Proposed Last Flight of Amelia Earhart and Fred Noonan. July 2, 1937 Marshall Islands.
"Courage is the price that life exacts for granting peace. The soul that knows it not,
knows no release from little things; knows not the livid loneliness of fear."
— Amelia Earhart
Amelia
by Dainbramage July 9, 2017 (publish DailyKos.com)
In 1937 Amelia Earhart (pilot) and Fred Noonan (navigator) made their second attempt to circumnavigate the world by air. By July they were half done with the Pacific Ocean now before them. At midnight of July 2 of 1937 they made their departure from Lae Airport in Papua New Guinea on route to Howland Island, a tiny and uninhabited island 2800 miles eastward in the Pacific Ocean. The Electra 10E aircraft they used had a cruise speed of 150 mph, was equipped with new radios installed at Lae airport, and carried special fuel tanks providing a 4100 mile range.
Howland Island
A small airstrip had been carved out on Howland island, and the U.S. Coast Guard cutter Itasca was stationed nearby to provide radio navigation and fuel. At 19:30 hrs, on schedule, Itasca received Earhart's transmission:
"KHAQQcalling Itasca. We must be on you but cannot see you...gas is runninglow..."
Astonishing! Noonan had obviously done it, navigated 2800 miles over open ocean to within a few miles of a tiny island, an impressive achievement of that time. Its like shooting a knat out of the air at 30 paces while riding a bumper car. Its just so obvious, and this was proof positive that Noonan was no bungling amateur as some detractors have suggested, but a man with focus and the highest expertise in navigation.
Cutter Itasca replied. But something was apparently wrong with the Electra's new radios, or the instructions for their operation were not understood, for although Earhart's transmissions near Howland were loud and clear to Itasca, replies from Itasca were never heard. Noonan did not receive the navigation instructions or directional signals that Itasca was transmitting, and without a visual sighting they could not find the island.
So, Earhart and Noonan never arrived at Howland island , instead they disappeared into the vast Pacific, lost, their fate unknown.
What were they thinking?
One can, however, wonder what they might have been thinking at that fateful moment when they knew they were in trouble. Colorful expletives might occur to some, but Earhart and Noonan were skilled professionals, and their brains did not, would not, could not panic. They wasted no breath on expletives, but instead followed their training. They lingered near Howland for an hour or more, as long as they could, although in vain. Yet they would not have simply circled forever in hopes of finding Howland if any feasible alternative existed. Were there any alternatives?
Alternatives
Noonan had undoubtedly navigated past Mili Atol en-route to Howland on a great circle route, and Noonan may have spotted Mili as a navigation check, navigators like to do that sort of thing, and if so he may have calculated he had just fuelenough to return 1000 miles to Mili by retracing his flight path and with some precision navigation and a little luck. The alternative was an ocean splash, and certain death. Slim chance versus certain death. At some point, when the fuel said they had to go or stay, we can imagine they chose the slim chance. It seems crazy, sure, but one thing is known to a certainty: they didn't land at Howland. So did they just wander off with no plan at all? Certainly not. No way.
New Evidence and Theory
The new evidence discovered recently shows a photograph of what is believed to be Earhart and Noonan standing on a dock at the deep water port of Jaluit Island , and includes an object which could be the Electra 10 aircraft on a tow barge behind a docked ship. It can be conjectured that they made it to the minuscule Mili Atol and landed, and were rescued and brought to nearby Jaluit Island. Still, it is hard to imagine which would be the more magnificent achievement, Noonan navigating at night back to Mili Atol or Earhart landing on a postage stamp sized Atol at night and out of fuel.
Other eyewitness accounts indicate that their landing on Mili was seen. Another eyewitness suggests that Earhart and Noonan were then taken to Saipan where they were imprisoned by the Japanese and died in captivity. Recall that Japan-China hostilities in the Pacific began on July 7, 1937 , and the Pearl Harbor attack on the US was Dec 7, 1941.
Not in Doubt
This recent photographic evidence has renewed interest in the fate of the two aviators. Some dispute may forever remain, some may say they landed and survived, but on another island. While their fate may remain uncertain, the great skill and courage of Amelia Earhart and Fred Noonan, explorers and aviation pioneers, should never be in doubt.
