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Volume
14, #1 May 1998 |
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The Kanton Mission | |||||||||||
On February 14-16, 1998 a thirteen person TIGHAR team flew to Kanton Island to investigate the possibility that an engine from Earhart’s plane had been inadvertently brought there in 1971 during a U.S. Air Force missile testing program (see TIGHAR Tracks Vol 13, Nos. 2 & 3, “The Canton Engine”). Bruce Yoho, the individual who recovered the engine in 1971 (and now an active TIGHAR member), came along to show us where he dumped the Pratt & Whitney R1340 which he had found on a reef on one of the other islands of the Phoenix Group. Although he was able to locate the spot, we were surprised and disappointed to find that the contents of the dump had since been buried. When Bruce Yoho told us that, in 1971, he had disposed of the engine in a junkyard just off the end of the main runway at Canton Island, the first question we had was, “What happened to the junkyard when the Air Force left?” To find an answer, TIGHAR researchers went to Vandenburg AFB to examine the files of SAMTEC (Space And Missile Test Center), the 1970s missile test program of which Bruce was a part. The paperwork was extensive and it was clear that environmental concerns had a very high priority. Report after report stressed the fragility of the islands’ ecological balance and set procedures to protect plant and animal life. As the Air Force prepared to shut down the project and leave the Phoenix
Islands in March of 1976, there was much official discussion as to how Canton
should be cleaned up. Earlier, some scrap metal had been dumped at sea but
this was determined to be expensive and dangerous. A November 1974 memo on
Environmental Conditions of Canton Island states that “Most bulky
noncombustibles are deposited in an area adjacent to the landfill, but there
are other scattered areas with minor accumulations.” The small junkyard
where Bruce dumped the engine would seem to be one of these. The report
continues, “Although the disposal areas may appear unsightly, they
are not causing any apparent environmental problems or health hazards.”
Consideration was given to building a jetty out over the reef edge for the
dumping of “bulky noncombustible wastes” but a January 1975 report
entitled Environmental Protection rejected the idea as “not feasible.”
It appeared, from our research, that the disposal areas for noncombustible
waste (such as old Pratt & Whitney airplane engines) had been left alone.
We were wrong. |