Thomas A Willi, CDR USN (Ret.)

• TIGHAR #0537.

"The first clue we had [for the Niku hypothesis] was the navigational logic of a landfall at Gardner. That was first explained to us by TIGHAR members Tom Gannon and Tom Willi in 1988. As we dug into the historical record we discovered that, contrary to popular impression (and ours at the time), the likelihood of the Earhart having landed at one of the islands of the Phoenix Group was well recognized in 1937. The very same navigational logic and the significance of the 157/337 line, as laid out for us by Gannon and Willi in 1988, is written out in the report of Capt. Wilhelm Friedell of the U.S.S. Colorado in 1937. We’re not investigating a new Earhart theory. We’re re-investigating the oldest Earhart theory."[1]