In discussing various hypotheses about how the object ended up where it was in October 1937 we make the assumption that it is what it appears to be.
And I guess that is where I circle back to the thoughts/documents/communications leading to that assumption, and laying all of it out there, so that any disinterested party can make their own judgment about what they are looking at.
Now that the
TIGHAR Tracks is out (noble effort, by the way), what I am getting at is source material - the methods, calculations, communications, etc., that led to the conclusion that what is on Bevington's photo is in fact from our favorite Electra. To wit:
- Jeff Glickman calculated where the BO is by comparing period photos with more recent photos. OK, so - What methods did he use, which photos, retrieved from where, what archive, what website, which specific photos, what data points were used for the triangulation, why were those chosen, exact methods and calculations used to determine the relative positions, exact methods used to determine the size of the BO in the Bevington photo, etc.;
- The State Department, all e-mails and other communications with TIGHAR regarding the status of the BO, what the State Department people said, what they based their opinions on, what methods they used to form those opinions, documents exchanged between TIGHAR and State about the BO;
- Rationale for why the alignment of the various pieces in the BO was chosen by TIGHAR, what pieces of the aircraft, why those, other examples consulted for comparison, etc.
- All communications regarding what else the BO might be, why it might be something else, why it might not be something else, rationales, etc.
In short, appendices and footnotes, like scientists do things all the time. All the evidence, all the thoughts, all the supporting data, all the methods. If it can't be replicated by someone else, using the same methods and data sets, then it isn't really science.
It is unwise to
assume that what is in the Bevington photo is a piece of the Electra, just because we all
want it to be. I want that blurry smudge to be part of the Electra's main landing gear. So do a lot of other people. But right now, to me, we don't have anything definitive because no one else can ask the same questions and see what kinds of answers they come up with.
LTM,
Monty Fowler, TIGHAR No . 2189 EC