#tighar

"Not much more than a month ago, I was on the other shore of the Pacific, looking westward. This evening, I looked eastward over the Pacific. In those fast-moving days, which have intervened, the whole width of the world has passed behind us, except this broad ocean. I shall be glad when we have the hazards of its navigation behind us."  -- Amelia Earhart, a few days before her final flight

Description:

On July 3, 1975, the Ministry of Justice in Japan responded to an inquiry by Amelia Earhart researcher and investigator Major Joe Gervais. Gervais had sent a letter to the Department of Immigration and Naturalization in Tokyo, operating on the hunch that Earhart had been taken prisoner and held on Saipan during WWII but under an assumed identity. The Ministry of Justice responded, saying the woman in their custody was known to them as Irene Craigmile. This was not a name mentioned by Gervais to the Japanese authorities. So, who is Irene Craigmile? Craigmile and Earhart were acquaintances and pilots who looked similar, but photos show they are two separate people. This begs the question for the “Japanese Capture” theory of Earhart’s disappearance: who then went down with the plane that was apparently ditched near Buka Island in Papua New Guinea? Were these two women connected via some secret mission, and is the plane at Buka a version of Earhart’s Electra 10-E? These questions and evidence are just a few of the puzzle pieces of the enduring mystery of Earhart’s fateful last flight, meticulously stitched together by William “Bill” Pennington Snavely, Jr. in his latest book, Lost in Flight: Amelia Earhart, Giving Cover as a Decoy for a Spy Plane. In 2018, Bill was a guest on our show, where he outlined his research leading to a startling theory of Earhart’s plane possibly having crashed near the coast of Matsungan Island near Buka, eventually sinking to a depth of 109 feet. Two main aspects of Bill’s investigation that remain novel are that, unlike the other researchers, he calculated his flight tracking starting from the last known location and then traced backward and that his team is the only one with an aircraft to investigate whose characteristics match the Electra. Bill’s multiple expeditions to Buka have yielded intriguing evidence supporting his claim, evidence which has previously been kept under wraps due to nondisclosure agreements. However, as his research in the intervening years continued, a new hybrid theory emerged from his discoveries that may solve the disconnect between “Japanese Capture” and the wreckage at Buka. Could it be that a failed reconnaissance mission led to one of the greatest coverups in US history? Bill Snavely is now free to disclose the shocking findings he revealed in his book. Also joining us is longtime friend and fellow podcaster Chris Williamson, whose podcast Chasing Earhart and its companion book, Rabbit Hole: The Vanishing of Amelia Earhart & Fred Noonan, is the definitive interview collection. Prepare to suit up as we dive for the truth behind one of the world’s most famous and significant aviation enigmas.

Reference Links:

CLICK HERE to purchase Lost in Flight: Amelia Earhart, Giving Cover as a Decoy for a Spy Plane, by William “Bill” Pennington Snavely, Jr. from The Paragon Agency™ and SpecialBooks.com

CLICK HERE to purchase Bill Snavely’s previous book on Earhart and the Buka discovery, Tracking Amelia Earhart: Her Flight Path to the End

SpecialBooks.com from The Paragon Agency™

CLICK HERE to purchase Chris Williamson’s book Rabbit Hole: The Vanishing of Amelia Earhart & Fred Noonan

Irene Craigmile Bolam

1987 Marshall Islands postage stamp showing Earhart’s Electra from the “Amelia Earhart Controversy” website

Astonishing Legends episode 106: Earhart’s Plane Found?

Astonishing Legends Bonus Episode: EARHART'S PLANE? UPDATE WITH BILL SNAVELY

Astonishing Legends episode 90: Chasing Amelia Earhart with Chris Williamson

Astonishing Legends episode 4: Amelia Earhart Vanishes Part 1

Astonishing Legends episode 5: Amelia Earhart Vanishes Part 2

Buka Island

Jaluit Atoll

Imperial Japanese Naval ship the Koshu

“The Ground Loop Monster” from Trent Palmer’s YouTube channel

Ground Loop on Wikipedia

The Hawaiian island of Niʻihau

“Aircraft [Lockheed 10E Electra ZK-BUT painted as ZK-AFD]” entry on the New Zealand Museum of Transport and Technology website

Lockheed Electra stock photo images from the dreamstime.com website

Boxfish Robotics website

The MV Indies Trader surf exploration vessel, which took part in Quiksilver's Crossing from 1999-2005

Martin Daly, Australian Captain, and surfer

Location:

Matsungan Island, part of the Buka Island collection in eastern Papua New Guinea. Matsungan Island is where a young boy claimed to see an airplane ditch into the sea within 100 yards of the shoreline, with its left wing on fire and the occupants trying to use their radio before the plane sank. None of his fellow islanders believed him at the time, but in 1995, a local sponge diver named Teolo and his partner found the wreck of an aircraft resembling an Electra submerged in 109 feet of ocean water and a few hundred yards from the shore.

