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[Ric Gillespie]

Larry Inman drew my attention to this undated photo showing AE and FN in front of the plane's vertical fin with a map that appears to show the rote of the world flight - but which world flight?  The route across the U.S. appears to go Oakland, Lafayette, IN (Purdue), Miami - or vice versa.  I don't recall the planned route across the U.S. for the conclusion of the east to west first attempt but the "secret" beginning of second attempt went Oakland, Burbank, Tucson, New Orleans, Miami.

[Arthur Rypinski]

Ric-
So, the eagle logo in the upper left hand corner indicates that the chart is a US Navy hydrographic office product, according to my recently acquired catalog, most likely HO 1262, "Track Chart of the World."   Here is an attractive and colorful 1961 edition of the same chart from the David Rumsey collection:

http://www.davidrumsey.com/luna/servlet/workspace/handleMediaPlayer;JSESSIONID=ad5ad71b-5995-443e-966a-a150fb848f8a?qvq=&trs=&mi=&lunaMediaId=RUMSEY~8~1~266201~5524911

This is not, of course, a navigation chart, though it might be useful to note where one's planned track crossed shipping routes.    Rather, it is a map one would show to the press and potential donors to show the route.   It would be helpful to know the circumstances under which the photo was taken, but my guess would be that a flight path passing through Lafayette, IN would be something that one might show to the Purdue crowd.  It might even have something to do with the very quiet departure from Burbank on the second attempt.

adr

[Jerry Germann]

http://earchives.lib.purdue.edu/cdm/singleitem/collection/earhart/id/1148/rec/4

I found this map in the Purdue files, prepared for Earhart by Clarence Williams, I don't know if this is the final version of the route on the first attempt, but looks like a path coming up from the south instead of across the U.S.

[Jerry Germann]

This insert in the New York Herald Tribune ; http://earchives.lib.purdue.edu/cdm/compoundobject/collection/earhart/id/3763/rec/46  ....preflight advertising publicity.

[Ric Gillespie]

Looks like the same route as shown on the map in the photo.  However, if the photo was taken prior to the first attempt it had to have been taken between March 13 when Noonan first joined the enterprise and March 17 when they left for Honolulu.  All the other photos I've seen taken during those few days show all four of the people who would make the flight - AE, Mantz, Manning and Noonan.  The presence in this photo of only Eahart and Noonan makes me suspect that this photo dates from April or May.  It's clearly a posed photo-op.  They haven't yet announced the change in direction so they're using a chart that shows the old route.

Incidentally, the original plan for the world flight was for it to begin and end at Purdue.

[Arthur Rypinski]

I have finally succeeded in ordering a copy of HO 825, 1st edition 1934, revisions through 1941, "Southern Pacific, Sheet 3" from the National Library of Australia in the form of a high-resolution TIFF file, cost AU$ 45.   Some person in Canberra must now extract the map from where it now sleeps, run it through a large format scanner, and post the file somewhere for me to download.  The NLA writes that it will take a few weeks. 

The NLA does not have a copy of any edition of HO 1262, "Tracking Chart of the World."     However, I was able to find an image of a 1943 edition in an old Ebay auction.  This version shows the shipping routes as an overprint on a base map HO 1262a, "Outline Chart of the World," and it does not resemble the chart Earhart is holding in the photo.  There is no logo in the upper left corner, and there are two sets of titles, the original and the overprint.  However, I hypothesize that this is a hasty wartime revision, and that the pre-war HO 1262 more closely resembles the photo, the post-war version and other pre-1930 US and British charts with the same title.

[Arthur Rypinski]

Okay, the National Library of Australia took my money, promptly scanned HO825, the 1941 version, and  gave me access to a download site.  The scanned file was 1.7 GB in TIFF format, and the download site was was limited to about 0.1 mb/second.  However, after a few hours, I had the file in hand, which declined to load in my rinky-dink image editing software.  After another day or so, I was able to dig out some 64-bit software that could actually display a file of that size.  It is still not clear (to me) whether this is a color or grayscale image.  I think the file may have the different color bands stored independently, and thus far I have only seen the "blue" color band.    I have ordered a hefty memory upgrade, and will later will obtain some commercial image-editing software.

