Earhart's Plane Found?!

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Robert Porter said:
I am more prone to believe the Marshall Islanders were interested in keeping the controversy alive.
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Particularly as they, meaning the Marshall Islanders, have a financial incentive to do so, whereas some official stamping a volume into a library, the printers and publishers in 1935 did not.

Why on earth would someone add a photograph, page, whatever, to a folio already in the library? The original, Japanese, discoverer found it with an online search days after the History programme was broadcast. Is someone supposed to have nipped into the library and stuck the page in the folio in the intervening few days just to discredit the programme.
Once again I would apply Occam's razor.

I would note that this is not a photo album in the sense most understand it. The photographs are printed on the pages. Thanks to Shinpachi we know that the volume was received by the collection of the Imperial Library on 25th October 1935, was printed on 5th October 1935 and published on 10th October 1935. That would be a lot of mistakes to make on a volume destined for the Imperial Library, which I would guess was/is a prestigious institution.

One of the common trends in all conspiracy theories is that the more the evidence stacks up against them the more outlandish the rebuttals become. Either that or a denial of any kind of 'official story' as being unreliable and manipulated by some unidentified authority to back up their version of events (see aircraft wreckage and the Pentagon or unknown person or persons sneaking a 1937 photograph into a 1935 folio in Japan's national library).

Cheers

Steve
 
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Shinpachi, thank you for the translation. Is there anything written there that indicates the source of the photos?
wuzak said:
It should read IF.
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Yes, true, and I have never portrayed this as anything other than a Theory which, IMHO, consider to be more likely than the crash and ditch theory based upon the amount of fuel they had (OK estimated) on board AND all of the Post-Loss radio signal received by so many official and unofficial sources AND Earhart's stated back-up plan to turn west.

Robert Porter said:
photo was added after the book was received, however I am more prone to believe the Marshall Islanders were interested in keeping the controversy alive.
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Robert, both are possible but as I posted since this is NOT a bound book (piece of string holding it together) and is WITHOUT an OFFICIAL DOCUMENTED (the phrase so many of you love, interesting to see if you'll apply it so vigorously here) printed copyright/published/identifier stamp the date of the photo album and the photograph are questionable.

FLYBOYJ said:
Why isn't that press release signed by an official?
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Joe, I wondered about that as well. Believe it or not, much to my surprise the Marshall Islands has an Embassy here in Arkansas (will wonders never cease). I've Emailed them and if I get a response will post it.
 
mikewint said:
but as I posted since this is NOT a bound book (piece of string holding it together) and is WITHOUT an OFFICIAL DOCUMENTED (the phrase so many of you love, interesting to see if you'll apply it so vigorously here) printed copyright/published/identifier stamp the date of the photo album and the photograph are questionable.
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We can argue the definition of a book ad nauseam, but I disagree with your assertions above. I have no idea what traditions of bookbinding or bookmaking were prevalent in Japan in the 1930s, but this may well be a commonplace method of binding such a document, particularly for presentation to the Imperial Library.

The 'book' is printed. It is dated by the printer. It is dated by the publisher. It is dated by the Imperial Library on its receipt by that institution.
I would argue that this makes the date of the document as unquestionable as British published book with a copyright stamp and acceptance by the British library.
The evidence that this document was printed, published and produced in October 1935 is extremely strong. I don't see it being refuted.
Your original assertion was that the librarian made a mistake with the date of his stamp which seems unlikely, but cannot be discounted as a possibility. Now we must also believe that the printer and publisher also mis-dated the document. This beggars belief.

As an aside, another Japanese source has expressed surprise at the absence of any Japanese in the photograph and suggested that had it been taken two years later, in 1937, there would almost certainly have been some present. I don't attach much weight to such circumstantial evidence, but found it an interesting comment.

