New Guinea - Amelia Earhart & Fred Noonan, en route to Howland Island, 2 July 1937

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Also, one of Amelia's original plans for the Pacific flight was her having a leg between Japan and Hawaii, and having the Navy perform mid-air refueling so she could make that in one go. That idea ended up rejected for mostly technical reasons, but if the US really wanted Earhart to spy on the Japanese, I think they would have somehow made her flying over Japan work.

Amelia Earhart's Shoes
 
IF... Amelia had been asked to overfly Japanese islands on her round-the-world tour it would have been far easier to have made air strips on Guam and Wake islands which were US owned, and more safely reached than tiny Howland Island. Such a route would have taken her more near Caroline and Marianas islands being fortified by Japan.

Right. Note there weren't airstrips on Guam/Wake in 1937, but there wasn't on Howland either - the US constructed one specifically for her. If the US was already thinking this much about war that they'd be sending a civilian to do espionage, they'd also have used that as an excuse to build airfields closer to Japan.

The reason Earhart was going so far south was that she was trying to do something other than be the first female to go around the world. The first circumnavigation of the globe by plane had been done a decade earlier, and Wiley Post did it solo in 1933. You could even fly commercially around the world by 1937 thanks in part to Pan Am Clippers (float planes, no airstrip required.)

Earhart was hugging the equator, so she was taking the long way, which also meant she was landing in different (and more exotic) destinations, all the better for the eventual book about her adventure. The problem was a lack of airfields in the pacific, which is why the US built one for her at Howland, and plan B was apparently flying the horizon line (the 157-337 line in Earhart's transmission) hoping that if they missed Howland and Baker, they'd find one of the Phoenix islands (Gardner, Canton, etc.) where they could land and be rescued.
 






[URL='https://www.biography.com/people/amelia-earhart-9283280']Born
on July 24, 1897 in Atchison, Kansas to Amy Otis and Edwin Earhart, Amelia Earhart’s age was 39 when she disappeared. Earhart had a sense of adventure right from childhood and spent a lot of time playing with her younger sister, hunting rats with a rifle, climbing trees, and riding her sled down the hill. In other words, Earhart was the proverbial “tomboy.” Her father would drink heavily and was forced to retire from his job as a lawyer in 1914. Earhart went to Hyde Park High School in Chicago and graduated in 1916. She was constantly thinking about her career, and had a predilection for male-oriented fields like film direction and production, advertising, law, management, and mechanical engineering.

During World War I, Earhart worked as a nurse’s aide at the Spadina Military Hospital. Later, she enrolled at Columbia University for a course in medical studies, but quit after a year. It was on December 28, 1920, when she got to ride on a plane, that Earhart knew what she wanted to do with her life. She said at that time, “By the time I got two or three hundred feet off the ground, I knew I had to fly.” Earhart worked at a variety of jobs including a photographer, stenographer, and truck driver, in order to save money for flying lessons. She worked hard, cut her hair short, wore a leather jacket, and finally learned to fly an aircraft.

Breaking Convention, Setting Records
Despite a continuing sinus problem, Earhart continued to fly and became a capable pilot. After Charles Lindbergh had a successful solo flight over the Atlantic in 1927, several women pilots decided to emulate, or better, this feat. In August 1928, Earhart became the first woman to fly alone across North America and back. In 1932, she became the first woman to fly solo nonstop across the Atlantic Ocean. In early 1936, Earhart started planning a flight around the world. On June 29, 1937, she arrived at Lae, New Guinea, after completing 22,000 miles of the journey. The remaining 7,000 miles had to be flown over the Pacific Ocean.

What Happened to Amelia Earhart?
On June 2, 1937, Earhart and her second navigator, Fred Noonan, took off from Lae in their Electra aircraft. Their destination, Howland Island, was only 2,556 miles away. Contact with Earhart’s plane was lost near the Nukumanu Islands, about 800 miles into the flight. The weather was cloudy and overcast, but attempts were made to reach Earhart through both voice and Morse code transmissions. There is no final determination about the location of the signals from Earhart’s plane, even though a massive search-and-rescue mission was immediately launched. There are reports that signals came up to five days after her disappearance, but they are not confirmed. The official search efforts were made until July 19, 1937, and her husband, George Putnam, later financed a private search effort.

When Did Amelia Earhart Die?
Putnam requested the probate court in Los Angeles, California waive the seven-year waiting period U.S. law put in place for those who are declared death in absentia, so that he could handle Earhart’s finances. The court agreed to his request and declared Earhart legally dead on January 5, 1939. Some people believe that Earhart died earlier in 1937 when her plane supposedly crashed in the Pacific, but no trace of the Electra plane or Earhart was ever found.