  In the mean time, I attach a jpeg of the top of HO 825 in grayscale.   This is ample to show the extents of the chart, which islands are shown, which islands are labeled, and the positions of the islands shown.   While it will likely to be impossible to know for sure what chart(s) Mr. Noonan used, IMHO, this chart is the most likely:  it was readily available (price $0.70) in a recent edition (1936) and covered the entire route of the Lae-Howland leg on one piece of paper.  It also included the islands of the Phoenix Group, with both the name of the group and the names of the individual islands (including Gardner) listed.  It also has Nukumanu labeled, which may be perhaps be significant.

I later discovered that the National Library has the also has 1936 edition, which, of course, is the one we really want.  I do not think that there are any substantive differences for our purposes between the two versions, but given the debates on "what the charts show"  it seems best to go and get the 1936 edition.

[Arthur Rypinski]

herewith a jpeg of the bottom of the chart, covering the dates and revisions...

[Ric Gillespie]

While it will likely to be impossible to know for sure what chart(s) Mr. Noonan used, IMHO, this chart is the most likely:  it was readily available (price $0.70) in a recent edition (1936) and covered the entire route of the Lae-Howland leg on one piece of paper.  It also included the islands of the Phoenix Group, with both the name of the group and the names of the individual islands (including Gardner) listed. 

I think you've established that there was a chart available that covered the entire route of the Lae-Howland leg on one piece of paper but it may be fair to ask whether that was desirable given the confines of the working space aboard the Electra.  I imagine H.O. 825 is a rather large piece of paper.

For both the crossing from Oakland to Honolulu in March and for the South Atlantic crossing from Brazil to Senegal in June, Noonan used at least two charts rather than one that covered the entire route.

It also has Nukumanu labeled, which may be perhaps be significant.

It may be an argument against H.O. 825.  Earhart gave a position report (POSITION 4.33 SOUTH 159.7 EAST HEIGHT 8000 FEET OVER CUMULUS CLOUDS WIND 23 KNOTS) that roughly corresponds to the Nukumanu group but she didn't say anything about the islands.

[Jerry Germann]

Thank you for providing the information,Arthur, and going through personal expense to do so. In the sale description, it mentions the map as being 118 cm x 81 cm ...conversion for us old guys, who haven't learned the metric system, it comes out to being a map about 46 inches x 32 inches.

[Ric Gillespie]

Thank you for providing the information,Arthur, and going through personal expense to do so. In the sale description, it mentions the map as being 118 cm x 81 cm ...conversion for us old guys, who haven't learned the metric system, it comes out to being a map about 46 inches x 32 inches.

The width of the Electra cabin in the area of the navigator's station is 46 inches.  The width of half of the cockpit (if Noonan is holding a map while sitting in the right seat) is 27 inches.

I don't recall the dimensions of H.O. 5050  Strategic Planning Chart No. 3  July 1924 Edition (the "Murfin Map") but, from this photo taken by Kurt Kummer, it's clearly much smaller.

[Arthur Rypinski]

After a memory upgrade and developing some minor knowledge of GIMP, I have wrestled the 1.9 GB file from the National Library of Australia down to a 6 MB jpeg or so, in color, with the various labels still readable. 

Getting the file down to a manageable size, however, makes it much easier to look at the contents.  The file from Australia was named PGTaylor, and the penciled initials "PGT" appear twice on the lower right corner.   I concluded that the this particular chart was used by a notable Australian aviator, Gordon Taylor, aka Sir Patrick Gordon Taylor, MC, OBE, GC (1896-1966).  Taylor deposited his papers with the National Library.   Taylor learned to fly with the RFC in World War I, and was credited with five kills.  After World War I, he studied engineering and air navigation, and became a line pilot for Kingsford-Smith and Ulm's Australian National Airways.  He served as co-pilot and navigator for both Kingsford-Smith and Ulm on many of their pioneering flights.  During World War II, commissioned in the RAAF and later the RAF, he flew flying boats between the United States and Australia. There is a current biography of Taylor in print:  "The Man Who Saved Smithy."