Cheers

Steve
 
mikewint said:
Shinpachi, thank you for the translation. Is there anything written there that indicates the source of the photos?
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The photo book was published by Futabaya Gofukuten (二葉屋呉服店), a souvenir shop located in Koror, Palau. As edited by Motoaki Nishino (西野元章) who, according to other data source, was the owner and engineer of the shop, it would be natural to think that those pictures were taken by Mr Nishino.
 
stona said:
As an aside, another Japanese source has expressed surprise at the absence of any Japanese in the photograph and suggested that had it been taken two years later, in 1937, there would almost certainly have been some present
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Ah, Steve, methinks Amelia herself could show up in person on your doorstep to testify and you'd say "well I don't know..":rolleyes:
That's why I am amazed that you accept wholeheartedly the statements of an unknown Japanese blogger as to when where and how he "found" this book AND the "books" authenticity. No doubts. No questions. Obviously true. Yet jump with both feet on anything that does not support your crash & burn THEORY! Your question above has already been addressed. At this point Amelia/Noonan were "guests". They were on an island, on a dock, where were they going to escape to? Soon to be on a ship, jump overboard and swim? Only on Saipan was their true status made apparent.

Ok, let's turn this question around with a more cogent question. What was the photograph doing in a classified file in the National Archives in a file of the Office of Naval Intelligence? The answer has to be that the photograph was valuable to US Intelligence prior to World War II.

Look at photographs (from the net) of the harbor at Jabor. In 1905 it had a wooden dock. The Germans had agreements to run these islands (and turned the Marianas over to Spain, who turned over Saipan to Japan in 1914.)

Skip forward to the 1930's. The League of Nations "allowed" Japan to mandate the Marshall islands in return for their promise that they would not "fortify the islands" for war. The Japanese were so secretive about these islands (and their fortifications) that two British citizens were beheaded for spying, and numerous other people were arrested, their boats sunk or confiscated by the Japanese for observing their fortifications. They were fortifying them for war.

Which is how/why this photograph got into the ONI file. It's evidence of the strengthened dock that the Japanese had built in 1936 to hold and receive heavy military material. So IMHO whomever put it in the file didn't care about the people on the dock – they were just interested in the dock itself as it gave credence to the rumors of Japan militarizing the Mandate.

How about actual documentation from someone who was there in 1937 and wrote a book about it. Yea, an actual bound and copyrighted and printed book.
The French explorer Eric De Bisschop who had sailed through the Marshalls on a simple hand-made boat (a Polynesian double canoe) on July 2, 1937. He was arrested near Mili for doing so. His ship was searched, and he writes about it in his book The Voyage of the Kaimiloa. Much like Thor Heyerdahl he had built a simple Polynesian style boat and sailed it vast distances. In 1939 he arrived in Cannes where was thoroughly questioned by US and French authorities. He was asked about seeing Earhart on Jaluit.

Transcribed in Cannes: "In connection with the above", the following statement was made by M. Eric De Bisschop, a former French naval officer..." after mentioning he'd sailed past Mila (sic) atoll, the Japanese turned hostile and searched his boat. "He was arrested, suspected of espionage, and given a severe and thorough questioning for several hours... (his ship the "Fou Po" was) searched from bow to stern.")

"At Jaluit he had seen shells for 3-inch guns... the Japanese have dredged the harbor and entrance channels... much larger and freer from obstructions then are shown on current charts." The charts are being held confidentially, not for "sale or distribution."

He noticed "an airplane ramp.." an "airplane hangar... a concreted dock... radio transmitter..." He said "as to Mila (sic) dredging and building was going on... It is held so confidential that even Japanese merchant ships are not allowed to visit there... coal, 3" shells, dynamite... are brought to Jaluit.. (then) by small navy transport" to Mila (sic) atoll.

(Part of the page torn away) "the story about Miss Earhart and other people kept... (n)er... is concerned, M. de Bisschop that while possible,... (torn). He said that it was much easier to find someon(e)... ned then to keep them prisoners. He had heard from... (torn) 'efore his visit one such white skin man who had visited Jaluit... (torn) day but with indications that he had been struck over... (torn) e natives declared that this man was rumored to have been (torn).

