I doubt Gore Vidal was an eyewitness - I think it is more likely that he's recounting something told by his father Gene, the director of the Bureau of Air Commerce, who was close to Earhart and Putnam. He seems to be summing up an understanding of an exchange, perhaps as told by Putnam well after the fact. That would make it about... third hand, if so. He WAS closer to the people involved than you or I though, wasn't he?
He was about 12 years old in the summer of 1937.
I doubt that he wrote these things down.
He was a novelist.
The story has the feel of a well-worn, oft-told anecdote.
I find it interesting: we can see that the first part of his statement is true - the 'personnel problems' comment is accurate enough; did he then go 'over the top' for some reason about the rest of it? You say it 'sounds' over the top; I may see it as a retelling of an understanding - and 'why would he create a fictional outcome of the report?
Because this is something people often do, for various and sundry reasons?
What was this guy really like?
I don't know, and I don't much care.
I don't see any point in doing a psychic profile of Fred in order to determine what he would have done on the flight. You seem to find this of profound significance. I don't.
How do you know they ever got that close?
Because
"Radio" Direction Finding uses a phenomenon called "radio waves" to help find out what direction a transmission was made from. There were these wonderful things called "radio waves" travelling from the aircraft to Howland for about
six hours, with the signal strength of the "radio waves" growing steadily stronger, which makes the task of those trying to find the "direction" from the "radio waves" are being transmitted easier and easier.
I can, if need be, define "radio," "direction," and "finding" in simpler terms, if need be.
He had far more experience in airplanes reliant on RDF than AE did.
His experience was not from being at the controls of the equipment, but from having messages transmitted and delivered by professional radio operators. How much have you learned about flying from riding in the passenger cabin of modern aircraft?
If you put my country butt in the back of NR16020 with a trans-oceanic newby like AE up front and no boat bottom under us to navigate that far and home in on a beacon, I'm going to be looking into the arrangements pretty firmly with all I do know, especially after a steller experience with Pan Am, etc. That's a crack in the perception of FN as the perfect navigator: he wasn't that pefect - it's evident to me that he wasn't applying his full acumen to this flight.
Amelia had flown as a passenger across the Atlantic.
She had flown the Atlantic solo.
She had flown from Hawaii to California solo.
These are things that some of us like to call
"facts." Is there any way to persuade you to use "facts" as a check on your powers of psychic investigation?
I take it that you mean you don't believe AE could have navigated to the LOP by herself - you couldn't possibly know that.
Yes. This was the conviction that I expressed in the English language when I wrote, "Could Amelia have done so? My own view is 'No.' YMMV."
By the word "view," I mean my considered opinion, after spending 12 years diligently reading the materials on the TIGHAR website.
By the expression, "YMMV," I had intended to indicate "Your mileage may vary," which is a common way of saying that I understand you may not agree with the view that I had just expressed.
How else to dream of such goals? How else to pursue greater understanding than to first conceive? How else to get into so much trouble... yes, the risk of 'fantasy' is real, I agree.
I dream pretty much every night. Most of it is dreck.
When I wake up in the morning, if something abides, I'll try to check it against reality.
Wiley imagined the oxygen mask. He then proceded to make it work. Reality confirmed his dream.
He imagined that he could both navigate and fly solo around the world. He beat the record he had set with Harold Gatty doing the navigating. Reality confirmed his dream.
Your fantasies seem not to be testable. We can't build anything out of them, nor do they lead us to look in a different location than Gardner, nor use different techniques.
But, fantasy? Do I really violate the bounds of reason here? I've proceeded more by reason and given observations than by the heart of the poet (wouldn't you know it).
See above for a few "facts" that you failed to include in your dreams, as well as some doubts about the stories you use to make the fire burn more brightly.