EYEWITNESS: THE AMELIA EARHART INCIDENT BY THOMAS E DEVINE WITH RICHARD M DALEY
Pg 40. “Glancing out on the runway ramp.. an area not the main part of Aslito Field, but an extended arm of the airstrip at the southwest corner… Near an embankment was (AE’s plane). (LATER) .. a muffled explosion at Aslito Field erupted into a large flash fire… I crouched and crawled toward the airfield. When I could see what was burning, I was aghast! The twin engine plane was engulfed in flames! I could not see anyone by the light of the fire… in July 1944.”
THE SEARCH FOR AMELIA EARHART BY FRED GOERNER
Goerner gathers dozens of eyewitnesses to Earhart’s incarceration and second hand info about her execution.
AMELIA EARHART: LAST FLIGHT
Amelia reveals she did not know Morse code (and neither did Fred Noonan)
AMELIA EARHART:HER LAST FLIGHT
By OLIVER KNAGSS
South African journalist gathers numerous eyewitnesses at Mili, Majuro and Jaluit. There is footage of these interviews, but it exists somewhere in Miami – still trying to locate the negative.
AMELIA EARHART: THE MYSTERY SOLVED By ELGEN M LONG AND MARIE K LONG
Elgen shows how the original plan devised by radio man Harry Manning was adhered to by the Coast Guard Itasca – they didn’t know Manning got off the plane in Hawaii and wasn’t on the electra. So 90% of all their communication was in Morse code – something neither AE or FN knew.
“WITH OUR OWN EYES – EYEWTINESSES TO THE FINAL DAYS OF AMELIA EARHART” MIKE CAMPBELL WITH THOMAS E DEVINE
PG 32. Robert Sosbe, 1st battalion 20th Marines, 4th marine division) Sosbe said he saw the Electra before and during its destruction) “on or about D+5 after our infantry had captured Alsito, the night before, then were driven off, only to capture it again, our Co was called up to fill a gap between our infantry and the 27th Army infantry. The trucks carrying us stopped off the opposite side of the runway from the hangars and tower about 3 to 5 hundred yds. This two engine airplane was pulled from the hangar to off the runway where it was engulfed in flames from one end to the other. I can still remember exactly the way it burned, how the frame and ribs because it was visible. It was about half dark. It burned approximately 15-30 minutes.”
Same page: a letter from Earskine Nabers: “I am seeking Marines who were placed on duty at Aslito to guard a padlocked hangar containing AE’s plane. The hangar was not one of those located along the runway. It was located near what may have been a Japanese administration building, and an unfinished hangar at the tarmac, in the southwest corner of the airfield.
The follow up letter (pg 33)
…”we had to get Col. Clarence R Wallace to sign all the messages that came through the message center.) Hq 8th moved back to bivouac area. I was dropped off at the Hangar for guard duty at the main road that went by west side of hangar. The road that went out to hangar, I was placed on the right side, just as it left the main road….
Pg 34 The best I can recall the plane was pulled on the field by a jeep.. the plane was facing north after the plane was parked and jeep moved. A plane came over real low and on the next pass he strafed the plane and it went up in a huge fireball. (We were sitting on the west side of the airfield about one hundred yards from the plane. We were on higher ground. As far as I remember, the (men) that pulled the plane on the field and us guys from H & S 8th were the only ones there.”
Pg 36 Marine Capt Earl Ford of Fallbrook, CA, artillery master sgt with 2nd Marines. Interview 6-7-88 by Paul Cook. “The aircraft was about 100 yards (from me) maybe less. We all saw it. No way we could miss it. A civilian twin engine. No way it was military. American aircraft in civil registration… some officers were saying it was Amelia’s… it had only two windows on the side, back here.”
Arthur Nash, Air Corps Corps, P47 group on Aslito. Claims he saw the plane on July 4, 1944 (book says 1945, must be a misprint based on following) pg 40:
“After landing on Isley.. at 2:30 pm, Japanese soldiers were running around the airstrip, one killed himself in the cockpit of a P47D with a grenade…” I slept fairly well (in the hangar) and (in the morning) wandered over to a large hole in the hangar wall facing the other hangar. The hangar floor and the area between the hangars was littered with debris, displace with siding from the hangars, maybe 65 yards apart, but close enough to get a good look at a familiar aircraft outside the other hangar. My eyesight was acute and what I saw was Amelia Earhart’s airplane!... the next morning I went over to see it but it was gone.”
Jerrell Chatham, 1st platoon, I company, 3rd regiment, 2nd marine deivions: “I was driving trucks .. on Saipan… when we went ashore I saw the hangar where Amelia Earhart’s plane was stored, I also saw the plane in the air. They told us not to go close to the airplane hangar and we did not…”
Pg 44: Howard Ferris, US Marines: “Sent to Saipan for guard dutey… an old hangar structure at end of a runway. This hangar was not large,.. small trees in front of big doors.. (then he recounts the same Marine argument that Devine and Nabers recount – where some Navy brass attempted to get in, but a Marine (Nabers) refused them entry.)” Howard was not present at the fire, but one of his buddies was. The buddy said a truck arrived with many gas cans and the guards saturated the entire hangar.. and it burned totally.
