I couldn't find the "takeoff from Kanton," but I do see "ditched near Funi." I've revised the entry in the wiki table.
When this thread started, I thought TIGHAR had knockdown proof that the case could not have come from the Electra. The match between the bookcase holes and the B24/PB4Y airframe certainly seems conclusive. The only problem is finding a plausible pathway for the box to arrive on Niku by 1989. The argument isn't as airtight as I thought it was.
The takeoff from Kanton was listed on the Tighar Wiki. read something like:
crash on takeoff from canton, rescued 6 days later. then the footnote read something to the effect of:
rescue time seems long considering crashed after takeoffI believe the argument against the box being on the electra to be airtight. As to which B24 it came from, that we may never know for sure. the two earlier PB4Y-1's that we discussed having crashed in the vicinity (vicinity being within several hundred miles) seem to have been reasonably ruled out.
Who knows how far away something like that could have come from?? say you are a native who's prize possession is a set of books/maps/charts and you are being relocated after the war. the Island you are on has an airport with several wrecked B-24's bulldozed off into the corner and you go over them looking for something usable to keep your books safe during the relocation.....
might never know where it originated given a scenario like that. although other bits found on the island with partial serial numbers and the stainless exhaust seem to give some possibility of a "local" crash.
does anyone have a link to a comprehensive list of WWII aircraft losses that includes the B24 and PB4Y-1?? When Tighar goes back looking for the electra down deep I think it might be a good idea to also have a likely identity for a lost b24 that could show up on the viewfinder.....