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Author Topic: Did Earhart carry parachutes on the flight to Howland  (Read 416303 times)

Erik

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Re: Did Earhart carry parachutes on the flight to Howland
« Reply #360 on: March 11, 2012, 01:23:21 PM »

i have often wondered what the arrow feature, by seven site was,

first i thought it was a marker to search planes, then i wondered if it was a sea water filter, as i have read if u were stranded on a island if u built a feature similar to a waterfall with rocks, an poured sea water down it by time it reaches, beaker, bottle, cup, etc it would be drinkable

anyway after rotateing image is it possible it cud be a cover i.e tent useing a parachute ?

Same here.  The dimensions of the arrow feature match those very accurately of two parachutes side-by-side.

I brought this up in another thread.  But, the idea was 'trumped' by the fact that the area had been searched with metal detectors.

I have to wonder though (if the feature were the parachutes) if they were dismantled, removed, or taken away from natural forces before the metal detectors arrived?
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Monty Fowler

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Re: Did Earhart carry parachutes on the flight to Howland
« Reply #361 on: March 11, 2012, 06:17:41 PM »

IF that feature were only the parachutes themselves, minus the shroud lines, harnesses, fittings, etc., then I could totally see there being absolutely no trace of them left by the time TIGHAR got the time to poke around down there. Parachutes in Earhart's era were made of silk. I'm not a fiber expert, but I doubt the canopies would have lasted a long time in that rather "active" environment, between the sunlight, intense UV rays, heat, periodic torrential rains, etc.

LTM, who trys to keep his 'chutes dry,

Monty Fowler, TIGHAR No. 2189 CER
Ex-TIGHAR member No. 2189 E C R SP, 1998-2016
 
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Erik

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Re: Did Earhart carry parachutes on the flight to Howland
« Reply #362 on: March 11, 2012, 06:50:36 PM »

I think the counter-argument made by Ric, was that the grommets and metal fastners, etc would still be found by metal detectors.  But, what if the entire parachute assembly was purposefully removed, torn down, etc, then there would be no metal to find anyhow.  The question now becomes, is there anything that would elimnate the arrow from being a parachute?
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Gary LaPook

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Re: Did Earhart carry parachutes on the flight to Howland
« Reply #363 on: March 12, 2012, 03:51:14 AM »


According to this documentary posted on youtube, they left both the parachutes and raft in Miami.

See: Amelia Earhart: The Price of Courage at about 43:50 in to the video.

It is an interesting documentary if you have not yet seen it.
It also says, one minute later in he show, that the night before the last flight that Earhart "called the Herald Tribune office in New York where G.P. and Gene Vidal were waiting." But we know that G.P. was not in New York, he was in California and who knows where Vidal was.
Then Gore Vidal says that G.P. told her to "abort the flight and come home." How do you "come home" from Lae? Was she supposed to sell the plane and take a steamer? The shortest way home was to fly her plane. So there appears to be at least some errors in this video so there are likely to be more.

So we now have three parachute stories, this latest one that she left them in Miami; the story in the book Putnam published after her disappearance that she shipped them back from Darwin even though this is not in the story she cabled from there; and the stories printed in two Australian newspapers prior to her disappearance that she picked her chutes up in Darwin.  I don't know about you, but I am going with the two contemporaneous stories printed by two independent newspaper reporters and, very importantly, published prior to the last flight.

gl
« Last Edit: March 12, 2012, 10:27:07 AM by Gary LaPook »
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Heath Smith

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Re: Did Earhart carry parachutes on the flight to Howland
« Reply #364 on: March 12, 2012, 04:04:38 AM »

Perhaps after leaving them in Miami she did reconsider the need for them over the Pacific as they progressed along in the flight. Could she have just purchased a couple new ones at Darwin at the time? Were they a rare commodity at the time?

What is interesting is that they say in the documentary that she also left the raft in Miami yet I believe you had posted previously that Putnam thought she had a raft aboard which is also contradictory.

The question of the raft seems to be an important one as if they did not safety land on a reef at Gardner, and they did ditch at sea, they would almost certainly be dead within just an hour or two without a raft and without life preservers. Leaping out of the plane before the motors cut would be unlikely. As they would have progressed in their search there would have been some hope that Howland or another island would suddenly come in to view. If one more more of the engines died you have a control problem and you will probably not be able to strap on the parachute and secure the raft as you descend from only 1,000ft or perhaps a bit higher.
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Erik

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Re: Did Earhart carry parachutes on the flight to Howland
« Reply #365 on: March 12, 2012, 01:48:40 PM »

Maybe both stories are true? 

For example, lets say GP sent the parachutes to Darwin, knowing ahead of time that AE wasn't fond of them, and would purposefully leave them behind.  Almost as a 'surprise' gift.   Then...  after receiving the parachutes in Darwin, AE sent them right back home in spite of GP.

I know crazy thinking....  But, it would certainly explain both versions of the story. : )
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Gary LaPook

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Re: Did Earhart carry parachutes on the flight to Howland
« Reply #366 on: March 12, 2012, 03:19:37 PM »

Maybe both stories are true? 

For example, lets say GP sent the parachutes to Darwin, knowing ahead of time that AE wasn't fond of them, and would purposefully leave them behind.  Almost as a 'surprise' gift.   Then...  after receiving the parachutes in Darwin, AE sent them right back home in spite of GP.

