Customer Reviews

Amelia Earhart: The Final Story (Landmark books)

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My father was in the Marshalls (Majuro) and my uncle on Siapan during WWII. My father knew the stevedor named in this and other books (Mr. Tenaki), and even then he was telling the story of seeing Amelia's plane on a Japanese ship. He told my Father he help the Japanese load it from one ship to another. My Uncle worked at Aslito airfield on Siapan, where he says he saw Amelia's plane, and also saw a grave labled "Earhart" near a beach. They are both on record (video) telling their stories.

I have read many books on the subject, and while none of them have the whole story (and no-one will likely ever know the whole story), this one comes the closest to the whole truth of them all.

I like how he explains WHY A.E. and Fred Noonan were on a line of "157-337". Very simply, The earth is tilted 23 degrees, so on the Solstice (June 20th they dissappeared early June), the "sun line" is tilted 23 degrees. They knew what time the sun would come up over Howland, so when they hit the sun line (on the ocean surface) after sunrise time on Howland, they knew they had ~ 100 miles to go to meet the "Howland sunrise line", but they were not sure if they were North or South of Howland...simple...just fly North and/or South along the sun line of 157-337 and look for Howland.

Except A.E. had no way of knowing they had encountered winds from the South, throwing them North of Howland. She assumed they were South of Howland, so she went North. When they coulnd find it, they turned around, to head back to the English held Gilbert Islands, but being North, they found the Marshalls instead, "landed" on a reef, and were captured by the Japanese.

I bought this for my mom. She and my dad were friends with Vince Loomis many years ago and she was so surprised to see the book. She's read it and said it was terrific!!! I read parts of it (I hated to take away her present since she was reading it....LOL).

Anyway, I would recommend it to anyone interested in Amelia. She was quite an adventurer and this gives a little different perspective to the whole mystery of her disappearance.

Doug