Yea, the best part missing again but you can fill-in the missing parts. Mr. De Bisschop said he had not seen her but that it was possible she had been there, that it was easier to arrest people than to "keep prisoners." And then he recounted a story of a man who had been beaten and possibly killed for being a spy.)

rg-38-entry 81-a-4-3-earhart-2017-002_ac (2).jpg


To continue the Jaluit story, from his book: "And the last place of call of the Fou Po, at Jaluit, yonder, in the Marshalls. Ah! the ugly faces of that Japanese Governor and of those policemen, with their little daggers at their sides. . . . Spies ! We? What a joke! Some note-books showing positions, a few survey notes on the north coast of Australia ... that's not spying !

Kept prisoners for a fortnight, watched closely all the same ... the natives threatened with imprisonment if they approached our craft; and that searching of the Fou Po whilst we were being questioned ashore; just think, a wireless transmitter, an electric sounding apparatus must be hidden somewhere.

Maybe I had thrown everything overboard before landing, but they'll find the traces all right ... everywhere, anywhere . . . under the planking, amid the provision tins... the fools!

And our departure? only just managed it, luckier than that American, a year ago, than that Englishman, six months ago ! . . . disappeared, both of them . . . poof! dissolved into thin air, for the greater glory of the Mikado's Empire." (page 5)

"... the port of Jaluit (under Japanese mandate) is the port of entry for Nauru Island, which is under the control of New Zealand. I would not advise even my greatest enemy to go to Jaluit in the Marshall Archipelago and ask there for a permit to call in at Nauru. He would be received by a nasty Japanese Governor, with a shaved skull, then kept a prisoner, and accused by him of espionage, and perhaps would not have the luck to slip through his fingers as we did on the Fou Po. (page 211)
 
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Any thoughts given that the photo might have been planted in the National Archives? The person "finding" it could say, "Hey...look what I found in the Office of Naval Intelligence. This must be important if it was placed here." and hope the original was never found
 
Well for one, any item in the National Archives, misfiled or not, is stamped with a control number sort of like a library accession number. This number is used to track location and usage of the document or photo. Including any copies made which receive the same number with an increment added. Now the photo was presumably classified as well at some point, which would mean a classification (and subsequent declassification stamp) yet no mention of these numbers are made. Had they been, even if incorrectly filed, we would then be able to determine the source of the photo, the date the photo was acquired, and how it was indexed and classified. Any FBI agent would be well aware of all of this yet as I say no mention of this information was made. This would strongly suggest a manufactured presence or planting of the photo. If the photo were real then the information thus obtained by those numbers would certainly support the agent's claim, yet mysteriously no such information is referenced.

We just keep bumping into missing information, from sources that should not be missing. All of which suggests an effort to obscure not bring to light. While I have no doubt the Japanese did not welcome people into areas they felt sensitive, and to this very day some people do go missing under questionable circumstances the world over, in this specific case the evidence is totally circumstantial at the very best, and as we are seeing in regards to the photo, fairly obviously interpreted intentionally incorrectly. I am certainly more inclined to think the publisher, printer, and library were accurate than all 3 are in error.

Remaining fuel aboard may give credence to any number of possibilities but as we truly do not know, they could have also suffered any number of mechanical mishaps. After all we are talking of the 1930's and 1920's technology. Aircraft engines of the time were not exactly known as reliable, corrosive effects of prolonged exposure of aircraft components, hydraulic lines, fuel bladders and lines, to salt sea air were also just being well understood. Heck a wing spar could have folded or a microburst could have sheared the wings off, or aileron flutter could have brought them down. All more likely to me than being captured by Japanese troops and executed as spies. Again, even if they were, there are sure to be surviving records, diary's etc somewhere. After all we have historians still sifting masses of documents in national archives including our own. Stuff does tend to eventually come to light when a governmental agency takes any such action.
 