Related Books:

CLICK HERE to purchase “Lost in Flight: Amelia Earhart, Giving Cover as a Decoy for a Spy Plane” by William Pennington Snavely, Jr. from SpecialBooks.com

CLICK HERE to purchase Bill Snavely’s previous book on Earhart and the Buka discovery, Tracking Amelia Earhart: Her Flight Path to the End

Suggested Listening:

Woo Woo with Rachel Dratch

Comedian Rachel Dratch gets a little bit Woo Woo, discussing stories of the unexplained, the eerie, and other-worldly with her funny friends in her new comedy podcast, Woo Woo with Rachel Dratch. Along with her co-host Irene Bremis, Rachel invites guests to share stories they may only tell a trusted pal who will not judge. Psychics? Spirits? Astral Projection? Check, check, and check! Sure, you may think we live in a world where there’s a logical explanation for anything out of the ordinary, but after you spend some time with Rachel and her pals, you might have your doubts, and find that… you too are WOO WOO! Join Rachel, Irene, and friends in a comedy podcast that turns the mysterious into a lively conversation among kindred spirits. Search for Woo Woo with Rachel Dratch wherever you’re listening now!

Suggested Viewing:

CLICK HERE to watch the documentary Earhart’s Electra: Eyewitness Accounts of What Happened to Amelia Earhart’s Plane by Richard Martini

Find us on YouTube!

Click this text to find all Astonishing Legends episodes and more on our Youtube Channel https://www.youtube.com/c/Astonishinglegends

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Click HERE or go to patreon.com/astonishinglegends to become one of our Patreon members and receive exclusive offerings, like our bonus Astonishing Junk Drawer episodes (posted every weekend the main show is dark) commercial-free episodes, and more!

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CREDITS:

Today, Fictospherian Jeffrey Holloway vets the competing theories regarding what happened to Amelia Earhart, famed aviator and ghosting champion of 1937. #AmeliaEarhart #FredNoonan #missingpersons #disappearances #femaleaviators

Famed aviator Amelia Earhart (39 years old), flight navigator Fred Noonan, and their Lockheed Electra airplane disappeared over the central Pacific Ocean on the morning of July 2, 1937 on her planned round-the-world flight.  Her intended destination was Howland Island (which was about halfway between Hawaii and Australia).  The U.S. Coast Guard had sent the cutter USCGC Itasca to Howland to help…

Today, Fictospherian Jeffrey Holloway vets the competing theories regarding what happened to Amelia Earhart, famed aviator and ghosting champion of 1937. #AmeliaEarhart #FredNoonan #missingpersons #disappearances #femaleaviators

Famed aviator Amelia Earhart (39 years old), flight navigator Fred Noonan, and their Lockheed Electra airplane disappeared over the central Pacific Ocean on the morning of July 2, 1937 on her planned round-the-world flight.  Her intended destination was Howland Island (which was about halfway between Hawaii and Australia).  The U.S. Coast Guard had sent the cutter USCGC Itascato Howland to help…

By Cleve R. Wootson Jr., Washington Post, September 15, 2016

As America endured the drab years of the Great Depression, Amelia Earhart’s exploits were a bright spot.

She broke gender barriers by completing solo flights most male pilots hadn’t accomplished and traveled the country speaking of women’s empowerment and the glorious promise of air travel.

Then, she vanished.

Her mysterious disappearance over the Pacific Ocean in 1937 has vexed historians and fueled conspiracy theories for decades. Earhart was declared dead after the U.S. government concluded that she crashed somewhere in the Pacific, her plane sinking to the seabed as she tried to become the first woman to circle the globe.

But an alternate theory of what became of Earhart and her navigator, Fred Noonan, has recently resurfaced in the news.

Ric Gillespie, the director of the International Group for Historic Aircraft Recovery (TIGHAR), thinks Earhart spent her last days as a castaway on a desolate Pacific island.

Stranded after a crash-landing, Gillespie believes, Earhart used the radio from her damaged plane to call for help for nearly a week before the tide pulled the craft into the sea.

Gillespie, a pilot and accident investigator, has made 11 expeditions to Gardner Island, in the Western Pacific. He’s trying to raise money for a 12th to support this theory--and maybe find Earhart’s plane.

He posted a video presentation about the Gardner Island theory on YouTube last month and recently touted “New Research, New Evidence, New Understanding.”

