Ok---out of the 6 that went down at sea, only 1 is location unknown. Others were too far from Niku to be considered, even if the currrents were to have carried it to the islands. Thinking that a submerged aircraft will drift several hundred mile and ens up on the reef at Niku is a STRETCH, even for me. PBM-3D, BU # 45236 "forced landing at sea, flooded and sank in high seas" is the only possiblity on THIS list that is really unaccounted for. 2 H8K Kawanishi's shot down were inthe vicinity of Howland and Baker, which makes them 350+ miles to the north west. One other, a PBJ, was inroute Canton to Samoa, and would have been 175 off course west to have been near Niku. This narrows down the list of what we KNOW. Not if any carriers off loaded aircraft into the ocean. Not any other Japaneese aircraft not accounted for.
This get tricky---so the Niku expedition will tell us if it is the Electra, or a seaplane.
tom