Amelia Earhart's plane is still there

Australian searcher denies claims that wreckage is that of Earhart

Amelia Earhart plane searcher David Billings yesterday denied claims in yesterday’s front page story of The National that the aircraft wreckage found in the jungles of East New Britain last week was that of the plane of the great American woman aviatrix.

And the former Air Niugini aircraft engineer urged Papua New Guineans to “calm down”, as the wreckage was not that of Earhart’s plane, and that her plane was still in the jungles of East New Britain waiting to be discovered.

Yesterday’s story said that what made last week’s discovery significant was the fact that Billings, who has been involved in a project since 1994 to locate Earhart’s Lockheed Electra 10E, had pinpointed the location where the wreckage was as the place where he believed her plane went down in July 1937.

After a dozen trips to the jungles of East New Britain over several years since 1994 – the latest being last August - it appears he has yet to locate what he believes to be Amelia Earhart's downed Lockheed Electra L-10 aircraft.

When told of the discovery, and that the wreckage had the serial number 06751, Mr Billings replied: “It will be another WWII aircraft.

“It seems everyone in PNG is now an Electra expert.

“If the number you gave is the Bureau Number of the aircraft 06751, then the full Bureau No. is 40-6751 indicating that the aircraft came into U.S. Service in 1940.

“As you know, Earhart was lost in 1937.

“It could, however, be anybody’s aircraft, Japanese included, (as) they also used Roman numerals in places.”

Mr Billings stressed that Lockheed made 147 Electras, of which only four every visited Papua New Guinea.

“Two 10A's were in Lae pre-war belonging to Guinea Airways: one was there at Lae when Earhart visted in 1937,” he said.

“The second Guinea Airways aircraft had not been delivered in 1937 when Earhart passed through.

“In 1942, one of the Guinea Airways Electra 10A's returned to PNG to ferry troops and supplies to the battle front at Buna.

“Both these aircraft are accounted for.

“One was written off at Darwin in 1939 and the second ended its days in New Zealand.

“In 1937, Earhart passed through Lae in her 10E.

“In 1997 Finch's 10A/E flew through Moresby and Lae.

“That's four Electras total into Papua New Guinea.

“Only one of the above aircraft is seriously considered to have returned and crashed in East New Britain from the evidence we have, i.e., that my project has.

“That aircraft is Earhart's.”

Mr Billings added: “In the last year or so, five reports emanating in various districts of PNG have proclaimed that the Electra has been found and I keep repeating to you that the area is in East New Britain not that many miles from Rabaul: not in Morobe (two reports) not in the Mt Ulawun area (one report), another one report has been, I recall, in Enga but I may have misread that and now, one in the Kalip area....all could be Electras....all found in PNG !

“The Kalip area is the closest to our search area but our Australian Army Veterans were never in the Kalip area or the Milim area.

“I did hear of a large American aircraft in the Milim area back in 1994 and I guess this one just found may be that one.

“You have to look and consider ‘where’ that area is in relation to the Flight Path from Moresby to Rabaul for the B17 Flying Fortresses, the B-24 Liberators and also all the other aircraft operating from Moresby, Kiriwina, etc.

“This includes B-25 Mitchells and B-26 Marauders operating from Ward's Strip and other satellite dromes plus all the Australian and New Zealand aircraft: Beauforts, Beaufighters, Catalinas, Hudsons etc etc, etc that also attacked Rabaul.

“On top of that you have the fighters, especially the Lockheed Lightning.

“After reading up on the actions in WWII, I am convinced that Wide Bay was a prominent landmark such that the aircraft bomber fleets re-formated in the Wide Bay area on the outbound flights after bombing Rabaul and for the return to Moresby.

“ Just imagine that crippled aircraft leaving Rabaul faced all that open water to get back to Moresby, and in their bad shape, it would be inevitable that lots went down in that area of East New Britain.

“Many, many, did not make it back.

“Many are in the Bainings, many elsewhere.

“To whit, I did hear of a large U.S. aircraft down Milim way on the East Coast south of Wide Bay.

“There is also a Japanese aircraft in the same area.

“Want to take a bet? Calm down people…”

In April 1945, the 20-member patrol of the 11th Australian Infantry Battalion ‘D-Company’ is evading the Japanese while in the dense jungles of East New Britain.

Suddenly they come upon a wrecked aircraft — a two engine, twin tailed plane much like Earhart’s.

An old repair tag is pulled off one of the engines and the men moved on — fearful of falling into the hands of the Japanese.

The information on the tag is scribbled down on the edge of their map and then forgotten.

Forty-five years later at a veterans reunion, Don Angwin of that same Australian Patrol, talks about the aircraft that he and his patrol members found in the jungle.

He starts a search for the plane in 1993, and is joined the following year by David Billings of Air Nugini in Port Moresby.

Angwin died in 2001 but Billings continues the search, now living in Queensland, Australia.

Billings, now 68, has been to that valley nearly a dozen times.

