The Day God Dropped the Paint Box

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Leave the rest to our Creator

David Billings on the Amelia Earhart saga

Malum,

 

I have been meaning to say something about your figures and directions which you continually post on your blog........  You need to get your facts right before committing pen to paper and what you have written for the world to see is incorrect in the areas I am about to explain to you.

The basis for this email to you is that:

1. Your figure of 8 Tonnes for the weight in fuel carried by the Electra is wrong.

 

2. Your figure of 4600 Kilometres as the distance from Lae to Howland Island is wrong.

 

3. Your direction of the course "North" from Lae to Howland Island is wrong.

There are many "conversion" websites on the www. for finding out figures in Tonnes and Kilograms Metric and changing these to Tons and Pounds Imperial.  The sites will also convert Kilometers into Statute Miles or Nautical Miles

Basically a Metric Tonne is 1000 Kilograms; an Imperial Ton is 2400 Pounds (weight).

1 Kilogram (Kg) = 2.205 Pounds.

Basically a Kilometre is 1000 Metres and a Statute Mile is 1760 Yards.

I Kilometre (Km) = 0.621 of a Statute Mile.

1 Statute Mile = 1.61 Kilometres.

A simple luk-luk (by you) of the world map showing the area from Papua New Guinea to Howland and Baker Islands out in the Pacific Ocean will indicate to you that the direction from Lae to Howland is anything but "North".  In fact the True track to Howland is 078 degrees (True), which is hardly a northerly direction.  I hope you understand what I mean by "True" if you do not then ask.

Let me first explain to you "what" the Electra could carry in fuel.

The tankage of the Electra c/n 1055 was a maximum capacity of 1151 United States Gallons.  That's "U.S." Gallons (USG) not Imperial Gallons (ImpG).  The fuel was gasoline and 1 USG of gasoline weighs 6 pounds.  US Pounds are the same as British (or Imperial) Pounds.

1.  So to fit your figure of 8 Tonnes of fuel into the Electra would require the tanks to hold:

8000 Kg x 2.205 lbs = 17,640 Pounds = 2940 USG.

Current opinion is that Earhart and Noonan left Lae with 1100USG of fuel = 6600 Pounds in weight.

6600 Pounds = 2993 Kg or 2.993 Tonnes.

The normal full fuel of a stock passenger carrying Electra in airline use was 398 USG or 2388 Pounds in weight.

If we say then that on leaving Lae, Earhart and Noonan had 6600 lbs as against the "normal" 2388 pounds, then they were 4212 Pounds overweight which equates to 1910 Kg or very nearly 2 Tonnes.

Now on to the distance.

LAE-HOW as Earhart and Noonan thought was 2556 Statute Miles distant but there had been an error in the last sextant fix and Howland was actually a further 6 Statute miles to the East so the true distance was 2562 Statute Miles.

2.  If we convert 2662 Statute Miles (SM) to Kilometres (Km) we get:

2662 SM x 1.61 Km = 4285 Kilometres. (Not 4600).

Now to the direction Earhart took.

3.  There is a position report stated in "The Chater Report" which is times at 0518GMT, 5 Hours and 18 Minutes after Earhart left LAE.  It was recorded over the static of the radio as being only 247 SM from LAE which is impossible as the Electra would only have been travelling at 49 SM per Hour groundspeed.  It is likely that the position given meant that Earhart and Noonan were close to Mount Maetambe which is located on Choiseul Island in the Solomon Group.

If you have not read "The Chater Report" it is on the www, try Google.

There had been a reported storm just south of New Britain, between the east of New Britain and Bougainville Island and it is likely that Earhart and Noonan avoided this storm (it was a Low cell) by flying almost due East to pick up Choiseul before turning north-east for Nukumanu.  I hope you know where Nukumanu is as most Papua New Guineans have never heard of it.  It is close to Ontong Java and I hope you know where that is too.

At Nukumanu AE & FN would then be able to pick up their "true" course, turn right onto 078 True and continue on to Howland.  The dogleg by Choiseul costs them an extra 37 Statute Miles but saves them going through a storm.

As I say, the direction of "North" is completely incorrect.

There are lessons to be learned Malum, before you put pen to paper. 

