Amelia Earhart Page 5
Based on some compelling evidence, a number of researchers are convinced that, during the spring of 1937, President Roosevelt summoned one of his special advisers, Bernard Baruch, to enlist the assistance of U.S. Army Air Corps Major General Oscar Westover and travel to California, meet with Amelia Earhart, and convince her of the need for her participation in the plans to gather intelligence via her planned flight.
A short time after meeting with the president, Baruch and Westover traveled by train to the home of Earhart and Putnam in Toluca Lake, California, to conduct a series of three meetings. According to Earhart’s personal secretary, Margot DeCarie, Baruch and Westover arrived during the middle of April 1937. DeCarie states that it was between Earhart’s Honolulu ground loop and the undertaking of her second attempt of the around-the-world flight. Each meeting, she says, lasted three to four hours in length and was held under secrecy at March Army Air Corps Field in Riverdale, California, ninety miles from the home of Earhart and Putnam. So secret were these meetings that Baruch and Westover insisted Putnam be kept away, which infuriated him. Although she was never informed of any details, DeCarie learned that one of the outcomes of the meetings led to a significant change of plans relative to Earhart’s around-the-world flight.
The United States was in need of information relative to Japanese military buildup in the mandated islands of the Pacific, particularly the Marshall Islands. The islands were named after the British navigator John Marshall, who visited them in 1798. Spain claimed ownership, but Germany took possession of them in 1886. During World War I, the Japanese occupied the islands and thereafter claimed ownership. Earhart’s around-the-world flight would provide the perfect cover for a reconnaissance of them.
Earhart researcher Rollin C. Reineck advances the notion that plans were made for Earhart to take off from Howland Island and then feign an emergency. She was to report engine trouble and would send distress signals stating that she was in the area of the Marshall Islands. Following this, Earhart would cease radio transmissions and proceed toward the island of Nilhau, the northernmost island of the Hawaiian group, where a landing field had recently been constructed. There, she and Noonan would remain in hiding until the U.S. Navy completed its search for them. In response to her distress signals, the U.S. Navy would dispatch ships and aircraft to the area around the Marshall Islands under the guise of looking for Noonan and her.
The government assumed that the Japanese would not object to a search-and-rescue effort in the area of the Marshall Islands. Should the imperial leaders refuse, U.S. thinking was that they would soon succumb to world pressure. Following a sweep of the Marshalls, the United States would then announce the rescue of Earhart and Noonan and surreptitiously deliver them to Honolulu.
During an interview conducted in November 1966 and published in the San Fernando Valley Times, DeCarie stated that she knew Earhart “was working for the government.” In addition to the meetings with Baruch and Westover, Earhart also met with other government agents at the Toluca Lake home. DeCarie and Putnam were never permitted to be part of these meetings. During the interviews, DeCarie stated: “To me it looked like she was supposed to get lost on the theory that the Japanese would allow a peace mission to search for her. Then the United States could see if the Japanese were fortifying the . . . islands in violation of mutual agreements.” Author David K. Bowman writes that Earhart, “due to her great celebrity and the high esteem in which she was held everywhere, could be expected to go from coast to coast without difficulty or arousing suspicion.” Earhart’s flight, claims Bowman, “provided the perfect pretext for a covert pre-war global mapping and reconnaissance effort.”
The plan seemed sound. Fate, however, was to intrude and throw the entire Earhart around-the-world attempt into a deeper series of mysteries.
• 13 •Repairs
The damage to the Electra rendered it unsuitable for flying: The right wing would need to be replaced; the right engine and nacelle were nearly torn away; the oleo struts were useless; at least one tire had blown; the right oil tank had burst; the fuel filter neck had been torn open. The fuel was drained from the tanks, and the plane was towed back to the hangar. Plans were already being made to have the plane transported back to the Lockheed factory at Burbank for repairs. When Earhart finally was able to contact Putnam about the incident, he told her to write a first-hand account of the crash and he would get it in all of the newspapers. Most of what the American public learned about Earhart’s crash was the structured press release designed by Putnam and written by Earhart.
