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Research Document #21 |
A Letter Home From Sid Harvey |
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The first attempt by the U.S. Navy to search
for Amelia Earhart was the dispatch of a PBY Catalina flying boat
from Pearl Harbor to Howland Island. Weather forced the flight to
abort, but a letter written by the commander of that flight has come
to light which provides new information about the orders under which
the flight was operating.
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July
24, 1937
Dear Mother: —
Your recent letter to
us and the birthday cards to the girls were much appreciated. We have wondered
for a long time whether you had seen our colored movie and how you liked it.
It was our first attempt in colors and at first we were a little skeptical
how it would turn out and were pleasantly surprised at most of the scenes.
I am glad Norma and
Ernest heard my one big broadcast. It being quite late at night there I doubted
whether any of you would hear it. I seemed to get quite famous as a result
of my flight when I thought that I would be ridiculed for turning around
in the face of bad weather. In any event the flight never had much chance
of success because of the distance involved, total lack of any facilities
in that area and total lack of information as to where to look. My prospects
for cracking up were about 10 to 1 after searching for a little over 10
hours. I would have had to land down there by sundown in the open sea which
had heavy swells with numerous white cap showing. There is no anchorage
available either for a plane or ship so the Itasca would have tried
to take me in tow for several days until our small tender could arrive to
hoist me on board. Even the tender would have broken the plane’s hull, because
the plane was bigger than her available space. So in view of those prospects
my orders on leaving here were not to hesitate to return if any adverse
conditions were encountered. I attempted to get through or around the storm
for over two hours – couldn’t get through and it seemed too big to go
around. I went about 370 miles to the west – over my course to get around.
Having encountered heavy rain, snow, sleet and ice I had to give up, when
my fuel ran low to the point that I could just get back to Pearl Harbor
bucking a 30 knot head wind which is the prevailing wind in this area. As
it turned out the average wind on the return trip was only about 15 knots,
therefore I had gasoline to spare when I landed here. It was a hazardous
flight – in the face of the existing conditions – coupled with the fact
that it was a single plane flight out of all shipping lanes and only one
ship in the 1650 (nautical) miles between here and Howland. If I had gone
down enroute it would have been four days before the nearest ship could
have gotten to me.
Needless to say I am
glad it’s behind me.
We are all well and
working hard – including the girls who are busy as bees every minute of
the day —
Love to all
Warren
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