Evening star., 1937-07-03
Earhart

Earhart
Continued From First Page)
directly for the dot of land which
the veteran aviatrix and her navigator
mysteriously missed
| Lieut. w. w. Harvey, plotting the
| plane, was expected to reach the
! searching area In about l3 hours,
which would give several hours of
daylight to survey hundreds of square
miles of sea.
Watch for Flares.
Throughout the night, the 1tasca,
| stationed at Rowland originally to as
sist the aviatrix and Noonan, secured
| the waters within 10O-mile radius of
the island, watching for distress flares.
In the glare of rising sun, officers
of the Itasca said, Miss Earhart ap-
parently overshot the island, mere
sand spit mile and half long and
but feet above the water, and was
| forced down a short time later.
| Exactly where she alighted. no one
could say, and just how long the twin
motored ship could stay afloat was a
disputed point.
At Los Angeles, Mrs. E. S. Earhart,
her stepmother, said resolutely: Il am
sure Amelia will come through
Amelia believes in preparedness
she said If she is in trouble-and
somehow feel she is not-shell find
her way out know that she carried
collapsible rubber boat for use IN
case of a forced landing.
Paul Mantz, technical adviser to the
aviatrix, who twice crossed the At
lantic, said in Burbank, Calf. the
planes six gas tanks would give it
buoyancy to stay afloat indefinitely.
Putnam Is Optimistic.
George Palmer Putnam, husband OF
the missing flyer, was in constant COM
munication with Coast Guard head
quarters at San Francisco. He ex-
pressed belief his wife and her COM
panion would be found safe.
The plane should float. but I
couldn't estimate how long because a
Lockheed plane has never been forced
down at sea before"
The plane had two-man rubber
lifeboat, life belts, flares, signal kite
and emergency food and water rations.
The Itasca began its search as soon
as officers determined the ship must
have been forced down.
HeadWinds and static combined to
plague the flyers almost from the time
they left Lac They were unable to
communicate with the Itasca because
of the static and the adverse winds
cut speed and increased fuel consump-
ton.
I'VE have had no position. speed or
courses from Earhart's plane" the
Itasca radioed headquarters in San
Francisco.
I'VE believe it passed north and west
of island and missed it in glare of riS-
ing sun, although we were smoking
heavily at that time. Judge she came
down within 100 miles Of island"
Within that 100 miles of shark-in-
tested waters, however, there are no
regular shipping lanes, and tramp
freighters seldom course through it be-
cause it Is barren OF inhabited islands
or ports.
The nearest land is tiny Baker Is
land, 40 miles south, but there is no
other for hundreds of miles.
Naval officials here declared it would
be useless to start surface vessels out
to search for the missing couple, be-
cause it would take nearly five days
to reach the area.
The Navy flying boat of the type
that recently flew here from California
and from San Diego to Panama, would
be able to cover thousands of square
miles in comparatively short while.
Navy's Searchers.
Aboard the flying boat with Lieut..
Harvey were Lieut.. w. NJ Drane, Jun
lor Grade Lieut.. E. S. Lytle, Aviation
Cadet P. w. Smith, Radiomen McCor-
mick and Williams and Mechanics
Curry and English.
Naval authorities said they did not
at present plan to send additional
planes into the search, but that other
surface craft might leave Pearl Harbor
tomorrow
Fuel intended for Miss Earhart,s
plane Is based at Rowland and will
be available to the flying boat.
Rowland Island is treeless sandspit
located strategically on a direct air.
line from Honolulu to Australia. Ha-
wailan school boys have been main
tanned on the island by the United
States government to make weather
observations. Plans have been made
to lay out permanent airfield.
At San Francisco Lieut.. Frank
johnson, explaining that the Earhart
plane presumably came down at q
point 100 nautical miles from How
land Island said he had estimated the
drift would carry a floating plane
westward at the rate OF two knots an
hour, about SO miles a day.
Sailing ships ply the area about
800 miles westward, he said.
| Within nine days, johnson esti-
mated, the floating plane might reach
the Gilbert Islands, 420 miles to the
west.
Temperature of the water In that
portion Of the Pacific remains con-
slant at about 81 degrees.
Finder May BE Faulty.
Belief Miss Earhart's direction
finder was not functioning properly
was expressed in q message from the