Everybody should know by now that my main interest is in the navigation of the flight. I have shown before that there is was no way that Earhart was on
a spy flight that would have taken her over the Japanese Mandate Islands and that there was no way that
they could be so far off course to arrive at them accidently.
Campbell has come up with a unique theory to explain how they got to Mili atoll, controlled by the Japanese, a theory that doesn't hold water. He claims that the line directly from Howland to Jaluit in the Marshalls passed directly over Mili. There was a radio station on Jaluit so his theory is that they got the RDF to work and homed on the Jaluit station and the first land they came to was Mili where they landed and were captured. There are some problems with his theory.
First did the radio station on Jaluit broadcast continuously or only after receiving a request? This would require it to be a broadcast station sending out continuous Japanese music, was it? If it required a request to send out homing signals, similar to the request to Itasca, then there was no way for Earhart to make such a request.
Second, a direct line from the vicinity of Howland to Jaluit
does not pass over Mili, it passes 58 NM south of Mili.
Third, if they could receive Jaluit then it would make much more sense for them to fly straight west until intercepting the 330° bearing to Jaluit, which passes over Tarawa in the British controlled Gilberts, and then follow that bearing to Tarawa. Any pilot who has flown an ADF instrument approach knows how to intercept a bearing and follow it inbound. Head the plane straight west, 270° true, and take bearings with the RDF. When the null is 60° right of the nose then the bearing to Jaluit would have been 330° (270 + 60 = 330.). Then turn to 330° and follow it and it will take you over Tarawa (called Bairikiri on GE) where she could make her emergency landing there as well as she could on any island without a runway, and she would be in civilization. Tarawa is only 625 NM from Howland, it is a lot closer than Mili, 765 NM, or Jaluit, 870 NM. And there are a lot more islands to hit in the Gilberts than in the Phoenix's.
I have attached the charts that show the situation.
gl