Were Frederick Hooven able to jump into this thread he would tell us that Lt. Lambrecht's search didn't turn up AE and FN because they were no longer there.
Only one week after the emergency landing on Gardner - no plane, no "SOS" written on the beach, no fire, no signal mirror, no NOTHING. Hmmmm.
Quite a dilemma. So I go back and forth. If the messages were not hoaxed probably she was on Gardner. But then no trace was found. And remember Lambrecht spotted MESSAGES IN THE SAND on Syndey. So he wasn't just flying along at 1000 feet searching. His other pilot described the Norwich to a T, and accurated described red rust on it's sides, it's weight, and where it was broken. So,when he said zooming in and out, I think he meant what he said. If he could see worker's names of girlfriends written on the sandy beach of Sydney Island, he would have done likewise on Gardner. If there were any. Yet he found none. No SOS. Nothing worth nothing as being connected to AE. So she can wade back and forth to the plane for days, but can't write a big SOS in the sand. Takes what? 2 minutes? No energy involved with sand writing.
I think we give those pilots less credit than they deserve. They seem serious, sober pilots on a mission. And they found zilch which they thought worth noting.
The signs of recent habitation, if it was them, wasnt marked as distress signals. And there were no people. Which leaves only the choice that they were dead and left few clues it was them before they died. I doubt the navy missed them if alive.
But why did they die withing a week when by all accounts her plane had plenty of food and water, the norwich also left food and possibly water. There were plenty of juicy crabs to suck on. Yet they die within a week?
WHY?
Why if seriously injured, ready to die practically, did they continue to wade back and forth to the plane to transmit. They were walking and talking. Yet they die as if on cue when the planes arrive a couple days later.
It's a serious dink in the landed on Gardner theory. On one hand you have radio transmissions saying Gardner, on the other you have pilots saying sorry, wrong. No signs of life a week later. No plane, no debris of a plane, no rubber raft on the beach, no flares shot off if they were alive but looking for water inland(and Putnam said she had lots of flares), no bonfire on the beach. Nothing of note for the pilots to take interest in this place.
So the strongest evidence is 3 fixed radio signals saying Gardner is the place. Versus 3 sets of Navy pilots eyes saying no way.