Has David Billings Located Amelia Earhart's Electra?

[johnnyfalcon]

There are many theories about the fate of Amelia Earhart and Fred Noonan. Some are based on reason, others - fantastic imaginings, few are based on factual evidence. There are several determined groups that continue the search for an answer to this epic mystery, searching the sea bed and uninhabited islands. Like many historical aviation enthusiasts I have found this riddle of interest, although to be honest only a passing interest. I'd be much more intrigued with the results of equally determined efforts that follow reliable leads to find Hood and Moncrief in G-AUNZ, ZK-AFB, NZ5517 etc.

However, one Australian chap, David Billings a retired aircraft engineer, who spent many years working in New Guinea, stumbled upon what appears to be very convincing circumstantial evidence that points to the location of the wreck of the Electra in the jungle not far from Rabaul. Remarkably, Australian soldiers tracking Japanese troops with whom they had been in active "contact" literally stumbled upon this silver unpainted, twin-engined unidentified wreck. They spent a short time investigating it, overgrown with vines and jungle, before they wisely moved on, bt not before they came away with a metal tag that they found attached to one of the engine mounts. On the metal tag was a series of letters and numbers that they had no way of knowing what they signified. The tag was handed in with their SITREP upon return from their patrol.

If you are aware of David's theory you will know the significance of those letters and numbers - 600H/P S3H/1 C/N1055 If you aren't familiar with it, I will not spoil the story by revealing more, but if you enjoy a good mystery/riddle, then reading the narrative on David's website which outlines the facts that are to hand and the extrapolation of his theory as to how the airframe could end up in this location, you will find is nothing short of fascinating! For those of you who enjoy reading, reasoning, arguing, navigating, aviating - it is all there on his website.

earhartsearchpng.com/2016/01/16/earhart-lockheed-electra-search-project/

My purpose in raising this thread is to try and help him raise awareness of his find and the implications of it with a view to raising further funds. This man is in his '70s and has spent all his funds trying to locate the wreck that was discovered by the 'Diggers'. He has invested enormous amounts of time, energy and personal money, without any sponsorship or other financial support, unlike other groups that follow their independent theories in their searches. David is planning a final trip soon, an attempt that would best include using a helicopter equipped with a magnetometer to find large metallic objects in the dense growth. Due to lack of funds he has sold his personal glider (at a loss) and will likely go in to the search alone (or with few supporters) and be ground-based. He has suffered many disappointments from would-be sponsors. He believes he has located one specific spot that fits the description of the location of the wreck as relayed to him by the vets who were there and saw it. He interviewed them some years ago (sound familiar Dave H?) and they corroborated the facts that had already been established. Sadly they have since passed on.

I don't believe I am gullible. I find the circumstantial evidence convincing. I am a pilot, I understand navigation and fuel endurance calculations, diversion alternates, RTF, etc. It all makes sense to me. I'd like to know what you think. And I'd like to think that maybe someone here, a large benefactor or a few that can contribute small amounts to his fund-page, might make a difference to a selfless effort by one man over decades, and to solving one of the most enduring and captivating of aviation mysteries.

Cheers

J

[angelsonefive]

The engine mount tag is, in my opinion, the only really compelling piece of evidence to come to light so far.
It is a real pity that the tag was lost, probably discarded, back in 1945 when USAAF authorities deemed it not to have come from a US military aircraft and lost interest in it.

I have corresponded with David a couple of times and donated to his fund. He deserves support.

[davidd]

I have read the full story of that aircraft on another forum about 4 or 5 years ago, perhaps longer (on J-Aircraft, possibly also on Justin Taylor's Pacifc site), and I did not find it very plausible, in fact I posted reasons for my extreme doubts at the time. Although the numbers on the engine mount might seem compelling, I cannot imagine why an engine mount would have the aircraft's serial number on it at all, as this was an easily replaceable component. I have seen lots of data plates on one Lockheed 10A (and similar on several Hudsons), and these were all marked with the Lockheed logo and with spaces for part numbers, inspectors, etc, and if necessary, a unique serial number, but cannot say that I recall any having the aircraft's individual serial number as well. Sometimes engines (piston or turbine) carried the unique master number of the engine on component plates, etc, in addition to the individual Part Number and serial number of the component or assembly, as the manufacturer obviously considered it desirable that the main components stay together as a set, even though they were probably identical to all items of that type manufactured at about the same time. I am not familiar with large components of an aircraft carrying the master number (airframe serial number) on the component plates, although it might take place under certain circumstances. The RAF (and RNZAF) were quite keen on painting the aircraft's serial number (that is the RAF, or Air Ministry number, NOT the manufacturer's number) on the reverse of engine cowling components, and removable fillets and panels to ensure that tradesmen would NOT mix up the panels from one aircraft with another. This particularly affected aircraft of British manufacture which often did not have factory-jigged attachment fasteners fitted to these items, so would only fit properly on the airframe that it left the factory with. Incidentally there will be very many aircraft wrecks in the jungles around Rabaul (and in the sea!), mostly Japanese and USA types, including some of the earliest "attack drones" (TDR-1s), so the search team will have to be prepared for a lot of false alarms!
David D

[johnnyfalcon]

I thought his reasons, based on research of 1930s Lockheed methods for airframe repair, answered those natural questions satisfactorily.