Multiple Theories Abound
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There are two main theories surrounding Amelia Earhart’s disappearance. The first is the “crash and sink” theory, where it is believed that the plane ran out of fuel with Earhart and Noonan being left at sea. It is believed that the plane ran out of gas and is currently resting at the bottom of the sea off Howland Island. The second theory is called the “Gardner Island hypothesis.” It is assumed that since Earhart could not find Howland Island, she would have turned south and looked for more islands and made it to Gardner Island (now Nikumaroro), one of the Phoenix Islands. However, Navy planes searched this area within a week of the plane’s disappearance, but did not find any sign of the plane or its occupants...

More at link below...

.........
Source:

https://www.earnthenecklace.com/amelia-earhart-wiki-latest-photo-documentary-death-theories-facts/

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"What Happened to Amelia Earhart?
On June 2, 1937, Earhart and her second navigator, Fred Noonan, took off from Lae in their Electra aircraft. Their destination, Howland Island, was only 2,556 miles away. Contact with Earhart’s plane was lost near the Nukumanu Islands, about 800 miles into the flight. The weather was cloudy and overcast, but attempts were made to reach Earhart through both voice and Morse code transmissions. There is no final determination about the location of the signals from Earhart’s plane, even though a massive search-and-rescue mission was immediately launched. There are reports that signals came up to five days after her disappearance, but they are not confirmed. The official search efforts were made until July 19, 1937, and her husband, George Putnam, later financed a private search effort."

Wasn't it determined that there was contact with Earhart when she should have been close to Howland Island? And at a time that would have corresponded to her arrival in the area of Howland? I think Earhart thought she was close to Howland and the Navy reported that it sounded like she was right overhead. I will have to go back and reread.
 
"What Happened to Amelia Earhart?...
... Wasn't it determined that there was contact with Earhart when she should have been close to Howland Island? And at a time that would have corresponded to her arrival in the area of Howland? I think Earhart thought she was close to Howland and the Navy reported that it sounded like she was right overhead. I will have to go back and reread.

You are correct. The US Coast Guard Cutter Itasca was in the close vicinity of Howland Island to provide a communications and navigation source to Amelia Earhart and Fred Noonan.

Amelia was trying to make contact with Itasca and they did hear her transmissions. Other more distant stations (ship and shore) also heard, logged, and reported transmissions to and from Amelia. It is unknown if Amelia could hear (or understand) any transmissions from Itasca, but it is likely that she got a radio direction finding bearing off one of their transmissions because she stated in her last transmission to them that she was flying "North and South" on a given vector trying to locate Itasca/Howland Island. Such a statement would only make sense if she was referring to it being a vector to/from Itasca.

Some stations reported hearing transmissions AFTER she would have no longer been flying. Those reports were made known almost immediately to newspapers along with news of Amelia's disappearance.

See some of my above posts regarding a recent study of radio transmissions.
 
… As a determined record-breaker, Earhart committed herself to becoming the first woman to fly around the world. In June 1937, she took off from Lae, Papua New Guinea, with her navigator Fred Noonan, intending to land on Howland Island in the Pacific.

On July 2, when approaching Howland Island, the pair radioed the US Coast Guard that they were low on fuel and having difficulty finding the island.

That day, the pair disappeared from the skies forever.

The US Navy and Coast Guards searched for the missing pilot and her navigator for weeks, but could never find ruins of the crash or the pair...

Still no results from the DNA testing mentioned in the below link?

LINK:
Amelia Earhart: DNA testing may prove whether bones from Pacific island belong to famed aviator - CNN
 
Here is an interesting website which shows old abandoned air fields on Pacific Islands as they appear today.

LINK: Abandoned & Little-Known Airfields: Western Pacific Islands


The below link is to a history of Howland Island which includes some photos of it as it appears today. Howland and Baker islands are very close to each other. Howland Island was the destination of Amelia and Fred when they went missing. There was an air strip which had been prepared and a cache of Aviation gasoline waiting for them there.

LINK: Howland Island - Wikipedia
 
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The International Group for Historic Aircraft Recovery (TIGHAR) has been investigating the theory that Earhart landed on Nikumaroro – now part of Kiribati – since the 1980s and has found a pocket knife (left alongside a completed version) which it says is of the same type inventoried aboard Earhart's plane.
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Among the artifacts found on the island is a glass bottle containing traces of mercury. Its design matches that of bottles of Dr CH Berry's freckle ointment – a brand from the 1930s containing mercury.

