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[Craig Romig]

I have heard of panel markers in the past. But I don't know much about them. I understand they are a position markers for planes to see.

What size are they?
What colors were they during 1937 to 1945?
Did Amelia have any?
What else should I know about panel markers?

[Martin X. Moleski, SJ]

I have heard of panel markers in the past. But I don't know much about them. I understand they are a position markers for planes to see.

What size are they?
What colors were they during 1937 to 1945?
Did Amelia have any?
What else should I know about panel markers?

A Google search for <"panel markers" aviation> turns up the use of them in WWI as well as at the present time.  Here, too.


So far as I recall, the Luke Field inventory didn't mention "panel markers."  If so, that doesn't mean that there were no panel markers on the second flight.  The Luke Field inventory just happens to be the only account we have of the kind of things AE and crew carried on the first round-the-world attempt.  We do not have a similar inventory for any of the legs of the second attempt.

[Monty Fowler]

Craig - your question is one with, literally, hundreds of answers. I very much doubt any of the answers will lead to Amelia and Fred.

"Panel marker" is primarily a military/government term, in the military being applied to any number of bright/high contrast colored "panels" of fabric or a similar material, in a variety of shapes, but generally square or rectangular. As far as I know, the term did not come into general use until well into WWII, when large airborne and sea landings by the Allies started taking place. Panel markers were frequently color and/or shape specific to a particular operation, i.e. D-Day, or for a specific function, i.e., in the liferafts of aircraft.

The primary use was to either identify friendly forces on the ground to their (usually) friendly air component, to avoided getting the crap bombed or strafed out of them; or to attract the attention of search aircraft, as in from a liferaft in the ocean. Other examples of "marker panels" would be the national flag affixed to the horizontal surface of a vehicle, again to avoid getting attacked by your own aircraft.

Again, as far as I know, the term did not even come into use until well into WWII. "Panel markers" as such were not listed on the Electra's Luke Field inventory following that crash, although I suppose Amelia and Fred could have used panels from their parachutes to lay out ground signals at Niku, if they had thought to do that. That kind of closed-loop speculation seldom leads anywhere except back to where you started.

LTM,
Monty Fowler, TIGHAR No. 2189n E

[Ric Gillespie]

Again, as far as I know, the term did not even come into use until well into WWII.

See Marty's post:
A Google search for <"panel markers" aviation> turns up the use of them in WWI

[Ricker H Jones]

I recall markers of some sort being planned for the Howland runway and requested in a supply order.  Miller's correspondence files provided to us by Hank Davison contained correspondence about such.  Maybe someone has a working link available for these Miller files.

[Martin X. Moleski, SJ]

I recall markers of some sort being planned for the Howland runway and requested in a supply order.  Miller's correspondence files provided to us by Hank Davison contained correspondence about such.  Maybe someone has a working link available for these Miller files.

"William T. Miller" in the Ameliapedia leads to:

• "Scanned in the original order."
• "Reorganized in chronological order."

Great stuff!

[Craig Romig]

Thanks to all

[Monty Fowler]

Again, as far as I know, the term did not even come into use until well into WWII.

See Marty's post:
A Google search for <"panel markers" aviation> turns up the use of them in WWI

You learn something new every day. Marty's post was not visible to me yet when I posted my answer, which I made plain was based solely on my personal knowledge.

LTM,
Monty Fowler, TIGHAR No. 2189 EC

[Andrew M McKenna]

An example of the current (as of year 2000) use of panel signals can be found here:

http://www.cap-es.net/zips/gnd2airsignals.PDF

No doubt, these are derived from the US military's use of such signals starting in WWI, through WWII, and beyond.

Andrew

[Scott C. Mitchell]

Above, Ric provided a reference for panel markers used in WWI.  I was reading about the famous "Lost Battalion", and saw this reference in Wikipedia:

"Brigadier General Billy Mitchell wrote after the rescue that the Germans had managed to prevent supplies being air-dropped to the battalion. He ordered:[7]

...chocolate and concentrated food and ammunition dropped.... Our pilots thought they had located it from the panel that it showed, and dropped off considerable supplies, but later I found out they had received none of the supplies we had dropped off. The Germans had made up a panel like theirs and our men had calmly dropped off the nice food to the Germans who undoubtedly ate it with great thanksgiving...."

This shows, not only the use of panel markers in WWI, but an assumed familiarity with the readers of what "panels" were, and what they signified in early aviation.  If you were a pilot and were looking for some attention-getting device on the ground, panels would be what you would expect.

Scott
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