With Mantz handling the arrangements, the Army Air Corps prepared the Electra for shipment. It was to be moved from Luke Field and transported across the ocean to a port at San Pedro, California.
The repairs necessitated by the crash of the Electra represented a financial setback for Earhart and Putnam. The cost of the repairs was beyond their current means, so Putnam busied himself with lining up sponsors again. One of his first pleas was to the Purdue University benefactors, several of whom came through with assistance.
While plans were being made for the repairs to the Electra, Earhart met with Manning and informed him that he was to be replaced by Fred Noonan as navigator. Later, Manning stated that he quit the around-the-world enterprise because he had “lost faith in Earhart’s skill as a pilot and was fed up with her bullheadedness.” Author Elgen Long reports that Manning was “gentlemanly” about the dismissal and would return to his responsibilities as a ship captain at the first opportunity.
The Electra was loaded as deck cargo onto the SS Lurline. The total cost to Earhart and Putnam for crating the aircraft and preparing it for transport, for storage, and for other expenses totaled $5,200.
According to a newspaper report, the Electra arrived at San Pedro Harbor on April 2, was off-loaded, and was collected by the Smith Brothers Trucking Company. The plane arrived at the Lockheed factory in Burbank on Sunday afternoon. Following a thorough inspection, Putnam was informed that the cost of repairs to the aircraft would be approximately $12,000. Putnam instructed them to proceed.
During the repairs, Earhart requested that the trailing wire antenna be removed. Radioman Joe Gurr decided to attach an antenna mast on the top of the fuselage as a replacement for the trailing wire setup.
The only exit on the right side of the Electra was an escape hatch over the wing. Because of the fuselage fuel tanks that had been installed, this hatch was rendered useless. A new exit was fashioned by replacing the lavatory window with a hatch.
The two engines had been removed, disassembled, and completely inspected. Each of the propellers had to be replaced, but the propeller hubs were deemed to be in good condition. It was estimated that the Electra would be ready to fly in a month.
As the repairs to the Electra continued, the money to finance them was slow in arriving. Putnam, ever the entrepreneur who was experienced in getting people to respond, drafted a letter to one of the principal sponsors and a Purdue benefactor whose contribution was late. Putnam informed the sponsor, as well as the president of Purdue, that Earhart’s story of the flight would be carried in thirty-eight major newspapers around the world and that sponsors would be prominently mentioned.
By the middle of May, the Electra was ready for testing. As Gurr briefed Earhart on the operation of the radio equipment he had installed, it became clear to him that she was hesitant about using it. Further, she had not taken the time to familiarize herself with the new Bendix receiver.
As ground and flight testing of the Electra proceeded, Earhart, after studying weather charts and determining that she did not want to fly into the patterns that existed this time of the year, considered that it might be best to orient her flight from west to east instead of the original east-to-west plan. The Pacific portion of the flight would thus become the last leg of the trip rather than the first.
By the time the Electra had undergone complete repairs and modifications, the total cost was estimated to be around $25,000. A $20,000 contribution fr
om Vincent Bendix of Bendix Radio arrived, as did a check for $10,000 from Floyd Odlum, Jackie Cochran’s husband. Curiously, a donation arrived from Bernard Baruch, an adviser to President Franklin D. Roosevelt.
On May 20, 1937, Earhart flew the Electra from Burbank to Oakland. From Oakland, she decided, she would soon begin her second attempt at the around-the-world flight, but she withheld a public announcement of her plans.
The Coast Guard cutter Shoshone left Honolulu in May bound for Howland Island, where it would deposit thirty-one drums of flight fuel and two barrels of lubrication oil ostensibly for the Electra. The U.S. Navy tug Ontario was scheduled to leave American Samoa as soon as it took on fuel and supplies. The tug would monitor Earhart’s flight and assist when necessary.
