30 years of research in the new book
Tuesday
SHE WAS NEVER LOST: THE AMELIA EARHART SAGA - a six minute clip of footage from Aslito field June 18, 1944
People have been posting comments on the YouTube page where this resides:
3 days ago
"This is a" Six minute advertisement for a book. The "photographic evidence" is a blurred, shadowy picture of something under a tarp.
My reply:
AMELIA EARHART'S PLANE FOUND ON SAIPAN IN 1944 BY US MARINES. PHOTOGRAPHIC EVIDENCE OF THE PLANE
Wow. Jaded much are we? The book has four decades of research, interviews, transcripts from the Marines who found the plane. I can't post all of that in a single clip. So the clip points to the book. The photo itself is not proof, the photo is from the US Marines footage (easy to find on YouTube) from June 18, 1944, the day before the plane was found by US Marines. (and reported in the book as such). the idea that the photo is going to prove something is silly - what the footage proves is that there were only two hangars standing on Aslito when the footage was taken. And only one had planes in it. So when the Marines were ordered to guard it the following day - there was only ONE HANGAR THAT HAD PLANES IN IT. And as the book notes a dozen Marines, GI's, vets saw it in the only hangar on the field. It's inference. If one actually reads the book SHE WAS NEVER LOST they'll see that I was as shocked as anyone to realize there was already footage of the plane in that hangar that they guarded.
If Amelia was never lost… why didn’t she return to the United States?
My reply:
AMELIA EARHART'S PLANE FOUND ON SAIPAN IN 1944 BY US MARINES. PHOTOGRAPHIC EVIDENCE OF THE PLANE
Because no one knew where to look for her. (or the ones who knew where she was couldn't reveal that as it would prove they'd broken the Japanese naval code). She was alive up until 1944. She knew where she was. The people who did her laundry, who guarded her, who escorted her around the island, who put her in a cell next to people who later reported seeing her - she knew where she was. It's these ridiculous people who dismiss what islanders say, who dismiss what the Marines have said, who dismiss the eyewitness reports - they're just like the military brass who decided to bury the story because it was inconvenient in the middle of a war. Today I was on a podcast and the podcaster asked "so why didn they not report finding her plane?" I replied, "Ask yourself why Churchill didn't save innocent Brits when he knew that the V2 bombs were on their way to kill them." He did so because in the middle of the war - even though the Enigma machine's code had been broken - if he saved those innocent lives, it would have revealed they'd broken their codes. And the US had broken their Navy codes in the early 1930's but no one was talking about it. The answer is; she was expendable when they knew she was on Saipan. She knew where she was, and knew she wasn't coming back. And if you read the book, she says so IN HER OWN WORDS. She landed the Electra on a coral reef, was arrested, and put in prison for the next 7 years of her life. None of that was a mystery to her.
And right here on the same page as the video, 7 more videos saying things like "The Search is over" about her plane being found elsewhere, a couple showing pictures of "the plane" in 2 different places, both under water and "just been discovered". They are all certain and positive they have solved the riddle. Yours is just one of many, and probably all are wrong. Your pix of her plane in the corner reminds me of the picture of the shooter on the grassy knoll in Dallas.....all imagination, seeing things in something that is just a blur and nothing more.
my reply:
AMELIA EARHART'S PLANE FOUND ON SAIPAN IN 1944 BY US MARINES. PHOTOGRAPHIC EVIDENCE OF THE PLANE
I understand the dismay, disbelief and general arguments. All I can say is that I worked on both feature films about her (Keaton and Swank) have been to Saipan, have filmed 15 new eyewitnesses, have gathered over 200 island witnesses, have filmed half a dozen GI's including the Marine who decoded that message that said they'd found the plane and then guarded it "in a hangar." Only one hangar had planes in it - clearly in the footage. So I appreciate "my pictures" comment - but they aren't "my pictures" - it's 16mm footage taken on June 18th, 1944. And when I went to Baldwyn Mississippi to interview Marine Nabers, he said "he remembered it as if it were yesterday "June 19, 1944." He decoded that message - and then I've interviewed another five who saw it "in a hangar" and then have gathered dozens of GI's who "heard they'd found it on the field." It takes a certain amount of spirited denial to argue with Marines who found her briefcase, passport, maps, found a photo album with photos taken during the Last Flight, found the plane in a hangar, watched it test flown and then destroyed.. this photo is from that footage, and points to the data, the research, the data, the testimonies in the book SHE WAS NEVER LOST: THE AMELIA EARHART SAGA. Read it, don't read it - I don't care to argue something that's moot. Silly actually. but thanks for weighing in so I could repeat this comment ad nauseum.
Comment:
When I read Mr Nabers's name, along with Colonel Wallace's - I just about jumped out of my chair! This was my father's regiment, the 8th. He was in communications detail, a radio man & radio repairman, in Weapons Company, 8th regiment, 2nd Marine Division. I had corresponded with Mr Nabers many years ago (sometime in the 90s) - at that time I believe he was the president of the Mississippi chapter of the 2nd Marine Div Association. My father passed in '81 - but had I known about the possibility of Earhart's plane being there, I'd have surely asked him about it, along with many other details of their time in the Marianas, and Tarawa before that - that I have since learned much more about. He once mentioned being at a hangar and finding crates of unassembled Zeros, which were confiscated of course. Also, there are numerous eyewitness accounts by elders of Saipan about "the lady pilot". We may never know exactly what happened to her and Mr. Noonan.
