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Author Topic: General Overview of 2010 Plans  (Read 18207 times)

Ted G Campbell

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General Overview of 2010 Plans
« on: February 15, 2010, 06:01:53 PM »

Ric,

Would you give us an overview of the planning to date on the next expedition to Niku in 2010.

Specifically:  How is the funding coming along?  How expansive will the search be i.e. helicopter support, deep sea exploration, time on the island, etc?

What will the communication protocol be re sending info back to the states – real time or daily updates, etc.?

What can we do to stir up interest (money) between now and launch time?

Thanks,

Ted Campbell
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Ric Gillespie

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Re: General Overview of 2010 Plans
« Reply #1 on: February 15, 2010, 07:06:31 PM »

Would you give us an overview of the planning to date on the next expedition to Niku in 2010.

There is a detailed description of the planned expedition work in the new issue of TIGHAR Tracks which will be mailed to all TIGHAR members this week. Later this month we'll put the plans on the TIGHAR website.

How is the funding coming along?

Let me put it this way.  We know we're going to be able to do the expedition but to equip it the way we want to will take more money.

What will the communication protocol be re sending info back to the states – real time or daily updates, etc.?

Daily updates as we've done in the past.

What can we do to stir up interest (money) between now and launch time?

Encourage your friends to visit the TIGHAR website and join the Facebook Earhart Project group at http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=237802912317
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Tom Swearengen

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Re: General Overview of 2010 Plans
« Reply #2 on: March 05, 2010, 06:41:08 AM »

Hello All. I've been here for several months, looking, studying, and listening to all of the evidence. I've come to the conclusion that TIGHAR is right, and the flight ended on Niku. I am convinced that finding remains of the plane off of the reef would be as monumental as finding the Titanic, or the Bismark.
I would think that something this historical, National Geographic, Woods Hole, and Discovery Channel would be jumping at the chance to participate. Why they are not involved isn't for me to know, even though Woods hole was with the Waitt group looking off of Howland Island in really deep water for the Electra. Your search makes much more sense to me.
But--what if the former Marines stationed on Saipan in 1944 actually did see the Electra destroyed as they claim? If so, someone with some authority had to approve it. That really seems very far fetched to me. So I hope that TIGHAR finds positive evidence of the Electra off the the reef.
Tom
Tom Swearengen TIGHAR # 3297
 
« Last Edit: March 05, 2010, 07:58:33 AM by moleski »
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Martin X. Moleski, SJ

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Re: General Overview of 2010 Plans
« Reply #3 on: March 05, 2010, 08:09:15 AM »

... I've come to the conclusion that TIGHAR is right, and the flight ended on Niku. I am convinced that finding remains of the plane off of the reef would be as monumental as finding the Titanic, or the Bismark.

I find the Niku hypothesis persuasive.  I'm not sure that AE's wreck is really on par with the Titanic or the Bismarck.  It's harder to find because it is so much smaller; it is less historically significant than the other two because they had far-reaching consequences.  So far as I know, AE's death did not change the world of aviation one whit.  Direction finding (DF), radio direction finding (RDF), and high-frequency radio direction finding (HFDF) were all developed without her help.  The Navy pilots who went in search of her found all of the islands they sought and returned safely to their ships (much smaller targets than Howland!) because they understood aerial navigation and radios better than she and Fred.
LTM,

           Marty
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Tim Collins

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Re: General Overview of 2010 Plans
« Reply #4 on: March 05, 2010, 09:29:34 AM »

...  I'm not sure that AE's wreck is really on par with the Titanic or the Bismarck.  It's harder to find because it is so much smaller; it is less historically significant than the other two because they had far-reaching consequences. ....

True, but I'm sure he was thinking along the lines of being long sought after  and having that "mystery" factor.

T
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Tom Swearengen

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Re: General Overview of 2010 Plans
« Reply #5 on: March 05, 2010, 09:41:25 AM »

Tim, thats sort of what I was thinking. The loss of Amelia and Fred, even thought tragic, really didnt have any other historical benefit to aviation--unless they werr to have landed on Howland. They would have proven the long distance navgiation over water would have been possible in 1937. several years later, the US was at war with Japan, and flying over some of the same water that she was.

