Timeline of the second round-the-world attempt
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Ric Gillespie, 3 March 2000 Forum.
Names and political affiliations of destinations shown as of 1937. Distances in statute miles.
Timeline of transmissions heard from NR16020 during the last flight.
Leg # | From | To | Date | Statute miles | Remarks |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
1 | Oakland, California | Burbank, California | 20 May | 325 | From Oakland to Miami AE and Fred were accompanied by AE's husband, George Palmer Putnam, and her mechanic R.D. "Bo" McKneeley. |
2 | Burbank, California | Tucson, Arizona | 21 May | 450 | Engine fire after refueling; forced to stay overnight for repairs. |
3 | Tucson, Arizona | New Orleans, Louisiana | 22 May | 1250 | |
4 | New Orleans, Louisiana | Miami, Florida | 23 May | 675 | |
24 May |
| ||||
25 May | |||||
26 May | |||||
27 May | |||||
28 May | |||||
29 May | |||||
30 May |
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5 | Miami, Florida | San Juan, Puerto Rico | 1 June | 1033 | |
6 | San Juan, Puerto Rico | Caripito, Venezuela | 2 June | 750 | |
7 | Caripito, Venezuela | Paramaribo, Dutch Guiana | 3 June | 667 | |
8 | Paramaribo, Dutch Guiana | Fortaleza, Brazil | 4 June | 1200 | |
5 June | One day layover; crew rest. | ||||
9 | Fortaleza, Brazil | Natal, Brazil | 6 June | 268 | |
10 | Natal, Brazil | Saint-Louis, French Senegal | 7 June | 1961 | Unscheduled--"navigational difficulty." |
11 | Saint-Louis, French Senegal | Dakar, French Senegal | 8 June | 103 | |
9 June | One day layover for maintenance. | ||||
12 | Dakar, French Senegal | Gao, French West Africa | 10 June | 1130 | |
13 | Gao, French West Africa | Fort-Lamy, French Equatorial Africa | 11 June | 989 | |
14 | Fort-Lamy, French Equatorial Africa | El Fasher, Anglo-Egyptian Sudan | 12 June | 700 | |
15 | El Fasher, Anglo-Egyptian Sudan | Khartoum, Anglo-Egyptian Sudan | 13 June | 501 | Refueled in Khartoum. |
16 | Khartoum, Anglo-Egyptian Sudan | Massawa, Italian Eritrea | 13 June | 450 | |
17 | Massawa, Italian Eritrea | Assab, Italian Eritrea | 14 June | 300 | Confusion about AE's intentions resulted in an erroneous press report that she was overdue at Karachi. It was thought that she would fly non-stop from Massawa to Karachi, but she landed at Assab and stayed overnight instead. |
18 | Assab, Italian Eritrea | Karachi, India | 15 June | 1600 | |
16 June | One day layover for maintenance. | ||||
19 | Karachi, India | Calcutta, India | 17 June | 1390 | At this point in the flight AE anticipated that she would reach Lae on June 23 or 24, and be home by June 28. |
20 | Calcutta, India | Akyab, Burma | 18 June | 335 | |
21 | Akyab, Burma | Rangoon, Burma | 19 June | 306 | For the first time in the flight, weather became a serious problem. Originally intending only to refuel at Akyab on 18 June, heavy rain forced them to abort their attempt to continue. Another attempt to reach Bangkok the next day (19 June) was cut short by severe weather and a landing was made at Rangoon. |
22 | Rangoon, Burma | Bangkok, Siam | 20 June | 300 | Refueled in Bankok. |
23 | Bangkok, Siam | Singapore, British Crown Colony | 20 June | 904 | |
24 | Singapore, British Crown Colony | Bandoeng, Java, Dutch East Indies | 21 June | 560 | |
22 June | Maintenance. | ||||
23 June | Maintenance. | ||||
25 | Bandoeng, Java, Dutch East Indies | Surabaya, Java, Dutch East Indies | 24 June | 355 | Instrument malfunctions--problems with the Cambridge Exhaust Gas Analyzer--were addressed by mechanics of KLM East Indies Airlines. In a telephone conversation with her husband, AE said she still hoped to be home by July 4th.[2] |
26 | Surabaya, Java, Dutch East Indies | Bandoeng, Java, Dutch East Indies | 25 June | 355 | Continued instrument difficulties forced a return to Bandoeng for additional repairs (26 June).[3] |
26 June | Instrument repairs. | ||||
27 | Bandoeng, Java, Dutch East Indies | Koepang, Timor, Dutch East Indies | 27 June | 1165 | |
28 | Koepang, Timor, Dutch East Indies | Port Darwin, Australia | 28 June | 500 | Receiver fuse replaced in Darwin. |
29 | Port Darwin, Australia | Lae, Territory of New Guinea | 29 June | 1207 | Communicated with Darwin but not Lae (telegraphed wrong frequency). |
30 June | Delayed in Lae for weather reports, time check, "personnel unfitness." | ||||
1 July | Failed direction finding test in Lae. Weather reports, time check. | ||||
30 | Lae, Territory of New Guinea | Howland Island, United States Territory | 2 July | 2556 | This, the longest and most difficult leg of the flight. Arrival in Oakland by the 4th of July was now out of the question and Putnam would do well to get Amelia's planned book World Flight (ultimately to be titled Last Flight) published in time for the Christmas market. Line difficulties delayed Noonan's receipt of vital time checks needed to set his chronometer, and contrary winds prevented the heavily laden takeoff until the morning of July 2. A position report received at Lae later that day indicated that the flight was on course and on schedule. At Howland Island, the next morning, radio messages from the approaching flight placed it within roughly 100 miles, however, AE's attempts to use radio direction finding to locate the tiny island were unsuccessful. At noon the flight was declared overdue and presumed down. |
(31) | Howland Island, United States Territory | Honolulu, Oahu, Territory of Hawaii | 1900 | ||
(32) | Honolulu, Oahu, Territory of Hawaii | Oakland, California | 2410 |
- Total miles planned: 28,595.
- Total miles flown (Oakland to vicinity Howland Island): 24,285.
References
- ↑ Goerner, The Search for Amelia Earhart (p. 172-174). TIGHAR has neither confirmed nor refuted this claim. On the face of it, the day before resuming the around-the-world attempt seems like an unlikely time to have a wisdom tooth removed. Then again, the prospect of getting relief from an impacted molar may have been adequate motivation for the oral surgery.
- ↑ Finding Amelia, p. 59: "When the United DC-3 arrived at the terminal in Cheyenne, passenger Putnam was told that there was an international phone call waiting for him from Surabaya, Java. Earhart told him of the delay but assured him that she would be able to continue on to Australia in the morning. The three-minute call cost $24."
- ↑ "We spent considerably more time in Java than we expected to – had some minor, but important, instrument adjustments to be made, and as the Dutch Line is using the new DC3 Douglas – equipped with similar instruments – we decided to have the work done in their shops at Bandoeng, Java. We remained there from last Sunday until yesterday – Saturday. Took off once and got as far as Surabaya – about three hundred and fifty miles – only to have the instruments fail again – so returned to Bandoeng. They are functioning perfectly now, thank goodness for the Dutch mechanics" ("The Helen Day Letters," 27 June 1937.)