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

[Richard]

.... Speaking of Nikumaroro, anyone seen this (non-TIGHAR expedition to examine the “Taraia Object”)

The image appears to be a boat dock. It certainly isn't an aircraft.

The constant references to Nikumaroro by various groups over the years get more doubtful each time. If the objective is to raise money for further expeditions, then perhaps their speculations and "finds" are successful.

But to-date, not a single piece of valid evidence has been found to substantiate a Nikumaroro landing by Amelia and Fred.

There have also been numerous stories about finding her airplane here or there - or finding some corroded part that Might have been from her plane. None of which have panned out - except perhaps to keep the story alive and in the news.

 

[Richard]

A second batch of documents regarding the search for Amelia has recently been released.

It includes a request by Eleanor Roosevelt for the radio logs of the Itasca, correspondence between the US Secretary of State and Japan's Ambassador to the US, and a statement from President Roosevelt on the cost of the search.

 

[Richard]

What has been released recently is information and documents which have been declassified from whatever origional classification(s) they were assigned. It is likely that other documents are being reviewed for similar declassification prior to release.

 

[Richard]

The Imperial Japanese Military was extremely cruel in their treatment of prisoners throughout World War II - which started ( for them) in July 1937 with their invasion of China.

Chinese and others were tortured and murdered wholesale. Torture and maltreatment of POWs, denial of food and medicine were common, even when available to the Japanese captors. These war crimes are well documented.

A number of Marshallese, Chamorro, and Saipanese islanders stated that they knew of a white woman pilot, and an injured white man who had been held as prisoners of the Japanese military at several places between Mili atoll and Saipan in July 1937. Some accounts claim that they died of illness or were executed on Saipan.

While solid forensic evidence or corroberating Japanese documentation is lacking to support those accounts, they are very consistent with what is well known about Japanese practice and policy of the era.

 

[AirForceVet24]

Heres my opinion about Amelia Earhart and Fred Norman,

I do not think that there aircraft will ever be found. Why? In my opinion, I think that when they landed that the aircraft broke up into a million pieces. It feels like every year I hear something about a new search being done for them and while its great an all, I am very skeptical that they made it anywhere near Howland island, just because the waters surrounding that entire island has been extensively searched over the years.

 

[Dotta]

https://twitter.com/x/status/2010168493736386901

 

[Gators North]

https://twitter.com/x/status/2010168493736386901

I hope that they’ll find the plane someday!

 

[Richard]

Amelia Earhart with her husband George Palmer Putnam. Amelia and here navigator Fred Noonan went missing 2 July 1937.

 

[Richard]

The below maps give a general idea of the intended flight path of Amelia Earhart and Fred Noonan's aircraft. Unfortunately exact track of their flight is unknown due largely to their lack of position reporting over their radio.

These maps and others give researchers a general idea of the locations of various islands and island groups and put the planned flight course in geographic perspective.

Some points of interest besides their destination of Howland Island are: Gardiner Island (now called Nikumaroro) where some believe she crash landed her plane. Mili Atoll, where some believe she landed or ditched, Jaluit Atoll where Marshallese witnesses stated that Amelia and Fred were transported along with their recovered aircraft.

Saipan is just north of Guam and was where some claim they were transported by the Japanese military and imprisoned.

Below is a link to a new website which discusses recently declassified and released documents about their flight and the search for Amelia and Fred:

What Did Amelia Declassified Files Reveal? - Amelia Earhart Declassified Files

Released Confidential Files Declassified Files: New Clues Emerge Discover how recently released government documents are reshaping our understanding of Amelia Earhart’s disappearance and reigniting the search for answers. Declassified Discoveries Unveiled Key Revelations from Newly Released...

amelia-earhart.org

 

[Dotta]

https://twitter.com/x/status/2016110674875736562

 

[nhmemorymaker]

The below maps give a general idea of the intended flight path of Amelia Earhart and Fred Noonan's aircraft. Unfortunately exact track of their flight is unknown due largely to their lack of position reporting over their radio.

These maps and others give researchers a general idea of the locations of various islands and island groups and put the planned flight course in geographic perspective.

Some points of interest besides their destination of Howland Island are: Gardiner Island (now called Nikumaroro) where some believe she crash landed her plane. Mili Atoll, where some believe she landed or ditched, Jaluit Atoll where Marshallese witnesses stated that Amelia and Fred were transported along with their recovered aircraft.

Saipan is just north of Guam and was where some claim they were transported by the Japanese military and imprisoned.

Below is a link to a new website which discusses recently declassified and released documents about their flight and the search for Amelia and Fred:

What Did Amelia Declassified Files Reveal? - Amelia Earhart Declassified Files

Released Confidential Files Declassified Files: New Clues Emerge Discover how recently released government documents are reshaping our understanding of Amelia Earhart’s disappearance and reigniting the search for answers. Declassified Discoveries Unveiled Key Revelations from Newly Released...

amelia-earhart.org

@Richard .... so apparently this information does suggest there was no coverup as to what the goverment knew or did not know..... but why do you think these files were classified for so long.

 

[Richard]

@Richard .... so apparently this information does suggest there was no coverup as to what the goverment knew or did not know..... but why do you think these files were classified for so long.

A well researched book written in 1985 by Vincent Loomis and Jeffrey Ethell is: Amelia Earhart the Final Story. It covers her Round the World flight attempt in detail, including the final leg of flight from Lae.

Although most maps like those I posted above depict a straight line course from Lae to Howland Island, Loomis states that Amelia and Fred's course out of Lae was to fly over Nauru Island (seen on map above post) where many bright lights would be shining, and then head directly to Howland.

Loomis puts forth his reasons for believing that, failing to locate Howland, they turned west and ditched off Bare Island in Mili atoll.

Loomis cites various testimonies from eyewitnesses (islander and Japanese) to further state that Fred and Amelia were captured by the Japanese military, transported by ship (along with the recovered plane) to Jaluit island where Fred was given medical treatment for head and knee lacerations.

From Jaluit they were transported by ship to another Japanese held Island (or islands) and then flown to Saipan on a Japanese military seaplane.

On Saipan, they were imprisoned at Garapan City jail where they were either executed or died of illness (accounts vary).

The above scenario is also one expressed by Mike Campbell in his book mentioned in a previous post.

As to why the US documents are/were classified, I cannot state authoritatively. But there were likely a number of different reasons. Diplomatic communications were probably one. Ship movements and capabilities would be another. A good possibility might be that documents were classified to protect confidential sources or codes.