Fred Noonan

• Full name: Frederick Joseph Noonan.
• Born April 4, 1893; lost July 2, 1937; declared dead June 20, 1938.

How did Noonan get involved in the World Flight?

A confidential letter letter from George P. Putnam to William T. Miller on March 1, 1937, hinted that the Putnams were not totally comfortable with the experience level of Capt. Harry Manning "in matters like this" (aerial navigation), and suggested that Pan Am's best practicing navigator be summoned to discuss the matter with him "to advantage".

First round-the-world attempt

• Manning and Noonan's navigation to Hawaii.
• Mantz was scheduled to leave the plane in Honolulu; Noonan at Howland Island, and Manning in Darwin, Australia.

Was Noonan a drunkard?

• Claim first made in the 1960s?
• Heavy drinking a norm for pilots in the 1930s.
• The claim that "personnel unfitness", a phrase from a telegram sent from Earhart to Putnam on June 29th was a pre-arranged code between them has not been substantiated.

Gore Vidal: "Well, just the night before the final flight, she reported in and they had a code phrase, 'personnel problems,' which meant Noonan was back drinking. And my father said, 'Just stop it right now and come home,' and G.P. agreed and said, 'Come back, abort the flight, forget it, come home.' And then she said, 'Oh, no,' and she said, 'I think it’ll be all right,' something like that. So you may put that down to invincible optimism or it may have been huge pessimism."

The phrase was used in a telegram, not a telephone call. Ric Gillespie says that there was no phone call from Earhart to Putnam in Lae: "Amelia did not talk to her husband from Lae. She did telephone a travelogue story to the New York Herald Tribune, as she had from nearly every stop on the world flight. Putnam was in California and communicating with his wife by telegram."

It may have been a typo for "personal," meaning that Earhart herself was feeling unwell; it may have been a reference to both Earhart and Noonan (exhaustion or some other malady); or, of course, it may refer to Noonan alone. The possibility that it might refer to drinking or a hangover cannot, of course, be eliminated by recognizing that there are other possible interpretations.

Links

• Research paper on Noonan.
• Fred Noonan, Sea Captain.
• The Brines Letter--mentions Noonan's drinking.
• Wikipedia article.
• Letters to Helen Day during the final flight:
  • Fortaleza
  • Karachi
  • Bandoeng
  • Koepang