My reply:
AMELIA EARHART'S PLANE FOUND ON SAIPAN IN 1944 BY US MARINES. PHOTOGRAPHIC EVIDENCE OF THE PLANE
Thanks for weighing in... yes, I nearly jumped out of my chair when he said "I remember it as if it were yesterday" over the phone. I said "hold that thought" and flew to interview him in Baldwyn Mississippi. Everything he told me is corroborated by other marines or vets (Tom Devine, Doug Bryce, etc) In the book SHE WAS NEVER LOST there are numerous excerpts of interviews with GI's saying the same things (some from Devine's book, some from my footage). It's moot. The point is - over 200 people saw her on Saipan, and their stories have been gathered.Most were islanders, but some were soldiers. So yes, I've heard a lot about Lt. Col Clarence Wallace - as Julious called him "a bird colonel who didn't suffer fools lightly." My favorite quote of his is when an Army press officer asked to take his picture he said flatly "no." The officer insisted two more times, "it's good for morale" and Wallace turned to him and said "if you take my picture I will shoot you dead." The fuller interview with EJ is in the book, and the documentary about "Earhart's Electra" that I did back in 2012 has most of that footage. Thanks for weighing in. (Fred was executed - either for throwing soup at a soldier, or for admitting being a spy. Either way multiple reports say it was a beheading - which was reserved for soldiers to give them a "quick return to Tushita heaven." So if the multiple reports are accurate about the beheading it's likely because of the idea that he saved Amelia by saying he was the spy. She was seen on the island as late as the spring of 1944.
READ THE BOOK
On the side of this page are longer interviews with EJ Nabers, Tom Devine, Robert Wallack, etc.
Monday
PROMO FOR SHE WAS NEVER LOST: THE AMELIA EARHART SAGA
https://youtu.be/23_loCUPoWs
ON OUR PODCAST 9-18-25 "ROBERT REDFORD" AMELIA IS ASKED "IS IT ACCURATE THAT THE ELECTRA IS IN THE FOOTAGE POSTED?"
SHE SAYS IT IS. FOOTAGE OF THE ELECTRA IN A HANGAR ON ASLITO AIRFIELD FILMED ON JUNE 18TH, 1944 (The plane was discovered the next day, when US Marine E J Nabers said he "decoded the message from CincPac that said "We have found Amelia Earhart's airplane on Aslito airfield." He told me on camera that date was June 19th, 1944 and that "he remembers it as if it was yesterday."
The day after this footage was lensed.
The Electra is sitting in a hangar under camouflage with two other Zeros. She's parked facing the wall in the hangar, because she was longer (55') than the Zeros (39 feet). The Zeros and the Electra were both 10 feet in height, both had wingspans of 38 feet, but the Electra was 15 feet longer.
In this footage one can see the third plane was longer than the other two.
Amelia (from the Flipside) confirms that this was her plane under wraps.
FOOTAGE OF THE ELECTRA.
ON SAIPAN.
1944
Here's the clip that AMELIA EARHART is referring to: https://youtu.be/F3m4Q69K_Yg
Here's my latest promo for the book SHE WAS NEVER LOST: The Amelia Earhart Saga. At the end is footage of a hangar at Aslito airfield on Saipan. This footage appeared on my YouTube feed, so I watched it. I realized it was taken June 18th, 1944, THE DAY BEFORE US Marine EJ Nabers said he "decoded the message "we have found Amelia Earhart's airplane on Aslito airfield."
I'd seen the footage before, but this time I watched it with fresh eyes. There's an intact hangar with three planes inside. Two Japanese zeros and a third plane under camouflage. The two Zeros are facing outward - 10 feet high, 39 foot wingspan, 38 foot length - they both fit the hangar. But the third plane didn't so it is turned sideways facing the wall. The Electra was also 10 feet high, also had a 39 foot wingspan, but was 55 feet long. (There's a typo in the promo where I mixed up wingspan and length on the Electra. It's 55 feet long)
Whatever aircraft this is, it's too big to face the same way as the Zeros. This footage was taken before they announced "finding her plane." (Nabers was ordered to guard the plane for 24 hours and many GI's corroborated his story - seeing him there - seeing the electra in this hangar. Later Nabers decoded a message saying they were going to fly it where multiple witnesses saw it, then decoded the message they were going to destroy it, which Nabers and others corroborate what he said)
So without further adieu - here's the promo for the book, but it also includes footage of this mystery plane at the end. I've put in calls to my NTSB pals to see if they agree or disagree. But ... we'll ask Amelia on the flipside if this is accurate. I couldn't wait until Thursday to ask Jennifer Shaffer Take a look.
Friday
SHE WAS NEVER LOST: THE AMELIA EARHART SAGA is #1 at Amazon kindle in its genre
"WOW!!!!!" (that was Phillip Noyce's reaction to this being released.) Celebrate every step of the way - "we're number one!" This is a MIND BENDING BOOK.
Part Citizen Kane/Part Rashomon, it covers the Amelia story from a number of angles, including talking to her directly offstage. When you self publish, you have no clue if anyone will ever see it. But she's been haunting me (okay, more like bugging) since Abbie Adams Yaffe suggested I wrote a script.
Worked on the D Keaton version, the Hilary Ann Swank version, and thanks to mediums who reached out to me and told me that "there's a pilot who wants to speak to you" this book exists.
Special thanks to Jennifer Shaffer for her amazing ability to talk to folks offstage like a cellphone. (She works daily with law enforcement agencies). But she found time to help me tell this story. A heartfelt thanks!
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