I'm happy interest (both ways) has been expressed in my posts. I'm surprised that Ric dismisses it outright as a water image. It seems to me that a preliminary analysis by a photo expert might indicate that it is a positive image of an object on the reef. Come on! Ric, TIGHAR, & Ballard went to Nikumaroro based on an enhanced 1mm portion of an old photo! Surely, if the image is said to be positive and an object, it's worth another couple of expeditions. I think it will help raise funds for such, too. I regret no one apparently up to this moment noticed this Electra nose image and the same shape in the 1941 & 1942 photos of the NC. My own speculation and scenario on what happened based upon most of the postings, scuttlebutt, and general observation is this: AE lands past and to the east of the Norwich City some 400-500 meters away. The plane eventually gets washed onto the reef in that vicinity & loses a landing wheel TIGHAR refers to as the Bevington object. The reef continues underwater. We can see that debris flow is to the west or east to west. I believe the plane broke into three pieces, initially. The nose section then got pushed west, underwater, always submerged, along the reef until it was pushed back on shore or close to "shore" and visible at low tide in the 1941 photo. The same fuselage nose is blurred but visible in the 1942 photo off the starboard bow of the NC. Then, this piece may have washed up and down the reef in a N/S direction and vice-versa always moving westward until it cleared the wreck sufficiently for more wave action and longshore drift to carry it further west and south along the reef. Before 1941, those expeditions may not have seen anything because the debris was underwater and still underwater even at low tide, and most importantly, still east of the wreck. Unless the debris is unusually heavy and huge, that debris will continue its journey as influenced by tide and wave action. I believe it is a mistake to assume that the Electra piece was right there when the expedition went ashore alongside the starboard side of the NC. The reef debris is in constant movement. I believe it is a mistake to say it is just water making a pattern - how can that be when the same nose hole and cockpit window relationship is visible further up-reef in the later 1942 photo? This observation alone says that the image near the surf line in the 1941 photo is no illusion. Besides, the object is light-colored & IMO aluminum. Both TIGHAR &, apparently, Ballard expeditions got skunked in their searches but they were searching well east of the NC near the triangulated position of the landing wheel. It's a piece of serendipity IMO, this 1941 photo. Even Ballard said he learned a lot from the debris flow of the NC and would return to search the beaches to the west and south. Now, knowing the beam of the NC at its widest point, what is the apparent width of the canted NC with its broken-off stern in the 1941 photo? What is the distance from the nose hole in the image to the apparent cockpit windows? How does this distance compare in "scale"? I lack the tools and the specs necessary & specific to this inquiry. I have always asked, "When does an airplane not look like an airplane?" and my answer is, "When it is either in parts, or in parts with a large identifiable piece submerged over time." The anecdotal evidence of airplane parts makes sense if the nose section of the Electra has just made its appearance and the 1941 photo captures this. Then, by 1942, it's higher up the reef. The village is just across the channel. More breakup of the plane occurs and parts are strewn across the reef and channel within easy walking distance of the village at the time. I've said that there were no daily tours to the NC at low tide every day. No one taking daily photos. We've got two photos of the NC that appear to show the Electra's nose and we're damn lucky to have those two split-seconds of time to peruse. Forget my tail section circle in the 1941 photo but in the 1942 photo, I reiterate that immediately above and behind the blurry Electra fuselage nose is the unmistakable curved leading edge of the left horizontal stabilizer in a light, bright, highly reflective form. That's got to be aluminum. Even the artifact of aluminum that defies placement on the Electra to this day still remains highly reflective and light in color (photo-wise). In closing, I'd simply like to say that one cannot tie time to the photos and expect that the Electra was always in this one place - we know the debris moves and has moved hundreds of meters over the years. Today? Knowing the debris flow over time, I believe that within 1500 meters west of the NC, the Electra plane or parts thereof can be found either still on the reef or on the reef cliffs below. A search along there might just prove to be fruitful. The previous searches were in the wrong place.