We are confident that the current Nauticos "Eustace Earhart Discovery Expedition" will not find NR16020, but there may be other twin-engine, twin-tailed Lockheeds on the ocean bottom in the general Howland vicinity that could fool them into thinking they have. In September 1943, as part of the run-up to Operation Galvanic (the invasion of Tarawa), an Army Air force engineer battalion began construction of an airfield on Baker Island to act as a staging area for bombing raids on Tarawa by B-24s based on Canton Island. "Air cover for the Baker occupation was furnished by Navy Venturas from Canton Island..." (The Army Air Force in World War II, edited by Graves & Gate).
What more can we learn about Venturas operating in the Howland area?