Pg 50 Robert Sowash, 23rd regiment 4th Marines Division: “I saw a plane in a building that was not a military plane.. I remember other Marines saying it was the same as Earhart’s. Later the place was cordoned off..”
Pete Leblanc, 121st Naval CB’s, 4th Marine division: “some of our guys were sneaking over towards the airfield to try and see (AE’s plane). We heard there were guards there. Then it was burned up later.”
AMELIA EARHART: LOST LEGEND - DONALD MOYER WILSON
Over 200 eyewitnesses as gathered by all the different authors with the various reports of her landing on Mili, being brought to Jaluit and incarcerated in Garapan prison.
Thanks for your comment. I was having a discussion with a respected documentary filmmaker today who asked "Perhaps there was another Electra on Saipan." I would agree with him, but then we'd both be wrong. According to our witnesses, when the Electra was found, a message was sent to Clarence Wallace, commanding officer "We have found Amelia Earhart's plane at Aslito field." This was sent June 19, 1944 and reported by the Marine who decoded it. He was ordered to guard the plane. Another GI claims he heard Navy brass asking this very same Marine to let them into see "Earhart's plane." Both Marine and GI report that the Marine said "No," because "orders is orders." It's not the sort of thing you'd forget. Then we have these other accounts - of a Chomorro native working on the airfield who saw both the airplane on Aslito, and Earhart in the local jail. Then we have accounts of GI's claiming they saw the plane in the air, flying around the field (which coincides with the decoded message that said "We are going to fly Earhart's plane" that Clarence Wallace signed). And finally there's the message that says "We are going to destroy Earhart's plane" - also signed by Clarence Wallace (highly decorated, his uniform hangs in the USMC Marine Museum in Quantico.) Someone is full of baloney - and my money is on the Marines. But that's just my two cents.
ReplyDeleteHa. I mean my money is on the Marines telling the truth. That came out backwards!
ReplyDeleteAt the time they were flying past Japans islands(1937) the Japanese were in the process of committing "the rape of Peking", so it could be another similar model Electra could be dumped there if these new sonar and ROV films of Gardner Island have an aircraft of such a type of a few in the jungle of PNG are said to be Jap and are incrementally and symetrically similar..
ReplyDeleteIf there is any true authentic reason Earhart and Noonans aircraft was 50 meters from shore off Gardner Island and upended into the ocean, of it appears there is some simple point with such a distance that the aircraft veered on landing for some reason, most reasons for that could be mundane and only the occupants will be the ones to ever know.
To veer an aircraft after touchdown has many possibilities, from Malaria, to travellers stomach , undercarraige failure e.g. manual lowering having failed or not completed or hydraulic failure. I considered argument or dispute but in any form of criminality on either part of occupants is extremely unlikely. A PNG rascal hijacker is unlikely but possible also because the destination should be Howland Island. So ..."I've considered that, but there's got to be a better angle at it"...
However, the maddest theory i have is one that generally occurs in criminal gangs but also high ranking top level professionals in rare instances whom are relatives or extremely closely bonded friends over many years. I call this type of argument "sibbling rage" because i have no medical jargon for, simply put one of them launches through the air with an attack on the other that largely appears govened by the reptillian part of the brain for brilliance at how to win this particular bickering contest. It appears they mainly knew each other before the journey, but were not formerly in receipt of each others feindship.
we don't publish all comments here. Mainly because it's not a democracy when it comes to blogs, or it is if you'd like it to be. In our case, we just aren't interested in rehashing theories. We aren't interested in proving or disproving any theory. We appreciate all theories - and we discount them all. We appreciate all the work the folks at Tighar have done - and at the same time we find it a complete and utter waste of time. There's no evidence that she went to Nikaumaroro whatsoever beyond conjecture. "If her plane could fly this far, and her engines could have gone this far, and she might have landed here, and we'll look for evidence where we surmise she might have gone." We live in a world where evidence is where you look for it. In our case we've seen the documentation of over 200 islanders who saw Earhart and Noonan after 1937. To be sure, no one claimed it was Earhart other than those who heard her name being called (Bilimon Amaron) but by and large she was a "female pilot" a "european" a caucasian woman who was piloting a plane that came down in Mili in July of 37. She was escorted by Japanese soldiers with her plane to Jaluit - where she eventually made her way to Japan (Saipan was Japan in 37). She was seen by dozens of people on Saipan - we've interviewed 17 new eyewitnesses in the three weeks we were there. We have no reason to disbelieve these people. There is no fame, no monetary value for them whatsover. We have gathered six US Marines who saw the Electra - but there were of course many more who saw the Electra on Saipan. There are 6 more in Thomas Devine's work - but be that as it may - a dozen US Marines doesn't outweigh 200 islanders. Because of the prejudice of the interviewers - the prejudice of those searching for Earhart - they can't see past the obvious fact that they are not listening to these islanders because they aren't white. Why would the US Marines testimony be any stronger? 18 year old boys in the middle of a battle - but these people lived on their island, heard of her presence for YEARS before she was executed by the Japanese. And most likely CREMATED. So there's really no point looking for her bones. There most likely aren't any. So - if you're going to post here, please refrain from theories - watch the interviews, comment on the interviews if you like - tell us why they're lying, prevaricating, making up their reality - but anything that sounds like a theory will not be published here. People are welcome to find other avenues for that. Thanks for tuning in.
ReplyDelete