Another "I think we found her plane" announcement.

[Jeff Lange]

Saw this in my youtube feed today. Another discovery of her aircraft?

https://youtu.be/r05K6ilkNCM?si=kOeZfuKrwoPdvm6q

[Dale O. Beethe]

Like Billy the Kid, she's everywhere!  Seriously, I wish them well, but we've all seen this before.

[Ric Gillespie]

TIGHARNews email about this just sent out.

[Dale O. Beethe]

They'll be awfully disappointed to find it's a '50's Navy fighter, but it would be cool to see nonetheless!

[Kurt Kummer]

I'm guessing it'll be an FJ-4 Fury.  Any other guesses?

[Jerry Stalheim]

What if it is her plane?  100 miles outside of Howland Island. 
Could they have landed safely on the water (like guy in NY), floated around for a bit (sending messages)until plane started to fill with water and sink (one of messages said "taking on water knee deep"), and then one of them drifted or floated to Gardner island (300 miles away) and been cast away still?  Sounds far fetched I know.
Or they both sank with plane and debris floated to Gardner island causing the items to be found there?
Shoes, glass, zipper piece, possibly floating in a bag?
Although I know messages were heard by people days after plane disappeared..... just a theory no real basis, asking questions still though almost 90 years later.

[Christian Stock]

I'm guessing it'll be an FJ-4 Fury.  Any other guesses?

C-47

[Randy Jacobson]

If the plane went down west of Howland, the prevailing currents and wind would have the plane drift west, not east.  The post-loss aerial search by the Navy correctly assumed this.  Based upon the ship logs' re-navigation, I was able to determine that the narrow Equatorial CounterCurrent, which runs west to east, was narrow and above 2* N.  This current would be in opposition to the winds, largely putting her plane in somewhat of a static east-west position.

[Greg Daspit]

According to the interviewer at the 6:45 point in the linked Youtube video below, Bob Ballard believed the plane to be "in the sea off Howland" as well.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UyfTi2-VQDY
I wonder if after his previous searches and expeditions in that area he picked up the same thing, or something similar they want to revisit. The way he says "stay tuned" seems like he has some information he is not willing to share.

[Christian Stock]

Even if it looks like swept wings, the image is basically like a shadow. You don't know how the object is oriented. Yes, it looks like an FJ-4, but it could also be a WWII era carrier aircraft with wings partially folded. Some of them stowed in a "swept" configuration.

The ferry route to Australia took aircraft to Christmas Island, then Canton, etc. It could easily be a C-47. When you have a blurry mish-mash of an image, the nose section, engines and slightly swept wings of the C-47 might look even more swept.

[Ric Gillespie]

We've been sending out news bulletin emails about this.  Click HERE for the most recent one.  It's shareable on social media.

You can sign up to receive the news bulletin emails at https://visitor.r20.constantcontact.com/manage/optin?v=001vRta0njc69PE4KR_0trczjmW3Zr8vlaX3D_FmQYpdnngc8VkfAfLBxUjnrLR8ZN0kpVZzBNuOTHSeq9nIYOqKNMv6q42K9ko0H0rd_5Q8ik%3D

[Dale O. Beethe]

I keep seeing references to the "double tail" on this image.  Am I missing something?  I don't see it.

[Christian Stock]

Romeo dismisses this criticism. Both the wings and the tail look swept back due to distortion caused by the AUV moving through the water


I'd be interested to see other examples of this phenomenon.

[Ric Gillespie]

I got to tell our side of the story in a 36 minute interview that aired yesterday (2/3) on FOX NEWS LIVE.  You can see it at https://youtu.be/4g6jch-48HU

[Greg Daspit]

To me it sort of looks like a floatplane. Inverted with twin floats. The blob running parallel to the the fuselage a the top of the image would be one of the floats and the other float hiding or blending in with the fuselage.