Earhart's global circumnavigation attempt had a false start with a ground-loop in Hawaii. The aircraft was substantially damaged and shipped back to Lockheed. One of the damaged engine mounts was repairable and sent back to the foundry where it was made. A "permanent" type of identifying label that linked it to this airframe was wired to it and stamped with the appropriate identification. David's comprehensive research supports this procedure.

[johnnyfalcon]

Note: In 1937 Lockheed were manufacturing various models of the Electra with 450, 550, and 600 HP engine options. Engine mounts varied slightly due to different horsepower and engine mounting holes. So, as David, an experienced aircraft engineer, concludes: What horsepower rating, which engine type, and what airframe does this pre-existing in-for-repair engine mount belong to? And how do we protect that identifier from the oxyacetylene torch that will be used to repair it in the jig at the foundry in Los Angeles where it was made?

Wire a metal repair tag stamped with this information to the mount.

Is that too much of a stretch to swallow? If so, what aeroplane did the patrol find and bring to the attention of authorities as outlined in their SITREP? What other twin engined, silver aeroplane could have flown and crashed in this area before the war (the troops who witnessed it described the aircraft as overgrown with jungle and corroding), in a part of the world where aeroplanes were rarely seen?

Research indicates there are none other than Earhart's.

While the metal repair tag information is what this theory hinges upon, there is much corroborating circumstantial evidence to bolster the theory in my opinion not the least of which is the reliable eye-witness testimony as evidenced in interviews and military documentation.

[baronbeeza]

I am not sure about this one Johnny, I sense we may be getting set up for another road trip here.

Actually, we all probably keep an eye out for lost aircraft that we know of. I always do in the Buller Gorge/ Paparoas area for the Corsair.

That said I did do something similar with the Earhart machine some years back. I may have been thousands of Km out but we flying in the reef area about that today/yesterday, summer/winter point (180 East/ Equator) and then down towards Canton Island. Talk back then was that they may have come down in the vicinity of Baker Island.

Never saw a thing, some Korean fishing boats a little later on.

[oj]

I have just finished reading David Billings full report and find it very credible. If any of us win big with lotto, we must pledge a portion to the cause.

[johnnyfalcon]

The story of Amelia's public profile and global flight attempt is in itself a dramatic story. Add to that the incredible sequence of events, independent of each other, that have led David to his theory and the search area. Then imagine what someone like Sir Peter Jackson could do with this story as a full-length docu-drama should the wreck turn out to be the genuine article.

Sadly, David's ability to keep searching is coming to an end after more than a dozen search attempts.

[oj]

I wonder whether Sir Peter has been made aware of the situation or has been approached?

[davidbillings]

Earhart Search in PNG

Thanks to johnnyfalcon for introducing interest in our project in PNG which has been running since 1994.

I first saw a very small article about "the possibility" of the missing ELectra 10E being in the Wide Bay area of East New Britain, PNG; in a very small article (which was easy to miss) in the Brisbane Courier Mail at Christmas 1993. My wife pointed it out to me, so I blame her for the years of toil since then ! It was a by-line copied from a New Zealand newspaper. This occurred after a PNG Modern History Museum Curator visited a Warbird Group in NZ and mentioned the Australian Veteran's story to the group and some publicity ensued.

I got interested because I had previously vsited two crash sites in PNG to identify what were B-24 Liberator aircraft and report them in to give closure to the families of the missing aircrew. I did this because I was very neary "missing aircrew" myself and had a feeling for thse lost and not seen. I had trained in the RAF as a Flight Engineer on the Military version of the AWA "Argosy" freighter which NZ had as the Civilian version which did not carry an F/E. After training and flying on them for a while I was "shanghied" along with a lot of other f/E's and posted onto helicopters for Operations in BOrneo during "Confrontation" when Mr. Soakarno of Indonesia had had his cage rattled by the formation of Malaysia. In late 1967 on a sotie at low level, the loud whining noise started to decrease and XP358 was headed nowhere but downwards. Luckily I espied a one very small clearing (the only one) only slightly below our height and off to the right and the three aerofoil blades onthe Whildwind became knife blades 10 seconds later and chopped most of the overhang down as we went in. Tremendous luck ! After that I had the feeling of "In the event of, Who would have come searchong for me ?" I was very glad to get back onto 4 x RR Dsrts in 1968 as they never missed a beat.... The thought about missing aircrew remained with me for years and came to me again when I started work at Pacific Helicopters in PNG in 1987 and heard about all the missing aircraft from WWII.

So now I go looking for someone else based on the "Factual" side of the project which is the writing on the map and the eyeballing and the memories of the Veterans as told to me in the few times I met them and from the correspondence with them. They themselves have all now left us. The "Hypothesis" side of the project is my explanation and is based on the historical knowledge of the flight and a few weeks of work plowing through aeodynamic formulae and power equations using a massive MS Excel file a mile long and half a mile high, just to see "if" it was feasible that AE, FN and the Electra 10E could get back to PNG, providing that the July Trade Winds remained blowing. No-one on this globe knows "How far" or "where" Earhart and Noonan actually got to but by any chalk, there sure was a greater headwind out there that they had planned on meeting.

I am really glad that some of the members found the website a good read, that in the least says it was worth doing.

Regards,
David Billings
www.earhartsearchpmg.com