Vanished

"Until we have that plane in my mind there are other possibilities; even if the witnesses on the stand today say 'highly improbable' that may be so but until we find her plane; until we find her resting place I think that there's always other possibilities." 

July the 2nd 1937 is a day clouded in judgment. Many people believe that it was the last day in the remarkable lives of Amelia Earhart and Fred Noonan. For those people, and everyone investigating this case, their investigations begin on that day. In part six of the show, we talked about specific dates and the importance of those dates in our lives. What if you knew when the last day of your life would be? Would you wanna know? Would you wanna know how your life would end, or would you want to go fearless into the horizon as Amelia and Fred did? In part 10 of our series, we’re going to lay the foundation of the greatest mystery of all time. Every crime has a crime scene. And every crime has evidence. Tonight, we’re gonna lay the evidence for this story out; and at the end of day three of the trial you’ll know exactly what that evidence is, and just how heavily that evidence is leaned on by the experts that are called to testify before you. Tonight, for the very first time, we’re gonna put the first of five remarkable theories in front of you; our jury. It’s time to unravel July 2nd, 1937 with witness testimony from crash and sink.

SHOW NOTES

"If they never find her, having her life end with a mystery is still fascinating; in fact, it might be the most fascinating ending that you can have in this case." 

On June 29th, 1937 a tired Amelia Earhart & Fred Noonan touched down in Lae New Guinea having reached the 3-quarter mark of their record attempt at circumnavigating the globe. Long days of flight had brought AE and Noonan to the likes of Brazil, Dakar, Bangkok, and Darwin Australia just to name a few. Though she was anxious to complete her long journey and fly into the record books, the next day, June 30th, 1937 AE sent a telegram to her husband, George Palmer Putnam that read “RADIO MISUNDERSTANDING AND PERSONNEL UNFITNESS. PROBABLY WILL HOLD ONE DAY”. What these personnel problems meant has been debated for many years. Were they related to Fred Noonan? Whatever the issues might have been, AE didn’t let them derail her plans – she and Noonan took off from Lae on July the 2nd 1937 at 10 AM local time.

It was the last that anyone would ever see them.

While Earhart's plane was in the air, the Coast Guard cutter Itasca was waiting to guide her into Howland island. However, due to AE’s friend Gene Vidal no longer being at the Bureau of Air Commerce to direct subordinates to smooth her way — some of the ship's communications were on bandwidths that she didn't have the ability to receive. There were other difficulties: a radio direction finder on Howland that would work with Earhart's higher-bandwidth equipment required batteries, which were drained by the time she was in the area.

Fourteen hours and 15 minutes into her flight, the Itasca received a first, somewhat garbled transmission from Earhart about "cloudy weather." Though the messages themselves would grow clearer, their content remained worrying, as when Earhart radioed, "We must be on you but cannot see you." She apparently only received one message from the ship, though the Itasca had been transmitting for hours. While continuing to broadcast — the radio strength of her communications indicated she was close — Earhart remained unable to see Howland Island.

The weather around Howland was clear, but there are reports of clouds about 30 miles northwest. And if Earhart had flown into clouds and bad weather along the way, it could have prevented Noonan from taking the sightings he needed to navigate precisely (the charts he was using were also not entirely accurate). Earhart's last transmission, made 20 hours and 14 minutes into her flight, indicated they were going to continue "running north and south." The plane never made it to Howland.

Tonight, we dive into the events that occurred while AE and Noonan were at Lae, some controversial and some head scratching. We’ll also climb aboard the Electra with AE and Noonan and try to unravel the beginnings of one of the greatest mysteries of all time. What actually happened to Amelia Earhart and Fred Noonan? Tonight, the trial continues as we bring someone to the stand that you’ll never see coming. Time to go to work.

SHOW NOTES: 

"It’s time to take this entire case; all 82 years of it and burn it all down."

When we decided to do this series not too long ago, the first question that I asked was how do we approach a case like this in a way that hasn’t already been done? And how can we make it interesting and fun even? The idea for what you’re about to hear came to me almost a year ago and it took us almost a year to produce a single part of this series. As we stand right now, we’ve journeyed through Amelia Earhart’s childhood, her adolescent years, her time in Canada after the war, her introduction to aviation and her extraordinary career. We’ve looked at causes that meant a lot to AE such as the Ninety-Nines, the air derby of 1929 and her extraordinary ties to Purdue University. And when last we left her, Amelia experienced failure, not for the first time in her life, but on a stage and a level that was unlike anything she’d ever faced to that point.

I’ve poured over this case for a little over 15 years now, and I’ve spoken to some of the top minds in the world regarding what happens next. Some of those minds disagree with each other. Aggressively at times. There are aspects of this case that begin on the day AE and Noonan disappeared; July the 2nd 1937. And there have been constant developments to this day. One thing is for certain. What’s been done up to this point hasn’t yielded any results. At the end of part seven, I told you that you were all about to take part in the trial of the century. Tonight, that trial begins. We can’t look at this thing with a business as usual approach. It’s time to shake things up. It’s time to get under some people’s skin. It’s time to take this entire case; all 82 years of it and burn it all down. Strap yourselves in because we’re all in till it’s over. Time to swear in.

