Amelia Earhart (6 page)

Numerous explanations were offered for the cause of the ground loop, some of them in relative agreement and others conflicting. Harry Manning was quoted as stating that Earhart was responsible for the crash and that it resulted when she began “jockeying the throttles on takeoff . . . she simply lost it.” At this point, Manning claimed he began to have second thoughts about accompanying Earhart on her around-the-world flight. A short time later, Manning made it clear to everyone that he would not accompany Earhart on her trip when it was tried again.

In support of Manning's contention, Paul Mantz said Earhart “had a tendency to hold runway alignment by jockeying the throttles rather than using the rudder.” Mantz implied that the accident was completely Earhart's fault. Putnam bridled at this criticism and began making plans to eliminate Mantz from the flight team.

There were some who held a different perspective relative to the ground loop, suggesting that it was done deliberately. There exists some controversy as to how much gas was pumped into the tanks prior to the takeoff attempt. It has been contended that the tanks held very little fuel. If the aborted attempt had been planned, explosion and fire potential would be minimized with nearly empty fuel tanks. The possibility has also been advanced that it was not Earhart at the controls of the Electra when the ground loop occurred, but Fred Noonan. This, however, has never been verified. Noonan, in truth, was visibly affected by the setback. It was reported that he grew depressed and locked himself in his hotel room.

During the nearly eight decades that have passed since the accident, the notion that the ground loop was deliberate has been proposed by others. Robert Myers stated he was informed by one of his neighbors in Oakland who had been stationed in Honolulu at the time of the accident that when Earhart began her takeoff process, “it looked very odd and the consensus among those who were involved and present at the time was that the takeoff was deliberately aborted.”

Aircraft mechanic Arthur Kennedy stated that Earhart was a fine pilot and expressed disbelief regarding the ground loop. He said there was “something fishy” about the event. Kennedy was regarded as one of the top airplane mechanics of the 1930s.

Kennedy also stated that the initial report of the crash was incorrect and misleading. He approached Earhart and told her that her ground loop was not a normal one, that it had clearly been forced. Earhart responded that it was none of Kennedy's business and insisted that he not repeat his observations to anyone. Kennedy reminded Earhart that an inspector was due to arrive the next day and something would have to be done to the airplane.

Visibly irritated, Earhart admonished Kennedy, “You didn't see a thing. We'll just force the gear back over to make it look natural.” She then exacted a promise from Kennedy not to say anything about the crash. Kennedy agreed, and he kept his secret until 1992, when he related the experience in his book,
High Times: Keeping 'Em Flying
.

Later, when the airline mechanics quit for the day and left for home, Kennedy and Earhart “jacked up the wing off the floor and reset the right landing gear using an eight-foot pry bar. While they were working, Earhart explained to Kennedy that while she was in the Electra making preparations to take off, she received instructions that she must abort the flight. She refused to tell Kennedy who issued the order.

In his book, Kennedy also related an incident wherein Earhart and Mantz were involved in a heated discussion, with a furious Mantz telling Earhart that the Electra could not possibly ground loop at takeoff speed.

Later, Earhart invited Kennedy and his wife out to dinner. During the meal, Earhart appeared very nervous and upset and explained to Kennedy that a lot depended on him keeping his silence regarding his interpretation of the ground loop. Earhart told him that “she was on a secret mission that had to look like a normal civilian flight.”

The obvious question is: Why would Earhart deliberately cause the Electra to crash? A number of answers have been offered over the years, but the one advanced that carries with it some logic and fits all aspects of the circumstances is: with the damage done to the plane—and it was somewhat minimal—it provided a reason for the craft to be shipped back to Oakland and to the Lockheed factory at Burbank, where it could be repaired but also refitted specifically for the secretive purposes attached to Earhart's around-the-world flight.

Author Randall Brink wrote that after Earhart ground-looped the Electra, “the Navy and Coast Guard completely took over the flight. Amelia . . . made no decisions anymore, and we had no contact with her.” During his research, Brink located a memo from President Franklin D. Roosevelt “in which he tacitly ordered the U. S. Navy to assist on Earhart's flight.” In truth, it went beyond that; the government offered to subsidize Earhart's flight around the world in return for full control of the project. Earhart agreed.

B
ased 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.

T
he 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 from 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.