One of the things I remembered was that someone said she was just an average pilot.

I am also sure I once heard Chuck Yeager say that Jackie Cochrane was a much better pilot than Amelia.

[Ciexyz]

Most interesting.

[JETDRVR]

I hear ya 5 by 5. But having flown SoPAC fairly extensivly with the latest and greatest of HF radios ........trust me its a son of a gun to raise any center even on a good day!

[Alex Mandel]

The theory is interesting, but alas until today no shade of factual proof of it was ever found.
There was many statements in last period about "forensic proof" as if supporting the theory. Mr. Tod Swindell, an enthusiastic supporter, prepared a set of photographic overlays that he consider as "convincing". However it is worth to consider that Mr. Swindell is a movie producer, not a professional in forensic research.

Any official verdict of the forensic research professionals never followed, although it was declared many times by enthusiasts of the theory that their opinion is "supportive" and it will "follow soon".

This "verdict" must be an article in a proper scientific journal, officially published, reviewed by peers and confirmed by scientific community. It is a normal way of "approval" in scientific word. Alas, before this, all other kind of "proofs", presented by non-professional, is simply a speculation.

If to look at the proposed material with attention, it is obvious for any non-biased view that in reality AE and IB had many differences, both in body structure and facial characteristics.

It is also worth to remember that Joe Gervais - the "father" of this theory - never meet AE in person before 1965 (when he saw IB and decided that she is AE). So the value of his "immediate recognition" of IB as Amelia is at least disputable.
There were many people who knew BOTH women personally, and they all were convinced that AE and IB were different persons.

There are many obvious stretches in the story, and the questions without a proper and reasonable answers.

Why AE would want to abandon her identity to become a New Jersey housewife? No fact or even believable theoretical reasons have ever been presented, only speculative guesses in complete contradiction with many credible historical sources about AE's character and personality have been offered.

How it was possible for AE to abandon her family, especially her mother and sister, to whom she was extremely close?

How it was possible for her to abandon and never contact her husband George Putnam, as well as her numerous friends? AE's loyalty to family and friends was legendary and was among her most firmly proven, publicly known and deservedly celebrated qualities.

Where was AE between 1937 and 1945? An impressive body of evidence has been amassed that indicates her presence on Saipan as a prisoner of Japanese, but no evidence has ever been found to indicate her "evacuation" from Saipan - whether documental or anecdotal. Neither has any evidence been produced from Japan to indicate AE's presence there that appears minimally credible in any way.

The alleged evidence that Monsignor James F. Kelley allegedly assisted AE in her repatriation is highly disputable. Analysis of Kelley's other, similar outlandish claims has shown them to be factually incorrect. His extensive memories contains no any mentioning of Amelia Earhart. On the other side, it contains a several stories that were proven as falcificated ones.
Several serious researchers, as result of an extensive studying, have concluded that he probably began developing some kind of dementia and mental frailty while in his 80s. Some of his claims appear simply bizarre, such as his recollection of personally shaving AE's head in search of some "secret Japanese implants" (????..)

What happened to the real, original Irene Bolam? It was shown that she certainly existed between 1934 and 1945, and was working in the banking business in New York City...
Why would the US Government use the name and identity of a real person, known by many people and living an active, normal life, in a plot to transform this individual into another, discrete individual (AE) without these people becoming aware of it?

How and why could such an immense and long-lived conspiracy, with hundreds or even thousands of people necessarily involved, be organized and kept secret for decades? It has been proposed that AE's family and friends were aware of the conspiracy, but were all somehow persuaded to remain silent about it.
But nothing of substance has ever been offered to support this idea, and it's virtually impossible to assume that so many people, by some "secret agreement", successfully concealed this plot from entire world for many decades. It is extremely hard to keep such a stuff in secrecy - for both "technical" and emotional reasons.

If even to guess that the "price of secrecy" that AE was compelled to pay included abandoning her family and friends, why then would AE, as IB, go on to live such a documented, semi-public lifestyle, attending aviation-related public events, joining organizations like Zontas and 99s (where AE was a former member) and meeting numerous people who personally knew AE?

Finally - if it was a "great conspiracy" with a governmental interests involved - why would the U.S.Government allow the personal meeting of IB and Mr. Joe Gervais, who was already well known as a persistent AE researcher?

Considering all he above, it seems very difficult to accept the concept of Amelia Earhart's secret repatriation as Irene Bolam. It looks like just a theory, and enough far-fetched, bizarre and radical one, at that.


Respectfully submitted - Alex V. Mandel, Ph.D. (Naval and aviation historian, author; AE historian and enthusiast since 1982)

[Canticle_of_Deborah]

Interesting, thanks!

[asgardshill]

But having flown SoPAC fairly extensivly with the latest and greatest of HF radios ... trust me its a son of a gun to raise any center even on a good day!

Its not a whole lot easier to get a good HF shot even on dry land or aboard a ship. So many variables can affect it. Trust me on this.

(filled with admiration for people brave enough to fly over oceans with nothing but HF BUMP)

[Fabozz]

Well if Earhart was actually alive in '63, maybe she killed Kennedy.

[JETDRVR]

Gander NFLD & Shanwick Irlnd OCAs have recently instituted position reporting procedures via Satcom for trans antlantic operators. On some crossings the only option is a relay on the common Bravo Sierra channel. Them darn solar flares are realy annoying!

[asgardshill]

Them darn solar flares are really annoying!

They do make life interesting at the F2 layer of the ionosphere for us HF apes :)

[SunkenCiv]

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[Pharmboy]

Thanks for the ping. Crash and burn for her is the most parsimonious explanation which I favor.