A bit of a mystery surrounds the repair of the Electra. When the craft was returned to Oakland, it was placed in a remote section of the airfield far from the runways. Robert Myers claimed that while newspapers were reporting that the plane had been shipped to Burbank, it was, in fact, parked at the airfield in Oakland, covered by a large tarp, and placed some distance away from the runways such that the mechanics and technicians who were working on it had to drive their vehicles from the hangar to the plane. The craft was under around-the-clock security, and no unauthorized personnel were allowed near it. According to Myers, a crew of three mechanics worked on the plane twenty-four hours per day.
All of the factory electronics had been stripped out of it, including the radio. Myers knew the crew members and would listen to their conversations in the coffee shop from time to time. He heard one of them mention that they had removed all of the wiring and radio equipment, all to be replaced with new specifications. All of the work was conducted under tight security, and the tarp was never removed from the aircraft. On one occasion, Myers claimed, he heard Harry Manning state that they were doing things to the Electra that he had never seen done before. Before he departed after being released by Earhart and Putnam, Manning made the comment, “Something is funny about this flight.”
At one point, the Electra was towed into the nearest hangar. Days later, as Myers was sitting in the coffee shop, he spotted the Electra’s fuselage strapped onto the bed of a large truck. The wings were strapped down alongside the body of the craft, and the wheels had been removed. The truck stopped outside the coffee shop and the driver entered, ordered a cup to go, and was preparing to leave when Myers asked him where he was taking the plane. He said it was to be delivered to Burbank. Myers presumed it was going to the Lockheed factory and said as much. The driver told Myers he couldn’t say any more because it was all “top secret.”
The entire business of repairs being conducted on the Electra has given rise to another series of mysteries. During a visit to the airport ten days later, Myers noticed that the Electra had been returned and reassembled. It was parked near the hangar and was being washed down. On closer inspection, however, Myers became convinced it was not the same airplane, noting that a number of features were significantly different from the plane that he had seen earlier. Where the Electra had earlier sported a loop-style navigation antenna, it now had a navigational bubble located farther aft on the fuselage. The reconfigured aircraft had different navigational lights. The engine cowlings were either different or had been painted. The door to the navigator’s compartment was also different. The plane that had been sent off to Burbank for repairs had a door with a window in it, but the one that was returned had a door with no window. Some have argued that these were simply modifications made to the original aircraft, but Myers was not so certain.
A Lockheed Aircraft Company mechanic named Robert T. Elliot, who was interviewed years later, stated that he did modifications on the aircraft to allow the installation of two Fairchild aerial survey cameras. He was quoted as saying that the business of repairing the Electra “was just a ruse.”
Carroll F. Harris, a Navy clerk who had been assigned to transfer secret Earhart files to microfilm, recalled seeing the “complete details, along with photographs, of the installation and operation of the Fairchild aerial survey cameras in the belly of the [Electra].” Harris also stated that the files contained information on modifications of the aircraft’s electrical system “so that it could handle the increased load placed in it by the surveillance cameras.”
Lloyd Royer, another Lockheed mechanic who worked on the Electra, said that “the plane in which Earhart departed on her second attempt was different from the one used in the original attempt.” Royer implied that the Electra had not been repaired but that it had been replaced.
When Earhart arrived at the airport from Los Angeles, she took one look at the Electra and, according to Myers, said, “Why did they have to do this to my plane? I loved my old plane. Who is paying for this?” Later Myers heard Noonan mention that the new aircraft would have a lot more power. Much to his amazement, Myers also learned that every empty space and every compartment in the new plane had been filled with ping-pong balls. This was not a novel procedure. Prior to an earlier long-distance flight over open water by pilot Henry T. “Dick” Merrill, his plane had been filled with ping-pong balls to provide for greater buoyancy should the plane have the misfortune of coming down on the water.
In 1982, Myers interviewed a former Lockheed employee, Rollo Christy, who had been assigned to work on Earhart’s plane when it had been returned to the factory. Cristy said he had been given the job of adding the ping-pong balls. Christy also mentioned observing a lot of “sophisticated camera equipment” that had been installed in the Electra. Once while wandering around the hangar, Myers spotted several boxes of camera film that were marked for loading into the Electra. In addition, he saw a large camera that had a U.S. Navy insignia on it.
