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Author Topic: Amelia Earhart's final photo shoot in 1937...  (Read 16624 times)

Chris Murphy

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Amelia Earhart's final photo shoot in 1937...
« on: June 09, 2015, 04:07:55 PM »

http://pictorial.jezebel.com/watch-long-lost-footage-of-amelia-earhart-shortly-befor-1710050573

http://abc7.com/news/rare-footage-shows-amelia-earhart-at-burbank-airport/774575/

Watch Long-Lost Footage of Amelia Earhart Shortly Before She Vanished
Associated Press
9 June 2015



https://www.youtube.com/watch?t=43&v=wnNrED6yWSw

If you click at :43 on the YouTube video, you can clearly see both of  the fuselage windows -- the outside of the port side (with rivets) and inside of the starboard side.  The article quotes TIGHAR's Rick Gillespie as believing that the image is from March 1937.  Is there a stated reason for this belief?  I know that Ric is busy (hopefully finding the actual craft in question), but I wonder if someone else might know the reason that this is assumed to be from March rather than May.

Thanks in advance!
-Chris
« Last Edit: June 09, 2015, 05:46:03 PM by Chris Murphy »
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Bruce Thomas

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Re: Amelia Earhart's final photo shoot in 1937...
« Reply #1 on: June 09, 2015, 04:39:04 PM »

In the first 10 seconds of the film, three men are up on the wing peering into the cockpit. The one on the right strongly resembles Harry Manning, who was part of the First World Flight.

After the incident in Hawaii, Manning could not hang around for the Second World Flight (see the Manning biography in Ameliapedia), since he had been on a limited 3-month leave of absence from his employer, the United States Lines, where he captained one of their ships. And anyway, George Putnam was not blown away with Harry Manning's aeronautical navigation skills and was only too glad to completely replace him with Fred Noonan for the Second World Flight.

Based on Harry Manning being seen in the film, I think it's very safe to say that this film was shot in March 1937 as they prepared for the First World Flight.
LTM,

Bruce
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Greg Daspit

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Re: Amelia Earhart's final photo shoot in 1937...
« Reply #2 on: June 09, 2015, 05:00:56 PM »

The starboard cabin window, port cabin window and cabin door window were installed for both flight attempts.
Look at this critical past video. Paul Mantz who was in the first attempt(March) and not the second is getting in the plane.

Now look at the belly of the plane in a photo from that shoot and you will see a mast for the trailing antenna It has a mast with a ball(lead weight for the wire). The mast and weight show up in the critical past and the video in question too.
In the Nilla Putnam Miami photo (second attempt) the trailing antenna is not there





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« Last Edit: June 09, 2015, 05:09:42 PM by Greg Daspit »
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Chris Murphy

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Re: Amelia Earhart's final photo shoot in 1937...
« Reply #3 on: June 09, 2015, 05:32:45 PM »

Excellent analysis, guys!  Thank you!  I think that this video is interesting but I couldn't understand how to determine its correct date. 

This video is being published all over the internet today and I suspect that it is probably because of TIGHAR's work this week.  Since Ric has already commented on it (as stated by the AP), I suppose that this video has been out for at least a few weeks.

Thanks again!



« Last Edit: June 09, 2015, 05:45:50 PM by Chris Murphy »
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Bob Smith

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Re: Amelia Earhart's final photo shoot in 1937...
« Reply #4 on: June 09, 2015, 09:23:52 PM »

I really think everyone who had a part in the analysis of the patch artifact, Neville, Glickman, and all others have been extremely helpful and thorough. And it is important to remember, I think, the strain and pressure the maintenance crew must have been under when installing the "patch" whatever its use. There must have come a point in time when everyone decided it was time to get "on the road" again, no matter whether or not the complete documentation of exact placement and reasoning of strut  placement and reinforcement of the patch was finished. They knew it was a one-time deal and probably wouldn't be needed on any airplane ever again! This was not a designed installation where drawings were made first and checked before anything was actually done.It was however a carefully planned and well executed procedure performed on the shop floor with what they could muster together in the time and space they had available. Im sure some of the afore-mentioned analysts have "been there"! We will probably only know why it was done the way it was when we can match up the actual rivet holes to the actual frame: won't that be exciting??
Bob S.
 