SHOW NOTES: 

Spring has arrived. Finally. It’s been a long and brutal winter in Atchison, Kansas. The interesting thing about Spring is that it signals a rebirth. Winter brings death, Spring brings that death back to life. And the birds' chirp. Which is always nice. Six episodes down in this series and tonight things start to shift. When last we left her, Amelia Earhart had an idea. And that idea was to fly around the world at the equator. Because of her connection to Purdue University she now had her vessel. A state-of-the-art Lockheed Electra 10E that was dubbed “the flying laboratory”. There are also a couple of characters that enter Amelia’s life at this point. Characters that will forever be etched into history alongside her. One especially.

Tonight, we discuss the first leg of her world flight and where that leg took her; Hawaii. All was well, spirits were up, and it seemed like Amelia Earhart was well on her way to adding “world flyer” to her already huge list of career accomplishments. Then, shortly after 5:40 Am on the morning on March 20th, 1937 everything changed. On takeoff, at Luke field, Amelia Earhart ground-looped her aircraft. We’ll talk a lot about this tonight. Pay close attention to the testimony throughout this episode. In the end, you decide. Did Amelia Earhart make a potentially fatal error on takeoff? Or was something else at play? Chasing Earhart may be wrapping up, but our investigation is just beginning. 

SHOW NOTES:

"That plane; the entire project; the mission was a Purdue mission. If it's ever recovered, it belongs to us."

Normally, I start each part of the show by telling you where I’m at. Tonight, I just can’t do that. My location has to remain unknown except for this. I’m somewhere in the northwest. A tease I know but I had to make a promise to the people that let me come here that for now, it would remain anonymous. In the first four parts of this series, we’ve covered a lot of ground. And I’ve promised you that all of this information we’ve covered is going to tie in. Tonight, it starts to do just that. In just a few short years, Amelia Earhart has become a household name. She’s reached the zenith of her popularity and at this point, she’s nearly at icon status. That’s arguable. In 1935, just under two short years before she would vanish into thin air, she began an unlikely partnership with Purdue University. This was an aspect of her life that she had been waiting for; a chance to get in on the ground floor and directly influence the women of the time. AE relished her short time there, and as we’ll learn tonight, she looked forward to expanding that role when she returned from the world flight. Tonight, we take you back to 1935 and West Lafayette Indiana to discuss “the start of something new” for Amelia Earhart. 

Something started, that unfortunately for her, and us was never finished.  

SHOW NOTES

“The men you know, have been somewhat worried about such a long flight for us. They seem to have visions of us smashing up all over the countryside. So the thing for us to do is to prove that their fears have been foolish.” 

Welcome back to Vanished: Amelia Earhart. A question to kick off tonight’s show. What are some dates that you remember in your life? Maybe a wedding anniversary, or the birth of your child or a date that something significant happened in your life; positive or negative. There are a few dates in the life of Amelia Earhart that would qualify as important. How about, January the 3rd, 1921 the day that Amelia started flying with Neta Snook? October the 22nd, 1922 Amelia broke the altitude record; rising to 14,000 ft. June the 17th & 18th 1928 Amelia became the first woman to fly across the Atlantic as a passenger; the Friendship flight. That started it all. How about July the 2nd 1937? The day AE and Fred Noonan disappeared? We’ll get to that. But there’s another date that is synonymous with Amelia Earhart and quite a few others in fact. A date that not too many people know about. Tonight, we’re gonna learn all about this date. The women’s air derby. August the 18th 1929. Time to race.

SHOW NOTES

"Aviation, this young modern giant, exemplifies the possible relationship of women and the creations of science. Although women have not taken full advantage of its use and benefits, air travel is as available to them as to men."

Welcome back to Vanished: Amelia Earhart. Tonight I take a little break from the midwest and travel to Morro Bay, California; one of my very favorite spots in the world. When we started this series there was never a question as to whether or not we'd discuss an organization that Amelia Earhart held very close to her heart. We just had to get the right people to do it, and tonight we have them. While the show thus far has covered all of the ways that Amelia Earhart was different from her fellow colleagues, tonight, I thought we'd try a different approach. After all, during the golden age of aviation, there was one organization that brought all of the pioneering women of aviation together for a greater cause. Well...ninety-nine of them at least. 

SHOW NOTES

“I’m more or less mortgaging the future to go on. But what are futures for?”

Welcome back to Atchison, Kansas and Vanished: Amelia Earhart. In the first two parts of this journey, we’ve gotten to know Amelia Earhart as a little girl; spending her youth here in Atchison, before venturing out into the world with her family and then on her own. The times were tough then and a young Amelia Earhart had been bitten by the aviation bug and was wading into the unknown skies to begin a career that would send shockwaves into the aviation world that are still felt to this very day. Tonight’s episode is all about that career. Before we get to the shocking end that has been clouded in mystery for over eight decades, we’re going to talk about Amelia’s rise to legendary status in American history. Amelia didn’t just tap the glass ceiling when she burst onto the scene. She shattered it. Records were set, goals were achieved, a unique career was crafted, and a destiny was realized.

SHOW NOTES