dr. robert ballard / amelia earhart's lockheed 10???

[JohnB]

And its worth repeating for those of you who may not know...
The Japanese operated twin Lockheeds....119 Model 14s operated by the Imperial Japanese Army as type LO transports.

[David Billings]

For DavyMac82:

The "Ventura" in the picture on New Britain (location unknown as I could not open the StarTribute page for the depiction), is obviously in a "coastal location" due the Palm Trees visible. We are looking on a hillside in what was Primary Jungle. Also the wreck we seek is known to have a cockpit smashed back to the main spar. The one shown in the picture also has the last remnants of paint adhering to the airframe. We seek an unpainted "bare metal" wreck.

For JohnB:

We have gone over this before as the Model 14 did not have R-1340 S3H1 engines. The engines on the Japanese "LO's" would maybe not have had Wright Cyclones but a similar Japanese H.P. engine as the Cyclone. Does your research into the use of The Model 14 by the Japanese go deep enough to say "where" they used them....? I believe it was mainly in China. I also point out that the wreck we seek did not have a Big Red Blob of paint on the sides as: "...no Military markings were seen." I have seen Japenese wrecks in PNG in the 90's and also in the Solomons and they still had the Hinamaru on them. If your research indicates that the Model 14 was used out of Rabaul or in defense of New Britain by the Sons of Nippon, then I will quite cheerfully accept that they were used there....BUT, the writing on the map we have still says: "600 H.P., S3H1, C/N 1055"... and that fact is indisputable and this does not point to a Model 14 (Hudson type).

Regards,

David Billings

[Courier Sportster]

bump. haha. we need some more of the ballad of fred and amelia, right? there's good stuff in here. always in the repetitions I pick up one new thing. ballard did not get much screen time in this one. I think it should be retitled: "Billings! Billings! He's our man! If he can't find it, no one can!"