Lost and Found
A new search has begun for Amelia Earhart’s missing plane after an old war story finally surfaced. A group headed off to Papua New Guinea after hearing of the discovery of an aircraft wreck by a group of Australian soldiers during the Second World War and a souvenir map linked to Amelia Earhart.
The soldiers initially stumbled across a radial engine covered in vines and heavily corroded around the nose part of the engine and it was a radial engine. They removed a metal tag from the engine mount tubing, which is at the back of the engine. The lieutenant of the patrol walked on to the other mound that was covered in vines and he stood on the left-hand wing and looked down into the cockpit area, which was all smashed. The wreck was unpainted, bare metal with no military insignia and, to the soldiers in 1945, it appeared as though it had lain there for a good few years. The message went through to the American army that a wreck had been found but five weeks later the American army replied back that it wasn’t one of theirs. Then, in 1993, a map came to light. Don Angwin, the corporal of the initial patrol, removed some tape from the map, revealing scrawled writing which read, ‘600 horse power S3H1 CN1055’. The CN stands for construction number and 1055 is actually the construction number of Amelia Earhart’s aircraft, Lockheed model 10E Electra.
The group currently searching for the missing wreck has been trying to relocate the spot for 18 years but, as the plane only left a 30 to 40 foot hole in the jungle canopy, it is like searching for a needle in a haystack. However, if the team does discover the wreckage it will be simple to identify (or not) as Earhart’s machine. The Electra was a unique aircraft. Only two aircraft of this specification were built for long-range flying: one ended its days in Russia and the other one is the Earhart aircraft which has been missing. The aircraft is unique in that it has six long-range tanks in the fuselage and filler necks that go from the side of the left-hand part of the fuselage into the tank. Proof positive would be the data plate for the aircraft, which is on the instrument panel on the right-hand side.
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“The propeller is just a big fan in the front of the plane to keep the pilot cool. Want proof? Make it stop; then watch the pilot break out into a sweat.”
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