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Excellant idea

3 (21.4%)

Good idea

7 (50%)

Fair idea

2 (14.3%)

Poor idea

2 (14.3%)

Horrible idea

0 (0%)

Total Members Voted: 13

Voting closed: March 11, 2014, 06:15:40 PM

[Jeffrey Pearce]

I am going to place a question in the Louisville Courier Journal newspaper this Sunday that will go something like this: Seeking first hand accounts of Amelia Earhart's post 1937 loss radio transmissions. I have notified the Courier Journal of the exact wording which may differ by a few words from what I have said here. The cost of the one time run of this question will be $29. I would like to find out if others think that questions such as this placed in other larger circulation newspapers and the like would be a good idea and if there are those people who would be willing to do so.

[Mark Appel]

Afraid newspapers aren't the media power they once were with neither the reach nor penetration... certainly see nothing wrong with this as long as there isn't an objection from TIGHAR leadership for reasons not known to me. And you may want to expand the request to other media, especially social.

[Ric Gillespie]

I see no harm in it, but without some kind of documentation old family stories are just old family stories.

[John Ousterhout]

Then wouldn't it be nice if a family story leads to previously unknown documentation.

[Ric Gillespie]

Then wouldn't it be nice if a family story leads to previously unknown documentation.

Yes, a letter, notes, an old newspaper clipping.  Nobody knew about Betty's Notebook until her neighbor contacted us about it.

[Bruce Thomas]

...Nobody knew about Betty's Notebook until her neighbor contacted us about it.

More precisely, TIGHAR was the first entity willing to spend time investigating Betty's Notebook and to treat her story as credible, and share the notebook widely. (The personnel at the Coast Guard station near her home didn't follow-up when told about it back in 1937, and years later Fred Goerner dismissed her story without even looking at the notebook.)

[Ric Gillespie]

More precisely, TIGHAR was the first entity willing to spend time investigating Betty's Notebook and to treat her story as credible, and share the notebook widely. (The personnel at the Coast Guard station near her home didn't follow-up when told about it back in 1937, and years later Fred Goerner dismissed her story without even looking at the notebook.)

Very true, and a good example of the fact that important evidence can be right under your nose.  You just have to be willing to see it.  The flip side of that, of course, is that some see evidence where there is none.

[Jeffrey Pearce]

As it turns out, my posting in the Louisville sunday paper will be this sunday and two sunday's after that. I am glad to see that Ric has no problem with my effort! I am very interested in Amelia Earhart. I want to do what I can to pursue her. What I would really like to see is other people doing what I am doing in other large circulation newspapers, etc. I think a goal to cover all the 50 states would be the preferred way to go. I will be hoping that others will be willing to do so. For two sunday's posting in the paper the paper will also receive any responses and then periodically mail those to me. The cost is more, about $125, but I think worth it, and I can use their mail service in the future, about $60, for no additional charge.

[Jeffrey Pearce]

It is disappointing to note that I have not seen anyone say that they intend to place an inquiry in the newspaper as I have done. Does that mean that everyone else believes that no one who may have heard AE's distress calls will see the inquiry for one reason or another? The clock is ticking for the chance to reach people who may have heard any distress calls from AE. I guess my level of interest may be more than most? Is that it?

Wouldn't AE want us to pursue those who heard any distress calls for the sake of possibly finding additional information that could help us find her?

[Jeffrey Pearce]

One additional idea would be to contact organizations that represented ham/shortwave radio enthusiasts in 1937-if there are any.

[John Ousterhout]

Jeffrey- in reference to your "It is disappointing to note that I have not seen anyone say that they intend to place an inquiry in the newspaper as I have done.", I'd like to point out that you did not explicitly ask others to do the same.  I've placed quite a few ads, asking for similar responses, in the Washington/Oregon/Idaho area, with no fruitful response.  I got an unexpected response from my Dad (b. 1924), and from an old English teacher (b. 1925), recalling the newspaper accounts of the time.  My English teacher turns out to have been a "Rosey the Riveter", working for an airline as a trained riveter, then for Boeing during the war, then for another airline before she became an English Teacher!  I've provided her with a bunch of AE/TIGHAR material and anxiously await her impressions.  She told me that she had gone to school to learn aircraft riveting, so had a certificate, and did much repair work during the war on battle-damaged aircraft (returned to Boeing Field in Seattle from the Pacific theater).  One prescient comment she made to me was that 'girls were better with the small size of the rivets.'  When I asked her what sort of rivets she used, she said she didn't remember.  When I asked her if they had a dimple in the head, she said "of course, they were aircraft rivets."
Suggestions on what to ask her next?

[Jeffrey Pearce]

Very interesting, John. Can you tell me how you went about the newspaper ads? At the moment I have no good questions for the English teacher. The only thing that comes to mind right now is getting in touch with ham/shortwave organizations of 1937 and their members. Do we know that Betty Klenck heard all distress calls that may have been sent? At the moment I don't know that she mentioned whether AE mentioned where AE landed. I'll think more about the English teacher.

Jeff.

[Jeffrey Pearce]

John,

I would ask the English teacher if she has any knowledge of people who might have had the radio equipment necessary to receive transmissions from AE. If so, that person might have some information or might have other information that could lead to additional people who had the capability to receive distress calls from AE.

[John Ousterhout]

Good idea, I'll ask.