I am not sure that I should be extending this thread, starting a new one, or finding another thread more appropriate, however:
We should give more credit to the Colorado's aviators. Lambrecht's descriptions are very detailed and accurate for the other islands searched. For Gardner he says they saw signs of recent habitation. Not abandoned huts, not a flagpole, not the old Norwich City camp. "Recent habitation" is what he saw.
Occam's razor says he saw Camp Zero.
If we further give the aviators credit for observational skills and good eyesight, then they saw Camp Zero on the first loop around Gardiner.
Camp Zero could have been (likely was) a very seductive target, including "markers," and thus should have led Lambrecht to focus entirely on Camp Zero and nearby areas. This could have drawn in all three planes, if Camp Zero was seductive enough. I may be wrong but I have an impression that coordinated, formation flying was their training and default response in unfamiliar circumstances. Without radio communications it seems unlikely to me that one of the junior pilots would have taken the initiative to hie off and explore other parts of the island, and especially unlikely that one pilot would continue the previous search pattern (circling the island or whatever).
After repeated circling and zooming with no result Lambrecht would have concluded Camp Zero was abandoned and (watching the fuel guages?) immediately continued onward to Carondelet (this is a literal reading of Lambrecht - it maybe wrong).
My scenario results in only one loop around Gardner and a departure from the Camp Zero vicinity toward the Southeast, either across the lagoon or along the southern shore.
So why didn't the Colorado aviators see EA or FN? Obviously, they weren't there. They (or she) were elsewhere on the island, likely on the north or west beach (in the shade) trying like hell to get back to camp.
Context: the Electra had been swept off the reef, so there is no very good reason to continue to use Camp Zero, for reasons fully explained elsewhere. They are very likely in desperate straights regarding food and water after a week on Gardner. The night of the 8th may very well have been the first night when they (she) actually slept.
The morning of the 9th: Awake at dawn, desperate for food and water, believing Camp Zero is going to kill them if they stay there. It is still cool but by midday physical activity for the depleted survivor(s) will be near impossible. AE is not the type to give up - she has a strong will and determination to survive, which means: go find food, go find water, go find a better camp. NOW! The tide is rising and crossing the channel to the South is undesirable, even perhaps dangerous (there is a good chance they hadn't ever done it yet). So she heads North.
Surely it is possible (even likely) that between 6 AM and the searchers' arrival she has travelled more than a mile from Camp Zero and is in deep cover as it gets warmer, as the search for water takes first priority and the best place to find it is in the woods in hollows and cupped leaves. A mile in depleted condition over rough terrain would take 20-30 minutes. Too long. Lambrecht has left.
Conclusion: Almost everything went right. But AE and FN weren't in camp (FN may have been but was unconscious or dead) when the searchers arrived, and, tragically, the markers were so good (but not good enough to overcome the absence of people) that the searchers failed to properly search the rest of Gardner.
Jon