Amelia Earhart (13 page)

In 2002, a man named David Jourdan, owner of Nauticos Corporation, undertook a search for Earhart's Electra in the waters off Howland Island. He was unsuccessful but was apparently encouraged enough to try again in 2005. The second expedition, according to Jourdan, employed more updated sonar equipment. Jourdan also claimed he was in possession of accurate information relative to where the plane might be located, though he never explained what that information was or from where or whom he obtained it. Though the Nauticos Corporation website promised progress relative to the search, nothing was ever discovered. The search cost $1.5 million. At this writing, Nauticos has announced plans for yet another attempt at locating the Electra near Howland Island, but no one is holding his breath.

From time to time, an announcement is made relative to claims of a new “discovery” of all or part of Earhart's Electra. The claims are made, for the most part, based on underwater sonar images. Quite often, when an anomaly appears on the floor of the ocean near Howland Island and/or some of the other proposed locations where Earhart might have come down, someone feels compelled to make the claim that it is from the Electra. To date, none of these claims has been verified.

THE GARDNER ISLAND THEORY

This theory promotes the idea that Earhart, on missing Howland Island, chose to continue on toward Gardner Island (now Nikumaroro Island) to the south-southeast. The theory continues that, on arriving at Gardner Island, she made a shore landing. From here, according to some reports, she was able to continue broadcasting for several days until her batteries wore down. Then, according to another explanation, the Electra was subsequently blown from the shore into the nearby ocean as a result of a storm and sank out of sight. The theory continues that Earhart and Noonan, abandoned on the island, survived off of what rations they had in their possession until perishing or being picked up by the Japanese.

This theory was originated by members of an organization called The International Group for Historic Aircraft Recovery (TIGHAR). It is difficult to understand why this theory has endured with this organization or with anyone else, for that matter. As evidence for its position, this group offers the discovery of a size 9 shoe sole found on the island, a piece of sheet metal that appeared to come from some type of aircraft, and a navigator “bookcase.”

This same organization reported in May 2012 the discovery of “an object resembling a twenty-two-foot-long airplane wing found off the coast of Gardner Island.” Examination of the sonar image that was generated yields the only logical conclusion that the sea-bottom anomaly could be anything. To make the determination that it is an airplane wing represents a generous interpretation as well as a considerable leap of faith.

The truth is, none of the evidence associated with Gardner Island can in any way be logically connected to Earhart or Noonan with any certainty and could have originated from a multitude of sources. Despite a number of searches, not another single piece of any kind of pertinent evidence was ever found on the island. Furthermore, navy aircraft conducted two flyovers of Gardner Island during the extended search for the Electra. The island is relatively tiny; a plane such as the Electra would have been easy to spot if it had been there.

The evidence advanced by TIGHAR, along with the rationale that Earhart landed on Gardner Island, is at best spurious and easily rejected.

THE NEW BRITAIN ISLAND THEORY

A man named David Billings was with an Australian army patrol on New Britain Island in 1945. The patrol was deep in the island's jungle and fleeing a contingent of Japanese soldiers in pursuit. One morning, the Australians came upon the wreckage of a twin-engine plane. On examining it, one of the soldiers found a metal tag on an exposed engine mount. On the tag were two identification codes: C/N 1055 and S3H1. A notation of the find, along with the two numbers, was made on a map that was carried by another of the soldiers.

This evidence could be significant in that the C/N, or construction number, of Earhart's Electra was 1055. Additionally, the number S3H1 was the model of the Wasp engines that were allegedly installed in the Electra. Because the Japanese pursuit was closing in rapidly, the Australians had no time to inspect the plane further. A subsequent expedition was undertaken years later by one of the Australian soldiers in an attempt to relocate the plane, but it failed to do so.

The map on which the location of the plane was marked, along with the identification numbers, has been in the possession of the widow of one of the soldiers and has been displayed on the website of the man named David Billings. It is odd that, in the years that the map has been available, no one has ever relocated the alleged missing aircraft on New Britain Island, if in fact it was ever there in the first place.

A thorough analysis of the radio transmissions made by Earhart after departing Lae, New Guinea, provides no support whatsoever for this theory. The signal strength of her final transmission is enough evidence to prove she was nowhere near New Britain Island.

While the New Britain Island theory is provocative as a result of the numbers found on the exposed engine mount, it also carries with it a level of absurdity. The western tip of New Britain Island is only one hundred miles from Lae, New Guinea. Given that most researchers are convinced that, on the basis of abundant evidence, Earhart and Noonan were in the air for more than eighteen hours, then what could they have possibly been doing, and why and how would they have wound up so close to where they started out unless they turned around and tried to return to the Lae airport? Nothing relative to the New Britain Island theory holds up under logical scrutiny. Furthermore, despite the availability of a map that supporters contend shows the location of the downed aircraft on New Britain Island, it is baffling that no one has relocated it to date. Unless, of course, it was never there in the first place.

THE HULL ISLAND THEORY

Hull Island is located to the southeast of Howland Island. Advanced by British writer James Donahue, the theory that Earhart came down on or near this isle is based on his notion that postdisappearance radio signals attributed to Amelia Earhart were triangulated by Pan American Airways and determined to have come from Hull Island. Donahue, though passionate in his Hull Island hypothesis, provides no evidence whatsoever to verify the triangulation rationale. Furthermore, not a scintilla of evidence of a downed aircraft was ever found anywhere on or near Hull Island.

THE SYDNEY ISLAND THEORY

The most notable proponent of the Sydney Island Theory was Robert Myers, who as a boy hung around the Oakland airport during the time Earhart was preparing for her around-the-world flight and got to know her as well as Fred Noonan and others involved in the operation. Myers claimed to have listened to transmissions from Earhart on a ham radio set for several days that provided specifics relative to her plane coming down near Sydney Island, part of the Phoenix Island group, and being captured by the Japanese. Phoenix Island is approximately seven hundred miles southeast of Howland Island.

No credible evidence exists that Earhart came down on or near Sydney Island. Further, it is ludicrous to assume that, had Earhart been captured by the Japanese, they would have allowed her to continue to broadcast messages.

THE SAIPAN ISLAND THEORY

A handful of Earhart researchers suggest that the Electra came down on the island of Saipan, a Japanese possession in the Mariana Islands located about five hundred miles north-northeast of Guam. This theory is based on reports that the Electra, along with Earhart and Noonan, were seen on that island. The evidence for the presence of the aviatrix and her navigator, as well as the aircraft, on Saipan has been well documented and will be treated in a subsequent chapter. Though eventually arriving at Saipan, the Electra and its occupants did not come down on that island. Instead, they were transported there after being located and recovered at Mili Atoll.

THE MILI ATOLL THEORY

While the above theories carry with them little to no credible evidence and, in most cases, strain logic, the Mili Atoll theory differs from them in that numerous eyewitnesses reported the forced landing of an aircraft resembling the Electra at this cluster of coral and sand located at the southeasternmost atoll in the Marshall Islands group. So compelling are the eyewitness and other accounts that the Mili Atoll theory deserves close attention.