First one, hoping it will be uploaded....

Welcome back Renaud! Glad to have you return to the fold, so to speak!
I am always amazed at how some people get all defensive when they don't like or agree with materials or ideas presented to them. I always figure you should at least evaluate what they have before just outright dismissing them. But you can never tell with some people!

Thank you for your assistance in the past, and hopefully now and in the future!

That's very interesting Renaud!  Thank you for remembering Ric and Tighar and offering your help.

I own a copy of the following books:

"Pierre Levasseur et ses avions " TMA 2002;

"Les avions de Pierre Levasseur" LELA PRESSE 2004.

There are two interesting photographs inside which reveal a little of the cap that covers the water reservoir at the head of the cylinders.

I'll try to scan them tomorrow at work. For what it is worth. From what I've been able to measure, the cap is about 8 cm in these photos, and the pipe it covers about 6 cm.

Bonjour from France!

First of all, let me introduce myself. My name is Renaud Dudon and i am a lawyer in the civil life.

In 2000, I was a member of TIGHAR for a year on the initiative of Charles F. Sivert, with whom we carried out a short, unsuccessful search for the famous “Gremlins” found by your association in the Maine woods.

Perhaps you have some rememberance of this, Ric. It was a long time ago.

Unfortunately, I was unable to establish any link between this object and any equipment in France. I was even met with outright hostility to my research from certain 'knowledgeable' and well-authorized circles in the field of historical aviation in our country. I never did find out why the mention of the TIGHAR didn't ring true in their ears, and why the doors remained closed.

Occasionally, if you wish, we could talk about this subject, but that's not the primary reason for this message.

Since then, I've always kept an eye on your research and investigations, particularly on the Forum. I must say that your way of reasoning and humble approach to these mysteries calls for a certain respect. Of all those who claim they know how and why Nungesser and Coli disappeared, TIGHAR is the only organization to have, in my opinion, attempted an approach that is both scientifically and pragmatically based.

I've studied this disappearance a little with my limited resources. Many authors in France have come up against this persistent mystery. If I can help a little, I'd be glad to.

Of course, the veil of the unknown cannot be opened so easily, even in the eyes of the researcher who adopts suitable method.

Thanks for reading ! 

Back in mid-february, TIGHAR put out two e-mails regarding the forum upgrade; I understood that it would happen by the end of February.  I haven't noticed any differences (at least on the forum side).  Just curious if the upgrade did happen.

Randy Jacobson

One can hope that there are more drawings done by M. Soulier
adr

https://gallica.bnf.fr/ark:/12148/bpt6k6568023j/f29.item.r=LevasseurL'Aeronautique

Very interesting. thx.
adr

I was Googling for something else, and ran across this article, from about three weeks ago, on the topic of Tony Romeo and the sonar image:

Thomas Curwen. "How Explorers Found Amelia Earhart's Watery Grave: Or Did They?" Los Angeles Times, March 26, 2024, republished online at the Arizona Daily Sun (Flagstaff) website.

https://azdailysun.com/news/nation-world/how-explorers-found-amelia-earharts-watery-grave-or-did-
they/article_be25a8c8-ebbf-11ee-b098-43524eefd573.html

I added it to my Earhart bookmarks and will read it sometime eventually later but not now.  "Crashed and sank" not my theory.

Unfortunately, the website https://www.avionslegendaires.net/avion-militaire/levasseur-pl-4/ says unequivocally that no PL 4 has survived their decommissioning (except the one that may still be sitting on the floor of the Mediterranean ...). But the French ministry of Armed forces (even though they do not know in what circumstances) has salvaged 195 blueprints from the Levasseur company, which are available online at https://www.memoiredeshommes.sga.defense.gouv.fr/fr/article.php?larub=407&titre=plans-de-constructeurs-aeronautiques-sur-des-appareils-civils-et-militaires-xxe-siecle-
Just in case you did not notice, one is the side view of the internal arrangement of a PL 8 (apparently not l'Oiseau blanc, but the second "postal" PL 8, which, according to Wpd, "was built [in 1928 and] equipped with a Hispano-Suiza 12M 375 kW (500 hp) engine. Flown in 1928, the PL.8-02 was intended as a long-range record breaker but modified as an air mail carrier"): https://www.memoiredeshommes.sga.defense.gouv.fr/fr/ark:/40699/s0062cad8b3f3722/62cad8b400a1d
That may give some ideas. However, the caps (or lids) do not seem to be other than an ordinary type... Sorry I do not find how to make a reduced image suitable to be included here, but someone will soon find how to do that, if showing this blueprint appears of some interest.