I have very much enjoyed exploring this site, but after reading many of the blog posts on the forum here, I’ve come to the conclusion that I simply don’t have the expertise to make any meaningful contributions, so it’s time for me to say good bye.
I thought though, that I would leave you with the impressions I have taken away from your site. First, I believe that post loss radio signals are legitimate, and AE/FN landed the plane on a coral reef near an island. And that they were able to send messages for some days afterwards.
Second, in all likelihood, it was Gardner Island: the RDF, the discovery of the body, and the artifacts (shoes parts, aluminum) would seem to point there.
Third, I’m not convinced that she landed near the Norwich City. From what I got from the website, your reasons for believing that AE landed there was 1.) Emily Sikuli who lived on the island at the time the body was found was told that some wreckage, her description of which really didn’t sound like airplane wreckage, was from an airplane, 2.) the present nature of the reef is such that an airplane might possibly land there at low tide and 3.) currents would distribute the wreckage in such a manner as to be consistent with other islander’s stories of recovering bits and pieces of the wreck. But to counter this, in one radio message, AE says she’s “On coral southwest of unknown island” (
http://tighar.org/Publications/ TTracks/2009Vol_25/postloss.pdf), not west or northwest as would be the case if she had landed near the Norwich City. The article goes on to discount this by saying “The location on Nikumaroro where aircraft wreckage was reportedly seen in later years is technically on the west end of atoll but, if you are on the reef in that location, the bulk of the visible land mass is to the northeast creating the impression that you are southwest of the island,” but I don’t find this credible. After all, AE wasn’t deposited in that spot by a UFO in the dead of night, she flew there. And if she had enough gas to run the engine to charge the batteries after landing, then here engines weren’t coughing and sputtering so that she would feel obligated land immediately at the first sight of something solid. More likely, she would have at least scouted out where she was going to land before making the attempt, and would know where she landed in relation to the island. But in addition, had she landed 100 meters from the Norwich City, she would have been clearly aware of its existence. It would be the most distinguishing feature of the island. Had she known the story of the wreck, she would have known where she was, and if she hadn’t known the story, she would have almost certainly mentioned the wreck because she would have a reasonable expectation that people familiar with the area would know of the wreck. This would be especially true if she didn’t know where she was and was “… a terrified, desperate woman who doesn’t know where she is, struggling with an injured and delirious companion, sending out any navigational information she can find in Noonan’s notes.” (
http://tighar.org/Publications/TTracks/2000Vol_16/occult.pdf). But nowhere does a reference to the Norwich City appear in the credible messages (here I am assuming that the “ship” in “This is Amelia Earhart. Ship is on a reef south of the equator. Station KH9QQ” heard by Cyrus Randolph is referring to the Electra (
http://tighar.org/Publications/TTracks/2005Vol_21/onreef.pdf)).
Anyway, that’s my take away from your web pages, when I get the money, I’ll order a kindle addition of your book. I truly hope you find your “idiot proof” artifact, I dying to find out how the story ends. Best of Luck.