[Milsurplus] Re: Amelia & [ARC5] Signal Corps Info Golden Nuggets.

[Bill & Arlene Hooper]

>  - they heard her just fine, she couldn't hear them (or didn't
indicate she did) and the reason they couldn't DF her was (a) she
> wouldn't keep her transmitter keyed long enough for a bearing to be
taken by the ship and (b) the special DF shore station set up
> for her had the batteries run down with no replacements - but with
new batteries they still probably wouldn't have been able to take
> a bearing if she wouldn't key the mike long enough.
>
Not quite accurate. The Itasca heard her, but had no capability to df
on
3105 or 6210.  This accounts for (a), which was fatal, even tho (b)
applies-
the island's df being down. BTW, it does not take that long to take
an rdf
fix. If she could get messages heard, she could be df'd.
Also, my typo in the original, i mean 600m (meters), not kHz. Or, 500
kHz.
Hue Miller

Hue, you sent me back to the books again (I should have rechecked my info before I posted - I will learn one of these days  -  -  -)
Anyhow, it seems that the original plan (developed by Paul Mantz, Clarence Williams and others) was for Amelia to take bearings on
the Itasca, not the other way around.  There was a lot of reworking and modification to the plane's radio system before the first
attempt from Hawaii.

 Amelia slipped away from Florida on the second attempt while Paul was unavailable, which upset him greatly because he wanted to
check out many things first, including the radio and RDF. He had employed someone who was reputed to be a "radioman" (Joseph Gurr)
who found that he could contact no stations on 500KHz during test flights using the deployed trailing wire antenna.  He therefore
then modified the plane's antenna system:  " He took the opportunity to re-design the top antennae (sic) installing a short stub
behind the loop on top of the cockpit"   He ran two wires from this short mast to the two rudders and said  "It made a great deal of
difference in the radiated energy also, because of the added wire, this top antennae  (sic) would be more effective on 500 kcs. The
reel antenna was left on board".  However it was later stated that "Amelia clearly believed that the 250 foot trailing wire was not
essential to the operation of the radio" So it likely remained in Florida. Further she also left the two CW keys and was determined
to communicate by voice only, although the carrier would be on as long as she pushed the microphone button.  Also reported that Gurr
had installed a loading coil to "resonate" the top antenna at 500 KHz

In my opinion, had the trailing wire remained on the plane as far as Lae, it would have been discarded there as she and Noonan
followed her almost obsession for weight reduction to the extent that "she unloaded all her surplus equipment even to include her
Very pistol, ammunition, books, letters and facility books". She is also reported to have left her "elephant-toe bracelet".

There is considerable evidence that in return for a donated sum of $5000 she, at the last minute before departing Florida, dumped
the Western Electric equipment and had installed all Bendix equipment including the (then new) Bendix RA-1 which I believe covers
about 200 to 1400 KHz, however Amelia at first believed that she could RDF from 200-1500 KHz and 2400-4800 KHz. (but she later sent
a cable to the Itaska from Lae that her RDF covered 200-1400 KHz.)  As you know, the Itaska was set-up to transmit on 425, 500,
3105, 6210 and 7500 KHz.

The experimental HF RDF setup (once referred to as almost a "breadboard")  on the island, operated by Frank Cipriani with Lt Daniel
Cooper (Air Corps) as an observer,  apparently could hear Amelia on 3105 KHz before battery depletion but  Cooper stated "...Amelia
never transmitted for a long enough period to enable Cipriani to obtain a bearing on her".

It was stated that she was not transmitting on 500 KHz, and again, you are correct in that the Itaska RDF would not operate at 3105
KHz or 6210 KHz.

The ship was transmitting on 500 KHz with proven equipment, she had RDF that should have worked when she was close enough to the
ship for her to be heard on the ship on 3105 KHz at what they called S-5, which was apparently full deflection of  their signal
strength meter. There is no evidence that she heard any transmission from the ship on any frequency.  It was reported that the radio
(?) had a blown fuse replaced at Darwin. I think she had radio problems and lacked  developed skills in radio and RDF operations.
For example: Before the second attempt, Gurr attempted to
train Amelia on the use and limitations of the plane's radio equipment but her schedule was just too full to accommodate him - he
later
stated " We never covered ... taking a bearing with the direction finder..."

The quotations above were taken from "The Sound of Wings"  Lovell, Saint Martin's Press, New York, 1989, which quotes from "The
Itaska Report" National Archives, Washington DC, microfilm reels 1-5, and 41 pages of other reference notes.

There are at least 60 other books giving accounts and theories of her final flight.

My - I did run on, didn't I ?  But I don't post very often (good thing)   ; - )


_______________________________________________
      Bill & Arlene Hooper

      billnroo@earthlink.net


           John 3:16

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