LINK:
Island bones '99 per cent likely' to be Amelia Earhart's | Daily Mail Online
 
SAIPAN: THE OLD JAPANESE JAIL

The Old Japanese Prison located in Garapan on the island of Saipan is a fascinating historical site. Some researchers believe that Amelia Earhart and Fred Noonan were held prisoner here after being captured by the Japanese on another island.



LINK:
Places In Saipan: The Old Japanese Jail
 
The story of Amelia and Fred being captured by the Japanese and held prisoner on Saipan has been around for a long time.

During World War II, a 1943 movie titled "Flight for Freedom" was roughly based on the sensational aspects of Amelia's disappearance during her 1937 world flight. The film's ending speculated that the main character's disappearance was connected to a secret mission on behalf of the U.S. government.

CBS newsman Fred Goerner researched Amelia's disappearance from 1960 to 1966 and wrote a book titled "The Search For Amelia Earhart". He spoke with Saipan citizens who described seeing a man and a woman held prisoner on Saipan in 1937 and who reportedly died in captivity.

Goerner also interviewed US military personnel who had been stationed on Saipan after it was taken from the Japanese in 1944.

The 1966 book was criticized as fiction at the time because it flew in the face of what was officially accepted as fact that Amelia and Fred simply missed Howland Island and perished at sea.

That book's main premise, however, has been repeated and built upon by a number of other writers since.

Here is a link to some recent reviews of that book:
Amazon.com: Customer reviews: The Search for Amelia Earhart

Here is a link to information on the 1943 movie:
Flight for Freedom - Wikipedia
 
Going against argumentum ad populem is the theory Earhart turned back and crashed on Territory of Papua & New Guinea.

Earhart Lockheed Electra Search Project

Amelia Earhart - Wikipedia

In my inexpert opinion she was a modern day Icarus. The media darling pushed to make a 4th July landing on U.S. soil after her failed first world flight attempt.

There is no doubt that Amelia was hoping for a spectacular conclusion to her "round the world" flight. And what better way to finish than on the 4th of July. She was well aware of publicity and the media attention such an arrival would generate.

The first link in your post is a very interesting one. Titled "Earhart Lockheed Electra Search Efforts In Papua New Guinea (PNG)", the website details the efforts of researcher David Billings to locate Amelia's aircraft in Papua, New Guinea. It states that he intends to do an on site search for the plane in 2020.

Central to his theory is the possibility that Amelia and Fred turned back from their flight at some point (perhaps right near Howland Island) to land in the Gilbert Islands or to attempt a return to Lae.

This is idea of Amelia turning back to Lae is also the basis for a different/separate recent theory and search for the plane mentioned earlier in this thread.

According to the linked website, an Australian Army patrol discovered a twin engined, non-painted aircraft in the jungle of New Guinea in April 1945, while engaged in searching for enemy Japanese military positions and personnel.

Found attached to one of the engines was a metal tag containing notations indicating that it may have come from Amelia's Lockheed Electra Model 10E. The tag's location today is unknown, but the inscription on it was written on the edge of a 1943 map reported to come from that Australian unit.

Mr. Billings did much searching of Australian army archives for Unit situation reports, and interviewed a number of living members of that unit.
 
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Amelia Earhart's aircraft was a Lockheed Electra model 10E. Much has been written about that particular plane and how it was modified into a "one-of-a-kind" flying laboratory, with various new innovations. For her round the world flight, extra fuel tanks were added, and some items of equipment were eliminated to reduce weight.

But her aircraft, although custom modified, was NOT the only Lockheed Electra in existence. There had been many previous models and there were 149 Electra Model 10E's made. (there are at least 9 still in existence in museums today).

The Lockheed Electra Model 10 was the basis for many follow-on designs used for commercial and military purposes by many countries - including Japan. In fact, Japan actually built (under contract with Lockheed) a large number of Electra Model 14 aircraft for military use prior to their attack on the US in December 1941.

This link discusses in detail the Lockheed Electra and its many follow on Models, including pictures:

Lockheed's Electra and Lodestar - Warfare History Network

From the above website:

Quote: (In February 1942) Philippine Airline’s chief pilot, retired U.S. Navy Chief Petty Officer Paul I. Gunn, and the airline’s other personnel were inducted into the Army Air Corps, along with the company’s airplanes, and assigned to an air transport squadron based out of Manila... three Lockheeds, which had been painted olive drab and designated as C-60s, joined his ad hoc air transport unit, which also included some Electras that originally belonged to KLM Airways’ Netherlands East Indies division...

... The Dutch transports were commandeered after the Allied defeat in Java and assigned to transport duty along with a number of Australian military and civilian transports and U.S. Army transports that arrived in Australia in early 1942. ... (These transport planes) operated on missions in New Guinea and the Southwest Pacific. unquote
 
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