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Randy Conrad

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Re: Amelia Earhart's final photo shoot in 1937...
« Reply #5 on: June 10, 2015, 01:14:02 AM »

Bob...with your recent posting on the mysterious patch and the quick repair...I was wondering if anyone of you out there knows if they recorded all the transmissions from Amelia during her second World Flight as she approached Miami? If this is the case, it would shed alot of light as to what happened on the way to Miami.
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Jeff Palshook

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Re: Amelia Earhart's final photo shoot in 1937...
« Reply #6 on: June 10, 2015, 04:46:18 AM »

I agree with Bruce Thomas that Harry Manning appears in at least one scene in this film clip.  Contrary to what some of the internet articles about the film clip say, I don't see Fred Noonan anywhere in the film clip.  Manning but no Noonan points to an early March 1937 date for this film clip.   Noonan was not added to the flight crew until shortly before the first world flight attempt started, to be the flight navigator while Manning shifted to being primarily the radio operator.

There are other clues about the aircraft in the film, in addition to the presence of the trailing wire antenna deployment tube and weight mentioned up-thread, which clearly indicate this film was shot in March before the first world flight attempt.  The forward mast for the dorsal V-antenna on top of the fuselage is well aft of the cockpit overhead hatch.  On the underside of the fuselage, masts for two belly wire antennas (port and starboard) are visible in the film  clip.  These two features -- aft position of dorsal V-antenna mast and two belly antennas -- were present for the first world flight attempt but not for the second world flight attempt.  For the 2nd world flight attempt, the trailing wire antenna was removed, only one belly antenna was installed, and the forward mast for the dorsal V-antenna had been moved forward to just behind the cockpit overhead hatch.  (There were also changes made after the Luke Field crash to the arrangement of the feedline from the radio transmitter to the starboard leg of the dorsal V-antenna.  But the feedline was on the starboard side of the aircraft, and we can't see any of it in the Bresnik film clip.)

Additionally, an early scene in the film clip shows the Electra parked on the tarmac with "spinners" installed over the propeller hubs.  (The "spinners" are the aerodynamically streamlined caps placed over the propeller hubs.)  The spinners were installed for flight testing on March 6 and 7 to measure fuel consumption rate of the Electra's engines, tests conducted by Kelly Johnson with Earhart piloting.  As far as I know, the spinners were installed only during this testing in early March and were removed shortly afterward, never to be installed again.  There are several photos reliably dated to 6 or 7 March which show the spinners installed.  One of these photos is the quite well known photo of Amelia and George Putnam posing in front of the Electra and holding an emergency kite.

Every relevant detail in this film clip points to a March 1937 date, probably March 6 or 7, for when this film was shot.  Nothing in the film clip suggests a May 1937 date.  Sadly, whatever research and fact-checking/editing were done in the preparation of the associated book about the film clip apparently didn't include talking to anyone who has studied photos of Earhart's Electra and actually knows something about the history of her aircraft and the timeline of the changes which were made to it. 

Jeff P.
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Chris Murphy

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Re: Amelia Earhart's final photo shoot in 1937...
« Reply #7 on: June 10, 2015, 10:56:52 AM »

I agree with Bruce Thomas that Harry Manning appears in at least one scene in this film clip.  Contrary to what some of the internet articles about the film clip say, I don't see Fred Noonan anywhere in the film clip.  Manning but no Noonan points to an early March 1937 date for this film clip.   Noonan was not added to the flight crew until shortly before the first world flight attempt started, to be the flight navigator while Manning shifted to being primarily the radio operator.

Jeff P.

Hi Jeff,

That was one of the reasons that I was puzzled.  Fred Noonan was apparently present for this particular photo shoot.  In one of the images that I saw (either earlier or from one of the links provided by Greg), there was an image of Earhart and three men -- and I think that one of them included Noonan and Manning together with her.  In another link from this particular Bresnik photo shoot, we see an image of Noonan and his wife (with a caption that they had only been married for 55 days).

