Plane in the lagoon at Orona

[Tom Maxwell]

Contrary to my speculation, I think the bulky things under the tarps as seen on the aft camera(s) are the launch and retrieve boat for the ASV autonomous surface vessel DRiX. The ship passed 250 miles east of the Phoenix Islands on the transit from Hawaii to Samoa.

[Tom Maxwell]

The Nautilus is just Northwest of Tutuila American Samoa. This is near the location of the tragic 1938 air disaster of the Samoan Clipper S-42. Captain Musick and entire crew were lost. I think maybe Dr. Ballard is searching for the lost ship just as the Nautilus did in 2019. Nautilus has multiple vehicles in the water including the ASV Drix. This is encouraging. Hopefully the expedition will look for Amelia's airplane in the lagoon at Orona. We'll see later this fall.

[Tom Maxwell]

Nautilus has started the Howland Island area cruise. Mapping the ocean bottom is the mission of this expedition. In transit the various heading courses has the ship located just off the West side of Nikumaroro and heading North. Looks as though sonar search along the path will be looking for the mysterious object spotted earlier this year by another expedition that claims the object is Amelia's aircraft. Of course that sonar image can't be the plane as claimed because the 2006 satellite image shows the aircraft in the lagoon at Orona (Hull Island). For some reason, Google Earth still hasn't updated the Kiribati island name despite the change years ago. Amelia's aircraft is measurable and all the dimensions correspond exactly with the L10E Electra aircraft. In transit from Samoa, the Nautilus came within 140 NM of Orona. If the remainder of the year is dedicated to other expeditions, it looks as though the chances of investigation at Orona are over for 2024.

[Tom Maxwell]

The recent sonar image has proven to be a seafloor rock formation. Unlike the Orona 2006 satellite image, there was no measurements provided. The Orona measurements and obvious resemblance to the Electra are not enough to convince other investigators that this is Amelia Earhart's plane at the bottom of the Orona lagoon.
The Orona-Saipan theory of disappearance (Japanese capture) is not liked because it reveals that the Itasca failed in it's mission of support for the flight. The Itasca never transmitted radio homing beacon for use by the flight for radio homing/navigation. The Itasca could not transmit on the 3105 Kc voice as required during the approach to Howland Island. These multiple failures were directly responsible for the loss of the fliers and eventual capture by Japanese forces.

[Tom Maxwell]

The Japanese attacked the US Naval Forces at Pearl Harbor, Hawaii on Dec. 7, 1941. Today, eighty three years later, the full story of the attack is still under examination. Mainly as to why the Japanese would start the great Pacific War without warning. The Orona-Saipan theory speculations add the origin and execution of a spy hoax by Tojo Hideki.

If the Earhart disappearance is considered a crime, the three elements of crime can be used to help solve this mystery. The three elements are MOM or means, opportunity, and motive. The means and opportunity scenario described fits the evidence on hand. The world flight by Earhart was known worldwide including the Japanese military . When general Tojo Hideki learned that his agents on Gardner Island (Nikumaroro) had intercepted radio signals from the downed flight coming from nearby Hull Island (Orona), the General ordered his men to take Amelia and Fred captive. The kidnappers, members of Tojo’s Kempeital terrorist group, had been on Gardner monitoring the communications of the USS Avocet and HMS Wellington. The electronic spies hoped to intercept encoded messages for later study. The USS Avocet and HMS Wellington had been at Canton (Kanton) Island in support of the June 1937 total eclipse of the sun sponsored by the USN and National Geographic. The following posts review the evidence that the fliers were kidnapped by Tojo's terrorists and imprisoned at Saipan.

[Tom Maxwell]

Tojo was the commander of Japanese forces in Northern China and effective controller of the Japanese puppet state Manchukuo (Manchuria). In invading and pushing all Chinese forces out, numerous war crimes were committed by theJapanese Kwantung army. By 1937, Tojo had realized he had no way to conquer all of China’s vast population. He decided to resort to terrorism as the way to conquer China. Knowing his misdeeds in Northern China were known to the international community, Tojo calculated total war with the leading western powers was the only way to escape the international criminal courts. He invented numerous arguments before the Emperor and other military leaders that the western powers US and UK were planing for war. In the middle 1930s Tojo argued before the Emperor Hirohito for more funding for the army but by 1937 had stopped feuding with the Imperial Japanese Navy (IJN) and backed more funding for the IJN. He did so knowing a modern carrier fleet with all metal monoplane fighters was going to be needed in order to overcome the largest block to his plans; the USN. As the partner in the Nazi Tri-Axis, these arguments gained favor as the war in Europe continued with Axis victory seemingly assured. The terrorest group Kempiatal, modeled after the Nazi Gestapo, was controlled by Tojo. Any activity in the Asia-Pacific realm was under surveillance by the group. And that group of vicious criminals reported directly to Tojo.