I know crazy thinking....  But, it would certainly explain both versions of the story. : )
Except that in the book published by Putnam it says that the chutes carried all the way around the world were shipped back from Darwin, see excerpt from book and the original newspaper story. Also see the two Australian newspaper stories here, and here. The first thing Earhart did when she landed in Darwin was ask if the chutes had arrived from the States so they were not a "surprise" gift from Putnam.

gl
« Last Edit: March 12, 2012, 06:39:30 PM by Gary LaPook »
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Gary LaPook

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Re: Did Earhart carry parachutes on the flight to Howland
« Reply #367 on: March 12, 2012, 03:31:36 PM »

Perhaps after leaving them in Miami she did reconsider the need for them over the Pacific as they progressed along in the flight. Could she have just purchased a couple new ones at Darwin at the time? Were they a rare commodity at the time?

What is interesting is that they say in the documentary that she also left the raft in Miami yet I believe you had posted previously that Putnam thought she had a raft aboard which is also contradictory.

The question of the raft seems to be an important one as if they did not safety land on a reef at Gardner, and they did ditch at sea, they would almost certainly be dead within just an hour or two without a raft and without life preservers. Leaping out of the plane before the motors cut would be unlikely. As they would have progressed in their search there would have been some hope that Howland or another island would suddenly come in to view. If one more more of the engines died you have a control problem and you will probably not be able to strap on the parachute and secure the raft as you descend from only 1,000ft or perhaps a bit higher.
The two Australian newspaper stories said they were shipped from America. See prior post, one above.

gl
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Erik

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Re: Did Earhart carry parachutes on the flight to Howland
« Reply #368 on: March 12, 2012, 04:44:26 PM »

Except that in the book published by Putnam it says that the chutes carried all the way around the world were shipped back from Darwin

So, if he says it it must be true.  So, why start the thread "Did Earhart carry parachutes on the flight to Howland" then?  Is there a doubt to the parachutes being on board or not?  ???   Now, I am a bit uncertain of the purpose behind starting this thread....
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Gary LaPook

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Re: Did Earhart carry parachutes on the flight to Howland
« Reply #369 on: March 12, 2012, 06:37:07 PM »

Except that in the book published by Putnam it says that the chutes carried all the way around the world were shipped back from Darwin

So, if he says it it must be true.  So, why start the thread "Did Earhart carry parachutes on the flight to Howland" then?  Is there a doubt to the parachutes being on board or not?  ???   Now, I am a bit uncertain of the purpose behind starting this thread....

He wrote his book based on the cables Earhart sent to the New York Herald Tribune and that line is NOT in the cable from Darwin so I have my doubts about his story especially since it is directly contradicted by the two contemporaneous newspaper stories published before she disappeared. So I believe that it is more likely that the chutes were on board on the flight to Howland than that they were shipped back from Darwin.

gl
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richie conroy

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Re: Did Earhart carry parachutes on the flight to Howland
« Reply #370 on: March 13, 2012, 03:06:01 PM »

why would u unload the spare wheel and parachutes, what if they got a puncture at lae or howland

   
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Heath Smith

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Re: Did Earhart carry parachutes on the flight to Howland
« Reply #371 on: March 13, 2012, 03:57:56 PM »


Although the news paper articles did say that they parachutes arrived from the U.S., and they sat in the office, there is no mention that she walked out with them. Perhaps she arrived and said "ship them back, I don't want them", at which point they were sent back to Putnum. It is hard to believe that the her husband got this story wrong as he probably was the one on the return to sender slip. If he did get them back I wonder where they went? Perhaps there is a mention of this over in the Purdue collection. The raft remains a mystery...
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richie conroy

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Re: Did Earhart carry parachutes on the flight to Howland
« Reply #372 on: March 13, 2012, 04:42:50 PM »

if u bare with me so i can find it,  i read a story a while back an it was on the website of the firm who supplied the parachutes...
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Gary LaPook

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Re: Did Earhart carry parachutes on the flight to Howland
« Reply #373 on: March 13, 2012, 07:08:01 PM »


Although the news paper articles did say that they parachutes arrived from the U.S., and they sat in the office, there is no mention that she walked out with them. Perhaps she arrived and said "ship them back, I don't want them", at which point they were sent back to Putnum. It is hard to believe that the her husband got this story wrong as he probably was the one on the return to sender slip. If he did get them back I wonder where they went? Perhaps there is a mention of this over in the Purdue collection. The raft remains a mystery...
"they parachutes arrived from the U.S., and they sat in the office, " and she asked about them as soon as she landed and you see them in the photo next to the plane, so she did not just leave them in the office with instructions to send them home. And ask yourself, would that make any sense after incurring the expense of shipping them to Darwin, why pay additional shipping charges when you can just bring them back in the plane?

gl
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Gary LaPook

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Re: Did Earhart carry parachutes on the flight to Howland
« Reply #374 on: March 14, 2012, 01:26:49 AM »

Does anybody know the where to find an clean copy of this picture?  Without the white annotation boxes.



Here is the link to the photo at Purdue.

Also note, there are two seat pack parachutes in the photo.

gl
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