Taylor apparently used the chart to navigate several flights out of Samoa, including a flights to Palmerston Island, Fiji, New Caledonia, and Sydney, using (it appears) dead reckoning, celestial navigation, and compass bearings on lighthouses and landmarks, presumably circa 1942.  The chart is creased, and clearly was at one time folded into several sections. Possibly Taylor dealt with the size of the chart by folding it, a technique also available to Fred Noonan.  The piece of HO 825 that would have been of interest to Noonan is the top 12" or so  of the chart, along with the 32" width.

adr

[Jerry Germann]

Thank you Arthur, for sharing the interesting history tied to the map. Curiosity about what size/ style maps Noonan may have used during both flight attempts, (I always thought he used strips of areas), and whether they might be user friendly in the cramped Electra, compelled me to do a google search, and one site I came across that mentioned maps Noonan used was this one; https://sites.google.com/site/fredienoonan/discussions/navigation-to-dakar
and this link;https://sites.google.com/site/fredie8799e/atlantic-crossing , mentions an Atlantic map used on the second flight and mailed back after use as being about 43 in x 35 in...so if this information is correct , we seem to have an example of a map close to the size of #825 in use by Noonan.
I attached a few images of map usage by Manning and some maps in the cabin with Bo Mcnealy, ( Earhart mechanic), that appear fair size, so I don't know as we could rule out # 825 due to it's dimensions, however; up until now, studying Purdue photos and viewing other sources of information, haven't provided conclusive evidence that Noonan had this map aboard, though it would seem to be an ideal one, .....still looking.
This site; http://www.oceangrafix.com/chart/detail/125-North-Atlantic-Ocean-Southeastern-Sheet has Map 956a for sale, the same version used by Noonan.
 ( larger image)  http://www.paracay.com/store/images/thumbnails/1000/1000/detailed/23/125.jpg

[Jerry Germann]

Looking at the map that Noonan mailed back to the states, it looks unevenly folded, as the crease lines don't line up with the borders or Longitude/latitude lines. I wondered if this was due to the map being persuaded into a flat small envelope, instead of inserted into a cylindrical tube. My search of map images in the Purdue files and other sources, yielded no cylindrical tubes used by the Electra crew, rather most images show maps loosely rolled, and having no protective covers. My initial Purdue files search was with the hopes of catching a glimpse of any maps with numbers carried by Earhart or Noonan, but have thus far yielded negative results. One topic point in this thread was map size, ....I have attached a Purdue held image, whereby it appears a map held under Fred's arm seems quite large, and un-neatly folded, so , it may be that perfectly folded maps weren't a priority. One interesting item on map 956a returned by, Noonan, is the name of a company that supplied maps and nautical instruments to those searching to secure such. Louis Weule Co, in San Francisco. It would be interesting to find out if they have any records pertaining to Noonan and any subsequent purchases by him. They do have searchable archives, http://www.oac.cdlib.org/view?docId=kt4s203874&developer=local&style=oac4&s=1&query=Earhart&servlet=view&x=12&y=13 , but they seem to end in 1920. Further research may produce results.
Link to map returned by Noonan, that bears the Weule Co stamp  .... https://sites.google.com/site/fredie8799e/atlantic-crossing.... click on SA 3 jpg to view download.

[Jerry Germann]

The NLA does not have a copy of any edition of HO 1262, "Tracking Chart of the World."     However, I was able to find an image of a 1943 edition in an old Ebay auction.  This version shows the shipping routes as an overprint on a base map HO 1262a, "Outline Chart of the World," and it does not resemble the chart Earhart is holding in the photo.  There is no logo in the upper left corner, and there are two sets of titles, the original and the overprint.  However, I hypothesize that this is a hasty wartime revision, and that the pre-war HO 1262 more closely resembles the photo, the post-war version and other pre-1930 US and British charts with the same title.

Arthur,

NARA has a good older version of a HO 1262a map in it's holdings,(1925-1936) and one very old version ( 1891)..here are a few images; ( all map images credit to NARA)

Did anyone notice a Barbara Island NE of ( Holland) Howland Island on the 1891 map? Wonder what happened to that?