George, couldn't agree more. The Marshallese consulate has not replied to my email as of yet so I'm waiting on that.
It's simply that there are 3 good possibilities: 1. Crash and ditch which most of you seem to support and I agree that that is possible and the simplest explanation. There are a number of universities that have done computer modeling of the Electra ditching and the forces on the occupants in that scenario. All show the occupants with minimal injuries. Whether and for how long the Electra would float is questionable. Their Lea take off preparations show a rubber life raft but it is unknown if it was placed on board and if it were it would be in the very back and difficult to reach. So survival possible but not for long.
2. Landing at Nikumaroro reef. I like this one too. It was on/near their reported 157/337 LOP and they had plenty of fuel to be able to reach it. So if they were South of the Howland line it was findable and the reef is flat and smooth. A landing here would keep the engines above water, allow for running them to charge the batteries and transmit at low tide and there were many post-loss radio calls on 3105 heard by both amateur and professional radio operators. Pan-Am tracking stations triangulated these calls as coming from the Nikumaroro region. A Navy aircraft from the Colorado reported signs of recent habitation but saw no people and no Electra. The reef here ends in a 1700ft drop so searching and recovery will be difficult.
3. The Mili Atoll landing. My scenario of choice which so many of you disagree with so vehemently. Earhart had plenty of fuel, 1156 gallons. She had flown Oakland to Honolulu, 2400 miles on 617 gallons. Lea to Howland was 2556 miles just 156 miles more. I realize that many things could have increased fuel usage but Earhart was a good pilot, fuel conservation had been pounded into her head, and Art Kennedy had praised her abilities in this regard. My researches in this area have convinced me that they had drifted North of Noonans course. Earharts stated back-up was to turn west for the Gilberts failing Howland. And there lies Mili and so very many anecdotal reports of their landing, capture, and transport to Saipan. There is also tons of evidence of Japanese paranoia over the Marshall Islands as well as documented evidence of Japanese treatment of captives guilty or not. So I find this credible and possible.
 
mikewint said:
but Earhart was a good pilot,
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Not really - she crashed several aircraft including the Electra she disappeared in. She had under 1000 hours and many of her peers sometimes worried about her not keeping her proficiency up.

I do agree she would have done everything to stay in the air as the aircraft was part of a university grant IIRC. Everything else about rouge Japanese militias, POW camps etc. is a fantasy. Had she been held and transported as many times as theorized, there would have been a trail of thousands of witnesses. Again, it would have behooved any alleged captors, especially those who held a high command to come clean at war's end if this indeed was the truth.
 
FLYBOYJ said:
Not really - she crashed several aircraft including the Electra she disappeared in. She had under 1000 hours and many of her peers sometimes worried about her not keeping her proficiency up.
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Joe, I am only aware of one airplane "crash" and that is when she ground-looped the Electra then those autogiro crashes, two as I recall and that machine had a number of mechanical issues. As to the Electra's "ground-loop" some called it pilot error others that she blew a tire. I can find nothing about her total hours flying though with all the records she set 1000 seems low. Do you have a source for that?
The last part is very true firstly because she grew up in the "fly-by-the-seat-of-your-pants" era when aircraft had few instruments and navigation was DR all the way. So she hired people to do the new tech stuff. Her refusal to learn was also in part due to her fame. Everything turned into a photo-op like her one shot at learning to use the Bendix loop DF. She was also kept busy constantly giving lectures all over the country to raise money.