Years later it was learned that around this time, Army Air Corp Corporal Joseph Pelligrini was assigned to the first photo mapping group at Bolling Field, Washington, D.C. Pelligrini’s assignment was to draw up the guidelines for installing cameras in a “civilian aircraft to be flown by a female pilot engaged in an intelligence flight.” According to Pelligrini, a female pilot was to take photographs of Japanese mandated islands in the Pacific Ocean.
Days later while seated at a table in the coffee shop with Earhart and Noonan, Myers witnessed the aviatrix yelling at her navigator and asking him what he knew about all of the camera equipment that had been added to the airplane. She asked him, “Why is [Putnam] doing all of this? Why won’t he tell me a thing?” Noonan responded that he was in the dark about the entire matter.
Myers noticed Putnam coming and going at the airport more often as the time approached for the around-the-world flight. Myers came to the conclusion that Putnam was in charge of the entire enterprise, that he was making all of the decisions related to the flight. Myers found Putnam to be “a most disagreeable person” and observed him behaving in an abusive manner toward his son.
During another visit to the coffee shop, Myers overheard a conversation between Earhart and Noonan wherein she commented that she knew her husband was up to something and that he wouldn’t tell her anything, that he wouldn’t even talk to her anymore.
On one occasion, Myers reported that as he was walking home from the coffee shop, he “saw Putnam hitting his son . . . and yelling at him for leaving the parked car.” He claimed that on seeing him, Putnam pushed his son aside and approached Myers, angry. Putnam demanded to know what Manning and Earhart had told him in the coffee shop. Before Myers could reply, Putnam yelled, “You’ve heard and seen a lot of things you were not supposed to, kid, haven’t you?” Myers continued walking away but Putnam screamed at him to stay away from the airport. Myers then stated that Putnam said, “You’d better stay away from here. I don’t want to see you around here again. If I catch you around here again, you will disappear and no one will know where to find you.”
As a young boy, Myers was unaware of the import of what he heard and observed. His recollections of that period, however, would contribute to unraveling one or more of the mysteries that we
re beginning to surround Amelia Earhart and would continue to do so long after her disappearance.
Over the years, a number of Earhart enthusiasts have been critical of Robert Myers’s accounts regarding the aviatrix, in large part because those accounts differed from the critics’ own points of view. For a time, Myers became defensive about the criticism and refused to talk about his relationship with Earhart. Then, as an adult, he subjected himself to a series of lie detector tests. The results indicated he was not making up any of his stories.
• 14 •Fred Noonan
From all outward appearances, it seemed as though Fred Noonan was the ideal partner to accompany Amelia Earhart on her planned around-the-world flight. For those intimate with Noonan and his history, however, his selection as navigator was a surprise to many and has caused numerous questions to be raised over the years.
Noonan was forty-four years old at the time of the preparations for the flight. Noonan claimed to have been born in Chicago, but no record of such has ever been found. Allegedly, he attended public schools in Chicago as well as a private military academy. The name of the academy is unknown. In addition, he claimed to have studied at the London Nautical College. Documents to support these contentions have never been found.
Noonan joined the navy at seventeen years of age and spent twenty-two years as a merchant sailor and officer. He survived the sinking of three ships struck by German U-boat torpedoes during World War I. Noonan earned a master’s license for oceangoing ships of unlimited tonnage. Later, he qualified for a license as a Mississippi River boat pilot.
Noonan eventually quit the sea and moved into aviation. While living in New Orleans in 1929, he took flight training at the Texas Air Transport SAT division in nearby Chalmette. In January 1930, he was issued a pilot’s license for transport planes. In 1930, he started working for the New York, Rio, and Buenos Aires Airlines that later merged into Pan American Airways. In 1935, Noonan navigated the first round trip of the four-engine flying boat, the China Clipper, between San Francisco and Honolulu. Later, he mapped Pan American clipper routes across the Pacific Ocean. In 1934, he was assigned to the newly established Pan Am Pacific Division, headquartered in San Francisco.