The Titanic and Bismark reference was for the hope that Woods Hole, or the others with the capabilities would step forwars and take a look. I mean finding the Titanic was a big deal--a 900 foot ship at 12,000 feet in the ocean----that is a najor accomplishment. So, looking for the Electra, even though smaller, in presumably shallower water, to me is about the same thing.

Now, if the Electra isnt there, then we have the excavations on Niki--but I think the plane proves she was there--at least on July 2,1937.
Tom
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Ric Gillespie

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Re: General Overview of 2010 Plans
« Reply #6 on: March 05, 2010, 10:34:00 AM »

The Titanic and Bismark reference was for the hope that Woods Hole, or the others with the capabilities would step forwars and take a look. I mean finding the Titanic was a big deal--a 900 foot ship at 12,000 feet in the ocean----that is a najor accomplishment. So, looking for the Electra, even though smaller, in presumably shallower water, to me is about the same thing.

Not quite the same thing.  There was no mystery about what happened to the Titanic.  It hit an iceberg and sank somewhere right around .... here.  Big ship in deep water.  Gotta be right here someplace.  Same with Bismark.  No mystery about what happened. Got sunk by the Brits. Gotta be right here someplace.

The Electra is a different - ahem - kettle of fish.  Nobody knows for sure what happened and it could be anywhere within several thousand miles.  The Woods Hole folks helped Waitt because they were paid to help him.
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Tom Swearengen

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Re: General Overview of 2010 Plans
« Reply #7 on: March 05, 2010, 10:58:54 AM »

I certainly understand that Ric. Boy i wish I had an ROV---I'd lend it to you guys to find out once and for all If the Electra, or parts of it, is there. I certainly hope that it is----would stop the stories about the Marines on Saipan flying the plane, and then burning it as told be a few former Marines from 1944. They even state that Sec. Forrestal was there, and that Col. Greene, (who became Commandant of the Marine Corps) identified the Electra, and participated in its destruction. Wish I could heelp more--

Tom
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Kurt F Altman

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Re: General Overview of 2010 Plans
« Reply #8 on: March 06, 2010, 08:11:33 PM »

Hello Ric,

Perhaps this question has already been addressed.  If it has, my apologies for repeating it.

Assuming the Lockheed made ground on Gardner Island, which the artifacts support, has the expeditionary group contemplated efforts to find fresh water by either crew member?  It would seem that finding potable, fresh water would be immediate concern.  Has anyone tried to map the fresh water sources on Gardner and traced possible paths used by either Earhart or Noonan to retrieve it?  Since the group will be looking for additional archeological or DNA evidence during the next trip, it seems worth the effort, these routes (or areas around the fresh water sources) be areas of focus.

With best regards and wishes for success,


Kurt Altman
Tighar Forum Member
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Ric Gillespie

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Re: General Overview of 2010 Plans
« Reply #9 on: March 06, 2010, 08:22:56 PM »

There is no source of fresh water on Nikumaroro available to a castaway other than which periodically falls from the sky.  Even then, the problem is how to catch the rain? We know that a cache of provisions was left behind by the rescuers of the survivors of the Norwich City shipwreck in 1929 and logically that would include some casks of fresh water. That may have helped for a while.   

On the lagoon shore near the Seven Site there are depressions in the coral where water puddles after a squall. At the Seven Site we've found evidence to suggest that the castaway may have been boiling water in glass bottles. 
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Monty Fowler

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Re: General Overview of 2010 Plans
« Reply #10 on: March 07, 2010, 07:28:06 AM »

How long is that one-for-one dollars match from that foundation going to be available? Up until the day of departure?
Ex-TIGHAR member No. 2189 E C R SP, 1998-2016
 
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Ric Gillespie

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Re: General Overview of 2010 Plans
« Reply #11 on: March 07, 2010, 08:57:17 AM »

The Matthews Foundation challenge grant will match contributions to TIGHAR dollar-for-dollar until we reach a total of $20,000 for this fund raising campaign.  In the two weeks or so since the TIGHAR Tracks mailing went out we've received a little over $5,000 in contributions.  That's a great response and it means that TIGHAR gets a total of $10,000 so far. The Matthews Foundation grant will match another $15,000 worth of contributions so there's still plenty of room for folks to double their contribution to the expedition. http://tighar.org/Projects/Earhart/NikuVI/Niku6donate.html
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