Her "pilot" history begins with her taking lessons at Bert Kinner's airfield on Long Beach Boulevard from Neta Snook on January 3, 1921. Snook gave her lessons in a rebuilt Canuk, the Canadian version of the Curtiss JN4 Jenny, which proved to be to lumbering and slow for Earhart—by summer, she had a bright yellow Kinner Airstar that she called The Canary.
Snook thought Earhart was ready to fly solo after 20 hours of flight training—generally 10 hours were deemed sufficient at the time—but Earhart insisted on having stunt training before flying alone. She got her U.S. flying license in December 1921. She began participating in public aerial demonstrations and air rodeos. In the fall of 1922, she set an unofficial altitude record for women, flying to 14,000 feet. On March 17, 1923, she received top billing for the air rodeo and opening event at Glendale Airport in Glendale, California. In 1923, Earhart received her international pilot's license - only the 16th woman to do so - by the world governing body for aeronautics, The Federation Aeronautique. Unfortunately, due to a change in the Earhart family's fortune and her own inability to earn enough to keep the plane, Earhart sold the Airstar in June 1923.

In 1928 she was invited to join pilot Wilmer "Bill" Stultz and co-pilot/mechanic Louis E. "Slim" Gordon as a passenger on their transatlantic flight set to take place a little over a year after Charles Lindbergh's landmark flight—she would be the first woman to fly across the Atlantic. On June 17, 1928, they left Newfoundland in a Fokker F7 and, about 21 hours later, arrived at Burry Port, Wales. The successful flight made headlines across the world. Earhart was just a passenger—in her own words, "a sack of potatoes"—the trip set the stage for Earhart to become a pioneer of aviation and a celebrity. By the end of the year, Putnam had arranged for her first book to be published, titled 20 Hrs. 40 Min., Our Flight in the Friendship: The American Girl, First Across the Atlantic by Air, Tells Her Story.

In August 1929 the Cleveland Air Race, a transcontinental race, was opened to women as a nine-stage race that began in Santa Monica, California, and ended in Cleveland, Ohio. In the Women's Air Derby, dubbed the "Powder Puff Derby" by humorist Will Rogers, Earhart piloted a new Lockheed Vega-1, the heaviest of the planes flown in her class. Due to several mishaps and one fatality, only 16 of the 20 pilots completed the race. Louise Thaden won the Class D race with a Beechcraft Travel Air Speedwing, Gladys O'Donnell came in second with a Waco ATO, and Earhart came in third in her Vega, two hours behind the winner.

Never had so many female pilots spent a significant amount of time together or gotten to know each other so well. Because of the camaraderie and support they felt during the race, Thaden, O'Donnell, Earhart, Ruth Nichols, Blanche Noyes, and Phoebe Omlie gathered to discuss forming an organization for female pilots. All 117 of the women pilots licensed at the time were invited to join. On November 2, 1929, twenty-six women, including Earhart, met at Curtiss Airport in Valley Stream, New York to form the organization now known as the 99s, named for the 99 charter members. Earhart was the first president of the organization.

In 1930, after only 15 minutes of instruction, Earhart became the first woman to fly an autogiro, which featured rotating blades to increase lift and allow short takeoffs and landings. The Pitcairn autogiro was a contender in the safe-to-fly/no-stall airplane movement to attract more civilian pilots. On April 8, 1931, Earhart set an altitude record in a Pitcairn autogiro that would stand for years. She was sponsored by Beech-Nut company in an attempt to be the first pilot to fly an autogiro from coast to coast, but discovered on arrival that another pilot had accomplished the feat a week before. She decided to attempt to be the first to complete the first transcontinental round-trip flight in an autogiro, but crashed after taking off at Abilene, Texas, on the return leg of the trip, for which she received a reprimand for negligence from Assistant Secretary of Commerce for Aviation Clarence Young. Although she completed the trip in a new autogiro, she abandoned the rotorcraft after several other mishaps.

To dispel rumors that Earhart was not a skilled pilot but merely a publicity figure created by Putnam, they began planning a solo transatlantic flight from Harbor Grace, Newfoundland, to Paris, which would make her the first female and second person to fly solo across the Atlantic. Earhart took off May 20, 1932, in her Lockheed DL-1—five years to the day after Lindbergh began his historic flight. Mechanical problems and adverse weather forced Earhart to land in a pasture near Londonderry, Ireland, rather than Paris, but her achievement was undeniable. The National Geographic Society awarded her a gold medal, presented by President Herbert Hoover, and Congress award her a Distinguished Flying Cross—both awarded to a woman for the first time.

