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[Ric Gillespie]

If my understanding is correct, the "patch" shows evidence of having been torn outward from the airframe by water pressure.

That's a whole different and incredibly complex can of worms.  The artifact has no surviving finished edge so it is, without question, a section of sheet that was forcibly removed from a larger sheet.  A variety of forces acted on the artifact to separate it from the larger sheet. Water pressure may have been one of them.

[Jerry Germann]

The word 'ship' as synonym for aircraft seems to have been part of the lingo of those early aviators. It would be interesting to know if the general public of the time used it in this fashion.
I tend to doubt it.

Joe Cerniglia

Another tidbit
.......http://earchives.lib.purdue.edu/cdm/compoundobject/collection/epurdue/id/559/rec/1501
The husband of our aviator of interest, made use of the term "ship" (about 10 times), in this correspondence,.....I see the word plane, but once.... written records seem to suggest husband and wife often used the same terminology....when referring to the Electra.

[Jerry Germann]

Dear Dr Ford,
     
    It has been some time since the introduction of your paper, and I must say I had drifted off to other areas of research, however; coming back to review the paper and all of the comments concerning it, a curious detail came to my attention, this concerning the name that Noonan was said to have called out several times. In Betty's notebook she says she heard Fred call out Marie several times, during the entire episode. Scanning some of the letters Noonan sent home, it appears he never used the name Marie, when referring to his wife, ( Mary Beatrice) or if he did, I missed it, but rather he used a pet name for his new bride, that being a shortened version of his brides middle name Beatrice .... Bee. In all of the letters I have viewed, they begin with or include his pet name for her, ....Bee.
In scenarios such as the one Fred has been described as being involved in, are there any studies or data available to suggest why someone in his suggested impaired state , would revert to calling a loved person by a more formal name, than what he usually tenderly called her?
It just seems puzzling to me that he, in a moment of pure anguish, would try to reach out to that special someone, by using a name or version of her formal name less frequently or never used.
Your thoughts?

Jerry