The facts have to be correct or you will look foolish.

Incidentally, when you write that I have denied that the Ip River wreck recently reported is the aircraft I am looking for, that too is an incorrect statement.  I refuted the notion that the Ip River wreck is the aircraft I am looking for.  There is a difference.  Please get your facts right.

Lukim,

 

David Billings.              

 

About Amelia Earhart

Captions: 1. Date with destiny...Amelia Earhart and her Lockheed Electra at Lae, Morobe province, in July 1937 before her flight into oblivion. 2. Amelia Earhart...put Lae on the world map with her disappearance.
The mystery – that of the disappearance of Earhart and her navigator Fred Noonan – intimately involves Papua New Guinea as Lae was her last port of call before she disappeared somewhere over the vast Pacific Ocean.
Amelia Earhart, darling of American aviation, went missing in July 1937, after leaving Lae for the longest stretch of her around-the-world flight.
The mystery and a long fruitless search – costing many millions of US dollars - had begun.
Today, 71 years after her final takeoff from Lae, the mystery is still to be solved.
Old Lae residents used to recall entertaining the couple in the Hotel Cecil the night before their departure, and then seeing them off the next morning.
Their Lockheed Electra was so overloaded with its eight tonnes of fuel that it was still barely clearing the waves as it disappeared from sight, flying east along the Huon Gulf coast on its way to Howland Island, 4600km to the north.
Today, a plaque to her memory stands at the Amelia Earhart Park, opposite the famous old Lae airport.

US embassy aware of potential crash sites

The US Embassy in Port Moresby is aware of the potential crash sites related to American losses from World War II in the East Pomio area of East New Britain province, The National reports.

In a statement issued in light of the various findings of crash sites, including one in East Pomio recently, the US Embassy said that considering the sheer size of the Pacific theatre of operations and the activity in this theatre during World War II, finding a site or sites associated with missing American servicemen was not particularly unusual.

However, until further investigations confirm the site as being associated with an American loss, the embassy was not able to comment on the recovery process, the statement said.

It said recovery operations would require a great deal of resources – personnel, equipment, money and time.

“Before the resources are committed, the US government must confirm that the site is associated with missing Americans and assess how long a recovery will possibly take.

“In general, we welcome help locating sites but ask that (locals) not disturb the sites.

“We also ask that (locals) help us protect potential sites until we can get there, which often means not advertising its location,” the embassy statement said.

The mission of the Joint Prisoners Of War and Missing In Action Accounting Command (JPAC) is to account for all unaccounted Americans from past wars.

JPAC’s mission is strictly humanitarian and team members are held to the highest standard of conduct and respect for the laws and cultural differences of their host countries.

JPAC encourages anyone with information relating to an American loss to contact them directly or through the US Embassy.

Meanwhile, a letter writer to The National, Capt Keith Hopper, said in an email that the aircraft found in the Ip River in East Pomio recently could be that of a B-17 Flying Fortress flown by Brig Gen Kenneth N. Walker, commanding officer of the US Army’s Fifth Bomber Command.

Plane wreck could belong to US army

By CAPTAIN KEITH HOPPER

I KNOW very little about Amelia Earhart and so cannot comment on recent reports in The National..

However, I do know a great deal about United States Army Fifth Air Force operations in the southwest Pacific area, that is, PNG.

One of the greatest mysteries of the Fifth during World War Two was the loss of Fifth bomber command’s commanding officer, Brig Gen Kenneth N. Walker.

The 43rd bomb group B-17 Flying Fortress that he was in, was shot down by Japanese fighters whilst exiting the target area (Rabaul) on Jan 5, 1943.

He had been involved in a mass daylight raid on Japanese shipping in Simpson Harbour.

Walker had been ordered by Fifth Air Force commanding officer, Gen George C. Kenny, not to personally participate in bombing raids.

However, it was early in the war and Japan held air superiority over all of New Britain and Northern New Guinea.

The Fifth Air Force was suffering heavy losses and Walker felt that his attendance on the mission would send a clear message to his airmen of his determination and commitment to defeating Japan.

When Gen Kenny heard of the loss, he nominated Walker for the congressional medal of honour, the US military’s highest award.

