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Re: Amelia Earhart's aerial navigation and Coast Guard did?
From: Ronald P Barrett
Date: 2009 Nov 19, 06:14 -0800
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From: Ronald P Barrett
Date: 2009 Nov 19, 06:14 -0800
To All, As a former USAF Pacific Nav in the 60s (3,000+ hrs) I find it interesting that so little discussion has been spent on the lack of aid, or interest the Coast Guard gave to AE's flight. There was an apparent haggle with the USN at Hawaii on who or what service was to support AE's flight, followed by an even less than stellar actual effort of support rendered, followed up by a great PR effort on a belated sea search. What is to all of this? Why have the Coast Guard's records on all of this remained secret to this day? What is being hidden? I do note,the CG used the same antenna for both voice and steering HF broadcast. So that means the radio was not operational some of the time one way or the other. Then once the CG radio operator (Was he not really a USN radioman?) was put ashore, was he not shorted batteries? On the CG vessels there were flares,,, why were these not used? They knew the plane was close. The bigger unknown here is the actual capabilities of the Coast Guard-vs-the actual real assistance rendered. Why was the search light not used. It was a common practice to use these lights as nav aids. The Oceaan Station vessels used them. Who taught this? I taugh open ocean sea survival (both in the military and to international airline crews fo r years) and I see a remark that AE carried a raft. It would have been very hard to get a raft out of the Electra. I take it they had life jackets. Question is: where was the raft stored. As a celestial nav I still have seen no data on the altitudes and azimuths that Noonan could shoot from the Electra with "NO ASTRODOME." He had to constantly shoot out "SIDE WINDOWS/Cockpit WINDOWS." Depending on the sextant he was using he could only position himself near to a point to look up! Some one needs to do a thorough ergonomics study on this using what is believed to be the actual type of sextant used and the positons in the plane Noonan had to assume to shoot. This actually needs to be done,,,, not discussed. I see lots of discussions by non-navs on this. Someone needs to go do it. Last but not least:the weather. Noonan as a PanAM nav knew the craziness of the ITZ. And this comes from my own actual experience in being caught in a C-124 at 10,000 ft at night with electrical (nav) problems flying from Wake to Johnston Island to Hawaii,,, and having got caught in an ITZ low-pressure high-wind vortex at altitude; which was much like a large circular electrical-thunderstorm. It took a great effort to stay the course! And I had a Loran course line to boot. Jet flights per se do not see these events as they fly over all of this. I am lucky to know many WWII AAC Pacific theater Navs because I am the President of the Air Force Navigators Observers Association. AFNOA has in its ranks navs from the very first military nav class, "Coral Gables 40-A" Some of these navs were taught by Noonan's PanAM nav-mate, Charles Lunn. So some of the early Pacific navigation heritage is still with us. Go to www.afnoa.org to blog on this if you like. DR'n away, Ron Barrett, President, Air Force Navigators Observers Association (AFNOA) www.ronbarrett.com --- On Wed, 11/18/09, Gary LaPook <glapook@pacbell.net> wrote:
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