Did Amelia Get Lost On The Wrong Day?

By earharttruth on

Thanks again to William Trail, today we bring you more entertaining and (mostly) informed speculation from the late Col. Rollin C. Reineck (U.S. Air Force, retired), who wrote several popular articles for Air Classics magazine.

We return to Air Classics, May 1994, for Reineck’s  “Did Amelia Get Lost On The Wrong Day?” 

To bring more realism to the article, we present the original pages as published, photocopied and sent by Mr. Trail.  Some may be hard to read, but if you left click on each page, it will enlarge and you can easily read it, especially with another left click to make it even bigger. 

For more background, see Air Classics, October 1993: “Inside the Earhart Flight: Government Conspiracy?.”  

For a complete collection of Rollin Reineck’s stories you can find in this blog, please click here.

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2 responses

  1. Dave Kapsiak | Reply

    Mike- i am no expert in this field like you are, but it certainly seems pausible. The trip from Howland to Hawaii would certainly seem less dangerous than where she ended up. The only aspect that bothers me, is would she have been willing (even for the sake of the country), to give up her dream of completing this flight and all the plans Putnam had for her?

    I think she would have been brave enough to do this, but would she? Different time in out history when people were more patriotic,but.. I wonder if this plan had been executed if they would have promised her another opportunity (and maybe another plane) to complete the flight at a later time. Still, the question is raised, how could Noonan (regarded maybe the best navigator of his day), got so lost? Too many questions, for which there s no answer. We may never know the answer, although it is probably buried in government files.

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  2. William H. Trail | Reply

    Greetings to All:

    Just a few thoughts…

    I’m reminded of the “Only you can do this job for the Navy!” line appearing on the “lobby card” for the 1943 RKO film “Flight For Freedom” starring Rosalind Russell and Fred MacMurray.

    Nobody practices wheels-up landings with a perfectly good airplane. It’s very risky, expensive, and could have easily, economically, safely, and repeatedly been accomplished just as well with a glider. Also, a wheels-up landing draws much unwanted attention and questions.

    Reporting false weather information that could be checked and therefore be seen as false by your adversary is not a smart move. Neither is planning an operation based on the assumption that your adversary will allow you to conduct a search of his territory.

    In case anyone was wondering, Niihau is pronounced “knee-e-how.” 

    On 7 December 1941, after attacking Bellows Field, Oahu, IJN Naval Airman 1st Class Shigenori Nishikaichi from the carrier Hiryu crash landed his battle-damaged Mitsubishi A6M2 “Zero” fighter on Niihau. Nishikaichi terrorized the island for a week before being killed by a native Hawaiian. Please see “Niihau Zero” (2014) Signum Ops by Syd Jones.

    All best,

    William

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