Amelia again

[Stephan Wilkinson]

I thought TIGHAR was going to quickly wrap this up with that landing gear in the water picture. It's all gone quiet.

Hardly. The $2,200,000 seventh Nikumararu expedition casts off from Honolulu tomorrow (3 July) morning. You can read all about it at tighar.org.

All the jaybirds on this and other forums who are digging themselves deep holes that they won't be able to climb back out of IF Tighar finds an incontrovertible serial number or data plate will have to have their crow meals delivered if that happens.

Having said that, I readily admit that the chances are excellent that you all are right--that Earhart's Electra never ditched at Nikumararu and either crashed at sea or perhaps will someday be found in the jungles of New Guinea. I would never bet against those possibilities. But at the same time, I dearly hope that Tighar and Ric Gillespie are right. And if they are, I will never say "I told you so." That would be rude and petty, and there seems to be enough rudeness and pettiness to go around every time this fascinating subject comes up on this and other aviation forums. I say good luck to Tighar.

Yes, I'm a Tighar member, which denotes interest and not necessarily support. But I've also written critically about their activities in both Air & Space Smithsonian and Aviation History magazines. As Yogi said, you can look it up.

[JohnB]

They might be correct, but that doesn't excuse them of the shameless attempts at trying to tie anything and everything found on the island to her...most recently the "freckle cream" jar based onthe fact the she had freckles and reportedly didn't like them.No explanation was offered that she used them, took any makeup along on the trip or why she's be using dangerous patent medicines when she could afford proper cosmetics. At least they added that the jar was similar to the freckle cream, but it appearently wasn't ofered in that size.
If you're running a reputable organization, lay off the claims until you know something. Try to maintain same some shread of credibilty for the "nonbelievers" out there. (But since most of the American media have forgotten that elementary lesson of journalism class, I guess I can't really expect a guy who makes his living off donations to remember it).

I really don't have anything anaist TIGHAR...a friend bought me a fund raising Lockheed Vega bank with their logo years ago...and I even thought about joining at one point.
It's just I'm a bit tired of their antics...and the fact that after so long, they still haven't found anything.

Dtephen, be honest..if they find nothin THIS time, do you really expect them to cease their begging?
If they somehow disprove this theory (notthat anyone expects them to do it), they'll move onto theior next theory.
If I had the Washington Post mindset, I'd suggest that they have found a perpetual motion machine to keep in business.
Since they will probably never find he to everyone's satisfaction, they have to keep on looking...sounds like job security.


Since you didn't like my Gilligan's Island joke/reference on the other forum I won't repeat it.... Not up to Harvard standards I guess.

Last edited by JohnB on Mon Jul 02, 2012 8:12 pm, edited 1 time in total.

[Dan K]

Hardly. The $2,200,000 seventh Nikumararu expedition casts off from Honolulu tomorrow (3 July) morning. You can read all about it at tighar.org.

Interesting to note that this expedition requires over 100 times more than the amount budgeted ($20,000) for TIGHAR's very first overseas expedition back in 1985: Evaluating the possibility of recovering a certain B-17E in New Guinea.

http://tighar.org/Publications/TTracks/ ... 1/0102.pdf

Also interesting to note that TIGHAR started out as a group interested in getting classic aircraft remains into the hands of private collectors and restorers. One wonders at just how many aircraft TIGHAR could've actually recovered (or helped recover) over the years if they had just kept that course.

[Jesse C.]

Well, can someone tell me what TIGHAR has actually accomplished so far? I am serious, I have looked at their website and all I see are hands asking for money.

I am not just talking about Amelia, I mean, in general, what has been accomplished by TIGHAR?

The P-38 is still rotting, the Devastators are still out there and most likely will be ignored once they pull one up off San Diego's shores.

So, can anyone tell me? How about you Mr. Wilkinson? Tell me why I should not be so skeptical and jaded by all this, please.

[JohnB]

Well, can someone tell me what TIGHAR has actually accomplished so far? I am serious, I have looked at their website and all I see are hands asking for money.

I am not just talking about Amelia, I mean, in general, what has been accomplished by TIGHAR?

The P-38 is still rotting, the Devastators are still out there and most likely will be ignored once they pull one up off San Diego's shores.

So, can anyone tell me? How about you Mr. Wilkinson? Tell me why I should not be so skeptical and jaded by all this, please.

