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October, 1996
Found Objects
| [B-24] Navigator’s Bookcase (TIGHAR Artifact 2-1) | ||
| Date Found: | October 1989 during TIGHAR’s NIKU I expedition. |  |
| Materials analysis: | Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) | |
| Laboratory Report date: | December 31, 1990 | |
| Description: | An open box constructed of .040 inch aluminum with a single row of four .25 inch diameter holes offset left of center on the side facing the opening. Traces of a sloppily-applied greenish yellow coating are present on the interior surfaces. Stamped into the metal in three locations is the designation 28F4023. | |
| Condition: | One side of the box has been removed, possibly with a hack saw, and the remaining corners have been cut apart, apparently with the same tool. Interior fixtures once secured with #4 (4/32 inch) AN442 (flat head) rivets have been removed, leaving enlarged and deformed holes. | |
| Identification: | Artifact 2-1 is Consolidated Aircraft Part Number 28F4023, officially described as Box-Furn., Navig. Book & Paper Stowage. Although designed for the PBY (Consolidated Model 28), this particular bookcase has been modified for installation in a B-24 type airplane. Early examples of the Consolidated Model 32 (B-24C and some B-24D/PB4Y-1 aircraft, a total of 1,653 machines) were equipped with PBY bookcases. Later, Consolidated designed a special bookcase for the Liberator which carried a 32F... part number. | |
| Commentary: | At first, this artifact really had us stumped. It was obviously a PBY part, but the mounting holes indicated that it was never installed in a PBY. Could it have been aboard Earhart’s airplane? It took two years of research to determined that the answer is no, but knowing that it came from a B-24 became important in the light of later discoveries. | |
