Amelia Earhart (7 page)

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 were 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.

F
rom 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.

No one doubted Noonan's abilities as a navigator. In truth, he was famous, almost legendary, among navigators for his pioneering Pan American Airways work and was regarded as the most accomplished aerial navigator in the world. He soon earned a reputation as being competent with the complexities of celestial navigation and in a short time was regarded as one of the most experienced navigators in the world—when he was sober. Though never noted in his military and professional records, it was well known that Noonan had a drinking problem.

In spite of his numerous and documented successes at Pan Am, the “official” story was that he resigned from the company after seven years. Another version of his departure from Pan Am, and likely the true one, had to do with Noonan's well-known drinking problem; the company was forced to let him go. According to author Vincent Loomis, “No one in the aviation industry would touch him . . . because of his addiction to alcohol.” As it happened, Noonan was living in Oakland as Earhart and her team were preparing for the flight around the world.

At one time or another, Putnam, Mantz, and Earhart all expressed some dissatisfaction with the navigational abilities of Manning. William Miller of the Bureau of Air Commerce asked Putnam how the Oakland-to-Honolulu flight had gone, and Putnam commented on concerns relative to Manning's navigational problems. Miller told Putnam about Noonan, praised him highly, and suggested that he could set up a meeting between the two men. A conference was arranged a few days later, and by the time it was concluded, Noonan had agreed to assist in the navigation as far as Howland Island. Earhart met with Noonan a short time later. With the passage of a few more days, he would be selected to replace Manning as navigator.

As preparations continued for the around-the-world flight, Noonan was filing for a Mexican divorce from his wife. Approximately one week later, he and his fiancée, Mary B. “Bee” Martinelli, eloped to Yuma, Arizona, and were married on March 27. Noonan and Bee were driving the Golden Gate Highway near Fresno on the way back to Oakland, Fred at the wheel, when they experienced a head-on collision. The subsequent investigation showed Noonan was driving in the wrong lane of traffic. Acquaintances suspected Noonan was drunk.

At the time, Noonan held a second-class commercial radio operator's license that he had earned around 1931. This type of license required “transmitting and sound reading at a speed not less than sixteen words per minute in Continental Morse Code and twenty words per minute in plain language.” In 1935, Almon Gray, a Pan American Airways flight officer, observed that Noonan could send and receive plain language at speeds of only eight to ten words per minute. Ultimately, it was determined Noonan had limited facility with Morse code.

Some confusion exists today over whether or not Noonan held military rank during the around-the-world attempt. A letter from the Office of the Chief of Naval Operations dated December 29, 1960, dealing with the Earhart disappearance referred to “Commander Noonan, her navigator.” Other references to Noonan in the Earhart literature refer to him as Captain Noonan, and some insist he was a reserve officer in the U.S. Navy. Still others suggest Noonan may have been assigned to active duty prior to the flight with Earhart and was, in fact, under orders from the U.S. military. While a provocative suggestion, it has never been proved.

G
eorge Palmer Putnam was ubiquitous at the Oakland airport. From time to time he received visitors who appeared to be officials or dignitaries of some kind whom he would escort to the hangar where the Electra was being worked on. On those occasions, Putnam would order all of the mechanics and technicians out of the building and tell them not to return until he informed them it was all right to do so. Even Earhart was instructed to leave on occasion. During these mysterious visits, the aviatrix would generally retreat to the coffee shop and visit with Noonan and Mantz.

Once as he was passing by the table where the three sat in conversation, young Robert Myers overheard Earhart ask of Noonan and Mantz whether they knew who the visitors were and what they thought Putnam was up to. Neither of the two men had any idea.