Why aren't they still looking for Nungesser and Coli?
Would I be too cynical for suggestiing if more fun to look in the South Pacific than the backwoods of Maine?
(Too many mosquitos and moose, I suspect. )

Last edited by JohnB on Tue Jul 03, 2012 10:58 am, edited 2 times in total.

[Mudge]

So what jumps out at me when I fire up the computer this AM?

http://xfinity.comcast.net/articles/new ... hero_media

Mudge the amused.

[groundpounder]

Well, i saw the last documentary and although the head guy seemed like a bit of a hopeful twonk, i gotta give them credit for actually putting the effort in. Who knows, maybe they will get lucky and find something.

[Fearless Tower]

Why aren't they still looking for Nungesser and Coli?

They probably realized what a futile effort that is.

I have every reason to believe that Nungesser and Coli are in the back woods of Maine, but having spent some time there, the only way they will find their remains is if someone happens to stumble on them by accident again and happens to have a portable GPS on them at the time......but as time passes and the forest grows, the odds of anyone ever stumbling on any remains in the future are slim to none. They might as well be at the bottom of the ocean.

[RobC]

What fascinates me is the enormous resource expenditure on a totally irrelevant effort. What really is being accomplished?

We know what happened: She ran out of fuel and gravity took its course.

We know roughly where it happened - on earth. She did not go off to Mars, so it is only a question of more precisely where.

Suppose they find her mortal remains? She has no direct heirs, so there is no one out there who "needs closure". I think about the Titanic and with the benefit of hindsight, did anyone benefit from more than a purely financial and ego standpoint? I think not.

It also fascinates me that someone would choose to devote most of their adult life to this. The tombstone of that person will either read: He spent his life looking for a dead person, and failed (or... and succeeded to great acclaim for about 15 minutes). How nice for him.

[PinecastleAAF]

What fascinates me is the enormous resource expenditure on a totally irrelevant effort. What really is being accomplished?

It is an impressive accomplishment that A.E. is still keeping one man employed after all these years.

[JohnB]

What fascinates me is the enormous resource expenditure on a totally irrelevant effort. What really is being accomplished?

It is an impressive accomplishment that A.E. is still keeping one man employed after all these years.

And I'm sure he's sure it will pay off this time. He probably see's himself as the James Cameron of AE's disappearance. How to turn a tragedy into fame and fortune (on other people's dime).

[Fearless Tower]

I think about the Titanic and with the benefit of hindsight, did anyone benefit from more than a purely financial and ego standpoint? I think not.

Funny you should mention Titanic. It is a good and valid point. I have been fascinated with the ship since I was a little kid, but even though we certainly learned alot about the ship from the wreckage...I don't think any of that information has really made a difference in anything other than a curiousity standpoint. The real lessons learned from that disaster happened long before the wreck was found and while there are plenty of revisionist historians around trying to rewrite the books, nothing that they have found really changes what happened. Really more trivial than anything.

[Cubs]

We here's my 2 cents.
Why climb Mt. Everest? Because of the challenge. The AE disappearance is the Everest of aviation mysteries. At least that's how I think other people look at this.
For many years, I was content, with the knowledge, that she and Noonan couldn't locate Howland and perished at sea.For whatever reason.
I was curious as to exactly what happened just like I am about any aviation accident. To perhaps learn something. Lately, with all the mainstream public theories abounding, some seem just outlandish and pure fabrication, others are plausible. Still, there is a lot of wrong information out there, and just for the sake of the truth, I would like for someone to find the missing aircraft/aviators.

[Kyleb]

We here's my 2 cents.
Why climb Mt. Everest? Because of the challenge. The AE disappearance is the Everest of aviation mysteries. At least that's how I think other people look at this.
For many years, I was content, with the knowledge, that she and Noonan couldn't locate Howland and perished at sea.For whatever reason.
I was curious as to exactly what happened just like I am about any aviation accident. To perhaps learn something. Lately, with all the mainstream public theories abounding, some seem just outlandish and pure fabrication, others are plausible. Still, there is a lot of wrong information out there, and just for the sake of the truth, I would like for someone to find the missing aircraft/aviators.

Excellent summary.

Thanks.

[Wildchild]

Well we could always do this...

Scan the entire pacific ocean, decide what spots are planes and not ships, and raise the planes.

We may not find Amelia, but it would make alot of people happy!