Sick woman urgently needs help for medical treatment

THE family of a woman who has been diagnosed with a brain tumor is desperately appealing to the general public and business houses for financial assistance to cover her travel and medical expenses in Australia.
Forty-eight year old Rose Tapo (pictured)  of Pitylu Island in Manus province was diagnosed with brain tumor and needs urgent radiation therapy in Australia.
The family needs to raise K15, 000 to send her down to undergo radiation therapy for the total removal of the tumor.
A family member said that Rose was scheduled to travel down to Australia last   October and November but could not because of shortage of funds.
They have already started fundraising activities; however, funds are coming in very slowly.
The family is now appealing to the public to assist in whatever way they can whether it be money or donation of goods or items that can be sold to raise money.
Rose underwent surgery last July at the Port Moresby General Hospital but needs urgent medical treatment.
The mother of six has since lost her sight and can only recognise people by touching and listening to their voices.
If you would like assist in cash and kind, you can contact Ms Michaelyn Semio on phone (675) 6562180 or (675)3243239 and Mrs Linda Bitu on phone (675) 6888160 or (675) 3233555 or you can deposit funds into ANZ Boroko bank account# 13192914 named Ms Rose Tapo Medical Fund.Alternatively, you can contact me on email malumnalu@gmail.com .

Earhart's plane found at last?

THE discovery of the wreckage of an aircraft in the Ip River in East Pomio, East New Britain province last week, has generated renewed speculation that it could be the aircraft belonging to famed American aviatrix, Amelia Earhart, The National newspaper reports.

What makes this particular discovery significant is the fact that an Australian aircraft engineer, who has been involved since 1994 in a project to locate Ms Earhart’s Lockheed Electra 10E, had pinpointed the location where the wreckage was found as the place where he believed Ms Earhart’s plane went down.

An entry on the free internet encyclopaedia Wikipedia (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Amelia_Earhart#Departure_from_Lae) says the engineer, former Air Niugini employee David Billings, asserts that a map marked with notations consistent with Ms Earhart’s engine model number and her airframe’s construction number, was seen briefly by Australian soldiers during World War II.

Mr Billings’ theory originates from the WWII Australian patrol stationed on East New Britain and indicates a crash site 64km (40 miles) southwest of Rabaul, which is only a few kilometres away from where the wreckage was found last week.

Mr Billings speculated that Ms Earhart turned back from her intended destination of Howland Island in the Pacific Ocean after unsuccessfully trying to rendezvous with an American warship, and tried to reach Rabaul for fuel.

Mr Billings and his team had made 10 attempts to locate the wreckage. His theory is contained in an exhaustive article on an American aviation website (http://www.wingsoverkansas.com/earhart/article.asp?id=850) detailing the reasons for his conclusion that the wreckage spotted by the Diggers on April 17, 1945, belonged to Ms Earhart.

Ms Earhart and her navigator, Fred Noonan, took off from Lae on July 2, 1937, in the heavily loaded Electra for Howland Island 4,113km (2,556 miles) away. To date, their disappearance had remained an enduring mystery.

A brief report in Monday’s The National prompted one reader from Australia to write in to suggest that the wreckage could belong to Ms Earhart’s Electra.

Further research on the internet revealed Mr Billings’ theory pinpointing the area 64km southwest of Rabaul where the Diggers spotted the wreckage in 1945.

A community leader from the Kalip ward in East Pomio, Isidor Vote, said last week that the aircraft was discovered by a group of youths in the Ip River in the bushes of East Pomio.

Local villagers believed the aircraft might have been shot down during World War I between 1913 and 1914, and even suggested it was being flown by a female American pilot. It is not known what their theory is based on.

Mr Vote said the wreckage had the serial number 06751 on one of its body parts that had remained intact all these years, and parts of one of its wings had dents on it.

Mr Vote wanted Government authorities to visit the site and inspect the aircraft in order to get more information.

He said it would serve as a record for the War Museum in Kokopo.

If the find proves to indeed be Ms Earhart’s Electra, it will have far more significance and could prompt an international media frenzy in the Pomio area.

Murder capital

Port Moresby listed among world’s worst

PORT Moresby has been placed among the top five murder capitals in the world, a ranking by a foreign publication that has got Police Commissioner Gari Baki fuming, The National newspaper reports today.

The Washington DC-based Foreign Policy publication, in its edition last September, lists Port Moresby alongside Caracas (Venezuela), Cape Town (South Africa), New Orleans (USA) and Moscow (Russia) as cities where you have a very good chance of getting murdered.

The Foreign Policy website (www.foreignpolicy.com) , on which the listing is still available, says when it comes to brutal, homicidal violence, these five cities stand in a class of their own.

The publication said Caracas, which has a population of 3.2 million, had a murder rate of 130 per 100,000 residents, Cape Town had 3.5 million people and a murder rate of 62 per 100,000 residents, New Orleans had 220,000 people and a murder rate of 67 per 100,000 residents, Moscow had 10.4 million people and a murder rate of 9.6 per 100,000 residents, while Port Moresby had a population of 254,000 (2000 population census) and a murder rate of 54 per 100,000 people.