To date, the wreckage of Walker’s B-17 nicknamed “San Antonio Rose” has not been found; however, from the reports of other US airmen on the mission and post war interviews of Japanese fighter pilots, it is known that the aircraft crashed in the Wide Bay/Open Bay area.

So it is a very real possibility that the recent aircraft wreck discovered in Wide Bay may be that of Brig Gen Walker.

The US army will no doubt be following the discovery closely, as will Walker’s son Douglas, now in his late 60s.

I would like to thank The National for reporting the find, and look forward to future updates as more information comes to light.

 

 

Port Moresby not a murder capital

Police Commissioner Gari Bari on Friday, January 9, 2009, wrote to The National newspaper defending himself from criticisms leveled at him by David Williams (see earlier posting)

By GARI BAKI, Papua New Guinea Police Commissioner

A LETTER to the editor (Jan 8) by David Williams of Port Moresby challenged me to get my facts right in response to my comments over an international report by Foreign Policy magazine listing Port Moresby as the fifth murder capital of the world.

I stand by my statement that Port Moresby has not at any one time, be it day, month or year, over the last 10 years, recorded 54 murders.

Port Moresby, with an estimated population of 500,000, cannot be compared with other capital cities which have anything from three to 10 million people.

The writer had put forward statistics arguing otherwise.

Murder is the intentional and unlawful killing of one person by another and is not the same as deaths or killings, which could be from a number of causes.

I hope the writer and Foreign Policy magazine are not getting these three confused.

As Police Commissioner, I will not allow such misleading reports to go unchallenged because, over time, it will be accepted as fact.

It is these kinds of reports that contributed to our poor world credit ratings and will have serious negative implications on our development aspirations.

We do have a serious law and order problem but to rank us alongside major world cities was totally unfair.

That was the point of my argument.

I would like to ask the writer – what is your point and what have you done to address this growing concern?

Law and order is not a police problem.

It is a societal problem.

It is everybody’s problem.

People like the writer conveniently shy away from what should be a collective responsibility to fight crime.

You do not have to join the police service or take up arms to fight crime.

Your involvement can be subtle and, yet, still send a powerful message.

Here are three ways you can help in the fight against crime:

* Refuse to be in the company of or entertain relatives/friends you know who are involved in a life of crime;

* Refuse money, food or other gifts which are proceeds of crime; and

* Report to police if you know of a crime that had been committed, is being committed or will be committed in the near future.

Many so-called law-abiding citizens are doing none of the above and are just as guilty as the man who pulled the trigger or robbed the bank.

I totally concur with the view that there are no innocent bystanders.

I would like to ask not only the writer, but also readers, when was the last time you saw something wrong and did something constructive about it?

I consider myself a strong nationalist and have dedicated my entire life to protecting and serving the people of Papua New Guinea.

Policing in PNG is very difficult, given the various constraints such as having access to appropriate or adequate resources, equipment and funding, but we are doing the best we can.

As Police Commissioner, I have initiated programmes which will see the creation of a highly trained and professional police service committed to serving the six million-plus people of Papua New Guinea.

Finally, to the writer, if you are a Papua New Guinean you should hang your head in shame.

If you are an expatriate, then you are being well fed, so either shut up or leave PNG because you cannot contribute meaningfully to our development.

 

Gari Baki

Commissioner of Police

Royal Papua New Guinea Constabulary

 

Get your facts right, Baki

Check this letter to The National newspaper which appeared on Thursday, January 8, 2009, and the reply above from Police Commissioner Gari Baki above.

By DAVID WILLIAMS

With due respect, I believe Police Commissioner Gari Baki is completely out of touch with reality when he said that “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.”

 I would go so far as to say, that if Mr Baki genuinely believed this was the case, then he should resign immediately.

The National, on Nov 2, 2007, (http://www.thenational.com.pg/110207/ Nation&209.html) reported: “Statistics showed that there were 424 murder cases reported this year and 496 last year. Port Moresby and Western Highlands province (WHP) reported the highest cases of rape and murder this year. But Port Moresby has seen a decrease with 95 murder cases reported this year compared to 119 last year.”

Please wake up, Mr Baki. – David Williams, Port Moresby