But, he said: “We’ve been testing this hypothesis for 28 years. ... This supposed new theory is actually the oldest theory.”

“We found a tremendous amount of support for it,” Gillespie added.

Some of that support comes from Earhart’s radio signals seeking help, which investigators say most likely emanated from an area near Gardner Island, Gillespie said.

And a 1937 British expedition exploring the island for settlement snapped a photo of what Gillespie said shows part of the landing gear from Earhart’s plane sticking out of a reef.

“On an uninhabited island, there shouldn’t be anything sticking up out of the water,” Gillespie said.

Adding to the body of evidence, Gillespie said, the radio in Earhart’s plane could not work if it had been in the water as suspected; yet she sent out radio signals for nearly a week after apparently crashing.

“Earhart made a relatively safe landing at Gardner Island and sent radio distress calls for six days,” Gillespie said in the YouTube presentation. “There are 47 messages heard by professional radio operators that appear to be credible.”

In 1928, Earhart became the first woman to fly alone across the Atlantic Ocean. Nine years later, she sought to fly around the world. But she encountered trouble somewhere over the Pacific.

Some think Earhart’s Lockheed Model 10 Electra ran out of fuel and plummeted into the Pacific. Others say she and navigator Noonan were captured by the Japanese, who thought they were spies.

But Gillespie thinks Earhart and Noonan made it to the ground injured but intact.

They were looking to refuel at Howland Island, halfway between Hawaii and Australia, but strong winds had thrown them off course, and nighttime navigation was impeded by an overcast sky, Gillespie said.

Gillespie said he thinks that as the plane’s fuel tanks emptied, Earhart and Noonan spied a landing spot on Gardner Island, now called Nikumaroro, about 400 miles south of Howland. The coral atoll has a wide reef that is dry at low tide--a serviceable landing strip.

Gillespie said he think the landing was rough but survivable. Earhart had minor injuries; Noonan’s were worse, based on Earhart’s alleged radio calls, which TIGHAR has studied.

(Gillespie and his wife are the only paid members of the Pennsylvania-based group, although he says TIGHAR has a team of experts and more than 1,000 members.)

And the airplane still had fuel--not enough to get anywhere, but enough to power the plane’s battery and work the radio, Gillespie said. He and others at TIGHAR researched how much fuel the plane could carry, then calculated how much the engines had consumed before Earhart’s distress calls.

“She’s out there calling for help,” Gillespie said, adding that radio operators he talked to--and others written about in published reports--felt certain they were listening to Earhart. “They recognize her voice. There’s no doubt in their mind.”

As evidence, Gillespie cites an interview with Betty Clank, a ham radio operator in Florida who claimed to have heard Earhart and was put in contact with TIGHAR.

“What she heard is not just a woman calling for help, there was a man with her and he seemed to be out of his head,” Gillespie said. “And he was grabbing the mic. The whole thing reads like a 911 call.”

The half-hour presentation shows the depth of TIGHAR’s research on Earhart’s final flight. There are topographical maps of the seabed around Gardner Island, details about the paths of radio signals, even calculations about air speed and fuel burn.

In their expeditions, TIGHAR members think they have found other evidence of Earhart’s final days:

According to the Times of London:

His group has found improvised tools, shoe remains and aircraft wreckage, as well as pieces of a pocket knife, bits of make-up and bone fragments. Mr. Gillespie said that credible radio operators recognized Earhart’s weak voice in a message about six hours after she went missing. She said that she was injured but not as badly as Noonan.

A Texas housewife also heard her pleas on shortwave radio. In Florida a young radio listener grabbed a notebook and began to transcribe a “very confusing” distress call that may have referenced a shipwreck on the island.

TIGHAR posted its conclusions about Earhart’s demise on its website.

“Earhart (and possibly Noonan) lived for a time as castaways on the waterless atoll, relying on rain squalls for drinking water,” the site says. “They caught and cooked small fish, seabirds, turtles and clams. Amelia died at a makeshift campsite on the island’s southeast end. Noonan’s fate is unknown.”

Their plane was washed into the Pacific, TIGHAR claims. During a previous expedition, Gillespie says the group found a piece of what appears to be the Electra.

Lockheed P-38 in Wales

Using Underwater Sonar to Understand Earthquakes

C O N T E N T S: KEY TOPICS As mentioned above, they are all suffering from a navigation failure due to an encounter with a series of potent low frequency compression waves generated either by a seabed earthquake, an explosive volcanic eruption, an underwater explosion, navy sonar, oil industry air-gun array, or a violent impact of a heavenly body with the surface of the sea. ( Read about…