Earhart continued to set records and achieve firsts for females in aviation. In August 1932, she became the first woman to fly nonstop coast-to-coast across the continental United States in her Lockheed Vega. She had the fastest nonstop transcontinental flight by a woman in 1932. In 1933, she was one of two women to enter the Bendix race from Cleveland, Ohio, to Los Angeles, California, which officials had opened to women, allowing them to compete against men in the same race for the first time. Although she crossed the finish line six hours behind the men, on her return flight, she beat the nonstop transcontinental flight record she set the previous year by two hours.

Earhart received many awards and accolades for her record-setting achievements. She won the Harmon Trophy as America's Outstanding Airwoman for 1932, 1933, and 1934. She was given honorary membership in the National Aeronautic Association and was awarded the Cross of Knight of the Legion of Honor by the French government.

She also worked with Paul Mantz, a Hollywood stunt pilot and technical advisor, to prepare for a new record flight from Hawaii to California as the first person to fly solo across the Pacific. She received FCC approval to install a two-way radio in her Hi-Speed Special 5C Lockheed Vega—the first in a civilian aircraft.

The Vega was shipped to Honolulu, Hawaii, in late December and on January 11, 1935, Earhart took off from Wheeler Army Airfield near Honolulu. A little over 18 hours later, she landed in Oakland, California, after an uneventful flight.

Hoping to break another record, in April 1935 she became the first person to fly solo from Los Angeles, California, to Mexico by official invitation from the Mexican Government, but became lost 60 miles from her ultimate goal of Mexico City and had to stop for directions. In May, she set a record traveling nonstop from Mexico City to Newark, New Jersey, arriving in just over 14 hours. In August 1935, she flew in the Bendix race again, this time with Mantz, and placed fifth, winning $500.

There have been more than a few (some of the armchair variety) critics who have criticized and rebuked Amelia's flying skills. Let them try flying a heavy, noisy airplane with crude autopilot capabilities for some 10 to 20 hours at a stretch, over vast oceans, hostile unexplored deserts and mountains, through monsoon rains of unimaginable intensities, with virtually no radio navigation aids to help find your way, with no decent charts for visual reference.
Personally I have problems tolerating a 12-hour flight in luxuriously pampered cushy comfort on a 747! So it is difficult for me to criticize her pilot skills. She had managed to successfully fly from Miami to Lae. HOWEVER piloting skills and radio skills are two distinct and separate endeavors. The former has been aptly demonstrated, but the latter has from time to time come under sharp criticism. From people who knew her personally:

ART KENNEDY: "I think that a lot of the questions about her lack of using the radio correctly is because she would not learn how it worked or how to properly operate it. To me she had no real knowledge of what any radio could do. Kennedy believed that Earhart's cavalier attitude toward radios led to her undoing. "In her unique fashion Earhart was quite a lady, although it is well known that she punctuated her airport conversation with a spectacular lexicon of aviation vulgarities," Kennedy wrote. "This was especially the case when she had trouble contacting the tower, because she was notoriously lazy about learning how to use the radio properly. She would get so frustrated that her language became unprintable and Burbank tower operators often found it necessary to reprimand her. That failure to learn radio procedures may be significant in light of the apparently frantic transmissions before she disappeared. I remember Paul Mantz telling her that she must be up to speed on frequencies for daylight and night transmissions, but she just nodded and said, "#%*$¢! I will just turn the knobs until I get what I want.'"

PAUL RAFFORD JR.: Paul tells the story of how his PAN AM Division Radio Engineer met with AE at Miami to discuss radio and suggested several possible changes to increase safety and better radio capability. To his surprise and chagrin Amelia brushed him off with, "I don't need that! I've got a navigator to tell me where I am!"
 
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