Knowing what we know about Noonan, it seems that he was married on March 27th in Arizona.  This information -- and the probably incorrect caption -- added to my confusion.  I just didn't know when Earhart, Noonan and Manning were all present together for a photo shoot. 
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Chris Murphy

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Re: Amelia Earhart's final photo shoot in 1937...
« Reply #8 on: June 10, 2015, 01:52:00 PM »

I had previously searched the forums for a post about this, but I didn't find anything.  However, I found a response at TIGHAR's Facebook page yesterday.  I'm not sure who wrote this FB post, but it provides a very good explanation why this wasn't the "final photo shoot" and explains that this photo shoot was from March 1937 rather than May 1937:

Quote
GETTING IT WRONG (AGAIN)

A new book joins the long list of poorly-researched books about Amelia Earhart. Even the title of "Amelia Earhart's Last Photo Shoot" is misleading. Upon closer inspection, the full title is "Amelia Earhart's Last Photo Shoot with Albert Bresnik her photographer." The book references a 3.5 minute home movie film that recently came to light which is purported to show Amelia's last photo shoot before departing from Burbank for Miami on her second world flight attempt. Not quite. The film does show her posing for photographer Al Bresnik but there are numerous dead-give-aways in the film that show that it was made in March 1937 shortly before AE's first world flight attempt.

Author Nicole Swinford "carefully documents some of the changes to Earhart's Lockheed Electra 10E that explain why she lost communication and why she has never been found." There are no changes. The airplane is exactly the way it was before the wreck in Hawaii. It's an interesting piece of film. It does show Amelia Earhart's (first) last (and only) photo shoot with Al Bresnik. But it was not made in May before she departed for Miami and it does not provide any new or useful information.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/kate-kelly/amelia-earharts-last-phot_b_7219050.html

This is why TIGHAR is the go-to resource to find information about Amelia Earhart's attempt to fly around the world!
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Monty Fowler

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Re: Amelia Earhart's final photo shoot in 1937...
« Reply #9 on: June 10, 2015, 03:04:30 PM »

Amazing ... Amelia and Fred disappeared in 1937, and people still find them fascinating enough to try and make money off of them.

Of course, I freely admit to being one of the ones fascinated by the mystery.

LTM, who hopes the Niku VIII team has their ReliefBands handy,
Monty Fowler, TIGHAR No.  2189 ECSP
Ex-TIGHAR member No. 2189 E C R SP, 1998-2016
 
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Dan Swift

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Re: Amelia Earhart's final photo shoot in 1937...
« Reply #10 on: June 19, 2015, 01:26:22 PM »

Help me here:  When did her plane ever have prop spinners?  I wasn't aware it ever did. 
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JNev

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Re: Amelia Earhart's final photo shoot in 1937...
« Reply #11 on: June 19, 2015, 04:22:55 PM »

Help me here:  When did her plane ever have prop spinners?  I wasn't aware it ever did. 

A picture's worth a thousand words... (time unknown but possibly Oakland before flying to Hawaii) - courtesy of Woody Herndon via Purdue eArchives:

- Jeff Neville

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« Last Edit: June 19, 2015, 04:25:52 PM by Jeffrey Neville »
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Ted G Campbell

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Re: Amelia Earhart's final photo shoot in 1937...
« Reply #12 on: June 19, 2015, 04:41:25 PM »

Has anyone else noticed the white heels on her shoes?
Ted Campbell
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Steve Lyle Gunderson

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Re: Amelia Earhart's final photo shoot in 1937...
« Reply #13 on: June 19, 2015, 05:14:19 PM »

Dan,
See reply #6 of this thread.
Additionally, an early scene in the film clip shows the Electra parked on the tarmac with "spinners" installed over the propeller hubs.  (The "spinners" are the aerodynamically streamlined caps placed over the propeller hubs.)  The spinners were installed for flight testing on March 6 and 7 to measure fuel consumption rate of the Electra's engines, tests conducted by Kelly Johnson with Earhart piloting.  As far as I know, the spinners were installed only during this testing in early March and were removed shortly afterward, never to be installed again.  There are several photos reliably dated to 6 or 7 March which show the spinners installed.  One of these photos is the quite well known photo of Amelia and George Putnam posing in front of the Electra and holding an emergency kite.
Steve G
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Dan Swift

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Re: Amelia Earhart's final photo shoot in 1937...
« Reply #14 on: July 07, 2015, 03:05:42 PM »

Thanks all!  I did not know it ever had spinners and now I do. 
Interesting. 
TIGHAR Member #4154
 
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