[Tom Maxwell]

In the summer of 1937, one of those activities occurred in the Phoenix Islands and was the scientific expedition of National Geographic and USN on Canton (Kanton) island to monitor and record the total eclipse of the sun on June 8. This scientific effort was well advertised in advance giving Tojo plenty of time to set up a listening post on Gardner (Nilumaroro) Island. Both American and British science teams were at Canton for the eclipse.The American expedition supported by the USS Avocet and the British team by the HMS Wellington. At the time the Phoenix group was a British protectorate and a dustup about anchorage between the two ships arose, each firing across the bow of the other ship. The situation quickly resolved by the standard US/UK diplomatic link.

The 1937 eclipse was the longest total solar darkness in 1000 years. The expedition to Canton was well known and produced the best images of the solar corona before the modern era. Well known to astronomers and navigators as well. Fred Noonan was aware of the June 8 eclipse at Canton and held the date and Canton as alternate backup emergency landing. Weather Delays and illness put the date out of reach for the flight. The all important radio guidance became all the more important.

The 48 star flag as it appeared in 1973. Implanted by the expedition at the Canton location. Photo courtesy Aras Mardosa


The support ships at Canton for the solar expedition.


The Japanese espionage group on Gardner (Nikumaroro) was prepared in advance to intercept any radio traffic for encrypted messages between ships and shore for later study. Tojo was aware that the path of Amelia’s world flight would go to Howland island and offered another opportunity for radio intercept. He ordered the listening post to stay on at Gardner (Nikumaroro) even after the scientific teams left Canton aboard the Avocet and Wellington. Three weeks later, as Amelia flew south from the Howland area, she broadcast on both daytime 6210Kc and night time 3105Kc frequencies hoping the Itasca at Howland could hear and locate her position. The Japanese radio reconnaissance on Gardner may have picked up signals from the Electra as it approached Hull (Orona). The British radio station at Nauru heard Amelia call at 10:30 on the 6210 Kcs frequency with the “Land in sight ahead” message that Goerner found in the Naval Archives. There is more complete information about this message at Mike Campbell’s website. https://earharttruth.wordpress.com/2014 ... a-mystery/

Mike Campbell and I are in agreement that Japanese capture is the reason for the disappearance of Amelia Earhart and Fred Noonan. I agree with Mike that Amelia died on Saipan but many details of each idea are entirely at odds. Mostly that Amelia was not on a spy mission and that Amelia's Electra is at Orona. Investigators can find a great deal of valuable information about the mystery, including the many eye witness chronicles of WWII veterans, on Campbell’s web pages. One particular remembrance by USMC Ford saying the plane at Aslito Field, Saipan "had two windows at the rear just like Amelia's plane". Recent valuable findings by the Nikumaroro investigative organization has photographic proof that Amelia's plane on leaving Miami had but one rear window; the other having been sealed over.

[Tom Maxwell]

DR. Richard Pettigrew is planning an expedition to Nikumaroro in the summer of 2025. Perhaps 10 people will go. Objective to check out Taraia object seen in satellite images of Nikumaroro.

The USN search planes SOC-1 (Curtiss Model 71) of the USS Colorado did not reach the Phoenix Islands until July 9. The sea planes circled Orona and one of the planes landed at Orona. The planes pilot Lt. John Lambrecht talked to Mr. Jones, the British superintendent of the coconut plantation work. Jones related that he was unaware of the world flight and that nothing had been heard or seen of the flight. The island size is some 8 miles east to west and 4 miles south to north. The plantation work was on the extreme west end of the island. If Amelia crossed over the reef that encloses the lagoon at the midpoint before turning into the wind at a low power setting, the sound of the engines some 4 miles away would be muffled by the rustle of palm leaves and swish of the reef surf. Mr Jones complete knowledge about the event remains a mystery as Orona has a place in other theories about the disappearance of the flight. However I think Mr. Jones was a rumor source for two other earlier AE disappearance theories involving Orona; Donahue’s Amelia Earhart the British Connection: and researcher Joseph Gervais claimed Amelia was shot down by Japanese fighters stationed aboard Japanese carrier that he claimed was in the area of Hull island. Both are without solid evidence and overly complex with the majority of elements disproven.

John Jones of Orona (Hull) is sometimes confused with John Jones a New Zealand WWII hero. That John Jones survived 5 years of captivity in Japanese prison camps. Jones was an Allied coast watcher captured on the northern most of the Gilbert Islands located some 750 miles northwest of the Phoenix Island (now Kiribati) and some 300 miles south of Jaluit atoll of the Marshall Islands. Jones was lucky to have survived as many in the vast Pacific did not. Further south in the Gilberts (now Kiribati) all the New Zealanders on Tarawa were murdered by Japanese forces; very similar to the Americans murdered on Wake Island. Jones of New Zealand is noted as responsible for getting recognition of the coast watcher heroism and monuments dedicated to them.

The Curtiss bi-planes, light and nimble observation aircraft, were launched during the search for Amelia from the battleship Colorado as the ship steamed directly into the wind at flank speed. An explosive charge of the catapult flung the craft over the bow at flying speed.