I remember perhaps around 2000 or something like that, we had discussions about the 'castaway' possibly hearing the search planes. A few of us who are pilots and are familiar with big Pratt and Whitney radial engines and similar types pointed out that one of those can fly almost directly over you at less than 1,000 feet and you often won;t hear it, even doing the zoomy thing Lambrecht described.
All it takes is a little breeze and the person on the ground to be doing something else a few hundred yards away. When I'm not on my yacht, I'm under the circuit for my local airport and have planes flying over really close all day and part of the night. I rarely hear them and even the helicopters are only audible for a short time. We have a couple of beasts with those Pratt and Whitneys and a few times when I have actually been looking for them I miss them.
I, and quite a few other TIGHAR pilots have been involved in search and rescue and can tell you it is very unlikely Lambrecht and his friends would have seen Earhart and Noonan even if they had been dancing naked on the beach and waving a flag. Most of the time we can;t even see wreckage in realtively open ground.
On one of the early Niku expeditions, Ric acquired a helicopter and did a low level circuit of Niku. In a couple of places he pointed out people, but if you've watched the video, you'll see exactly what I mean. And that was looking from a helicopter, probably flying a little slower and lower than Lambrecht's planes.
So even guessing what he might have seen is a long shot. I think we were all under the impression that after the Arundel company stopped working the island, nobody had been there since the Norwich City wreck, then the October visit by Maude, so any signs of 'recent' habitation had to be Earhart and Freddy.
I suppose by showing there was someone there a few months before Earhart might have landed is just another teaser. But what Lambrecht saw has intrigued us for years and this might be part of that puzzle.
I'm glad it is providing some amusement 
It was a fun find. To me it also suggests that if Earhart did make it to the island, she and Fred knew exactly where they were, because there was a sign, on the beach, almost opposite the Norwich City welcoming them to Gardner Island.
Which means there should have been a message left in the vicinity, because that is the logical thing to do. Unless of course they didn't grab any log books, maps and writing materials before the plane was washed away. The mystery deepens. The plot, like a four day old soup, thickens...
Th' WOMBAT
Ross,
I appreciate that you have frankly pointed out some things that I believe are realistic about search and rescue flights and realities on the ground. As I understand it, Niku is never a quiet place (wind, trees, etc.).
There's been a lot of defensiveness about this in the past - which I never felt was necessary. It has often been as if we impugn the excellent, brave efforts of the U.S. Navy at the time of Lambrecht by pointing out SAR difficulties, or that we doubt the abilities of men trained as aerial spotters for artillery targeting, etc. Not so at all - it is really a matter of considering the harsh realities of looking for something on remote grounds that might not be so evident, all too often.
It is highly doubtful that a pristine, gleaming Electra was sitting high on the reef that day; it is a fairly large, strung-out island with many potential places to conceal many things - and even if the humans, if alive and able, did hear, they may well have tragically missed the moment to be in the open at the right time.
We can conjecture all we will about what should have happened in the ideal sense, but the reality is more sparse as I can understand it. Despite the finest efforts by the best people, it remains highly plausible that the two fliers were simply not spotted for any number of reasons beyond our full ability to comprehend, other than for the reasons you, Ric and others have pointed out.
Lambrecht seems to have seen something hopeful, did his best but no one responded that he could see, so he moved on. Friedell at last had to dispose of the matter through official report, and there were 'no survivors' evident in that place on that day. Those things do not mean we possess universal truth as to the flier's absence, of course. Aviators tend to be a breed that says "never say die", but Lambrecht, Friedell and the others were human; these things are of the human condition. We are limited despite our most noble intentions and efforts and it is quite possible that survivors were overlooked by circumstance - what more can one say?
Thanks for this insight and frankness about things beyond even the best of men's control at times.
Author
Topic: Lambrecht Report - Signs of recent habitation (Read 87344 times)
