Disaster at Luke Field

Amelia's first round-the-world flight attempt ended on March 20, 1937, with a ground-loop while trying to take off from Hawaii for Howland Island.

The runway seems to have been surfaced with linked steel plates. The slipperiness of the steel surface may have contributed to the loss of control, especially since the ground may still have been wet from the night before: "During the night it showered heavily." The attempted takeoff was shortly after 5:40 AM, so the sun would not have had time to dry the runway. It should be noted, however, that the review board judged that "the nature and condition of the Luke Field landing mat had no bearing on the causes resulting in the crash."

It is ironic that Earhart tried to reach Howland twice and failed both times.

The repercussions of the crash probably arguably set up the first links in the accident chain resulting in the loss of the aircraft and all souls on board on July 2, 1937.

The U.S. Army Air Corps shipped the aircraft back to California for repair. As part of that process, USAAC 1st Lt. D.M. Tites performed an inventory of the aircraft on March 26. Although it does not tell us what was aboard the aircraft for its final flight, it does tell us what was aboard for the first intended flight to Howland Island.

• "The Luke Field Crash Report"--an index to a multitude of primary sources about the crash.

The pocketknife

"A Cattaraugus model 22309 pocket knife was for sale on ebay. The model number signifies 2 blades, 2 bolsters, style number 30, and the 9 indicates a bone handle. The number of the pocket knife on the Luke Field inventory was 22309, which one of our experts thought might be a Cattaraugus number."