It described Port Moresby as a place with high violent crime rates, high level of police corruption and gang activity.

A spate of murders in recent weeks, especially the brutal killing of businessman Sir George Constantinou on Dec 16 and Air Niugini pilot Timothy Houji on New Year’s Day, would give critics little to argue against this very negative ranking.

But Mr Baki yesterday expressed disappointment at the ranking, especially when Port Moresby’s population was small in comparison to other world capitals.

He questioned the validity of Foreign Policy magazine’s listing of the world murder capitals.

“As commissioner of Papua New Guinea police, I was shocked and upset over Foreign Policy’s listing because it is simply not true,” he said in a letter distributed widely to be published.

“I have been a law enforcement officer for more than 35 years and I know, for a fact, that we have not had 54 murders in Port Moresby at any one time over the last 10 years.

“In fact, our annual average nationwide was much less,” Mr Baki said.

“It would be interesting to know the magazine’s source of its 2004 figures.”

He said the magazine also did not clearly indicate which year’s murder rates were used in its comparison exercise.

“These facts will have an overall bearing on the end results, especially for anyone making a comparative analysis such as that done by the Foreign Policy magazine.

“The report is grossly unfair on Papua New Guinea and sets back the many positive developments taking place within the country.

“There is no denying that PNG has a serious law and order problem.

“But, PNG and its problems cannot be compared with the four major cities Port Moresby was listed with,” Mr Baki said.

Foreign Policy’s article

Port Moresby, Papua New Guinea

Population: 254,200 (2000 census)

Murder rate: 54 per 100,000 (2004 figure)

What’s happening: The capital of island country Papua New Guinea, Port Moresby might seem like a surprising addition to this list. But its high violent crime rates, along with high levels of police corruption and gang activity, helped earn the city the dubious title of “worst city” in a 2004 Economist Intelligence Unit survey. With gangs called “raskols” controlling the city centres and unemployment rates hovering around 80%, it’s easy to see how Port Moresby beat out the 130 other survey contenders. Port Moresby’s police don’t seem to be helping the crime situation last November, five officers were charged with offences ranging from murder to rape. And in August, the city’s police barracks were put on a three-month curfew due to a recent slew of bank heists reportedly planned inside the stations by officers and their co-conspirators. Rising tensions between Chinese migrants and native Papua New Guineans are also cause for alarm, as are reports of increased activity of organised Chinese crime syndicates.

Port Moresby is one of the murder capitals of the world? Amelia Earhart plane found? Hagen girl tied, burnt to death!

Two good stories on the front page of The National newspaper today, one on Port Moresby being rated one of the top five murder capitals of the world, and the other on a plane wreckage discovery in East New Britain strongly thought to be that of famed American aviatrix Amelia Earhart.The Post-Courier had the horrific story of a young woman being blindfolded, tied up and burnt to death in Mount Hagen.Phew! What a horrific way for Papua New Guinea to start the year!

Details to come.

'Penis fire' suspect is charged

An Australian woman has appeared in court in Adelaide charged with murdering her husband by setting fire to his penis, BBC reports.

Rajini Narayan, 44, is alleged to have doused her husband, Satish, with a flammable liquid while he was sleeping.

When she set him alight, Mr Narayan jumped out of bed and knocked over the substance, causing the fire to spread.

Mrs Narayan told the court she had not intended to kill her husband but to punish him for his alleged infidelity.

Prosecutor Lucy Boord said Mrs Narayan had confessed to her neighbours, telling them she was a "jealous wife" and believed her husband was having an affair.

"I just wanted to burn his penis so it belongs to me and no one else, I didn't mean this to happen," Ms Boord quoted Mrs Narayan as saying.

The fire, on 8 December 2008, caused damage to the couple's house estimated at 1m Australian dollars ($715,000, £490,000).

Mrs Narayan was initially charged with arson and endangering life - including the lives of her three children who were in the house at the time.

The charge was upgraded to murder after Mr Narayan died from his injuries last week.

She has been held in police custody pending the results of a psychological assessment.

 

Death Notice and Funeral Notice

The late First Officer Timothy John Houji

 

The family of Timothy John Houji (Air Niugini pilot) would like to advise all relatives and friends of his tragic death in the early hours of January 1, 2009.

Haus Krai is being held at the Houji residence at Six-Mile, Air Niugini Village, Stage 1 (Section 120, Lot 19).

 

Funeral Service

 

Date and time: Wednesday January 7, 2009, 1pm

Venue: Rev. Sino Kami Memorial Church, National Capital District

Funeral will be followed by refreshments at the Houji residence (Haus Krai) and his body will overnight in the family home. Timothy’s final flight will be on Thursday, January 8, 2009, to his home province of East Sepik to be laid to rest at Woginara No. 2 Village.

For further information, please contact Ruth Telek on (675) 6876016 or (675) 72204519.