Kanton (Canton) Island
Note: TIGHAR and its sources use both spellings of the name. Both have been (and apparently will be) used indiscriminately in our discussions.
On February 14-16, 1998, a thirteen person TIGHAR team flew to Kanton Island to investigate the possibility that an engine from Earhart’s plane had been inadvertently brought there in 1971 during a U.S. Air Force missile testing program. Bruce Yoho, the individual who recovered the engine in 1971 (and now an active TIGHAR member), came along to show us where he dumped the Pratt & Whitney R1340 which he had found on a reef on one of the other islands of the Phoenix Group. Although he was able to locate the spot, we were surprised and disappointed to find that the contents of the dump had since been buried.
- Vessel: Chartered Gulfstream 1 Turbo-prop corporate aircraft
- Port of Embarkation: Honolulu, Hawaii
- Destination: Kanton Island, Republic of Kiribati
Articles
- The Canton Engine
- The Kanton Mission
- The Pilots Thought I was Nuts
- Ate Another MRE
- Excavating the Kanton Engine
- Noel Coward's poems written on Canton in 1941
Canton Airfield 1971. Photo Courtesy Jack Porth.