THE JOURNAL OF THE INTERNATIONAL GROUP FOR HISTORIC AIRCRAFT RECOVERY April 2020 © TIGHAR 2020 Volume 36 #2 THE WRONG NAVIGATOR by Ric Gillespie, Executive Director Abstract The deeper we dig into the Earhart disappearance, the more we discover many accepted truths to be based upon publicity and presumption rather than fact. Amelia hailed Fred Noonan as “tops among aerial navigators.”1 I bought into the myth myself when, in my book Finding Amelia, I described him as “arguably the world’s finest aerial navigator.”2 He wasn’t, but neither was he a bad navigator. He was simply the wrong navigator. A realistic assessment of CONTENTS ON THE COVER his methods, record, and prejudices sheds new light on the events of July 2, 1937. The Wrong Navigator ...............................3 “Pan Am Clipper” Navigation Officer The Chosen Instrument 2-2-V-1 Update ....................................... 16 Frederick J. Noonan, 1935. Frederick J. Noonan had a long and successful nautical career, but his experience in aerial navigation was entirely in the context of his employment at Pan American Airways. Founded ABOUT TIGHAR ON THE WEB in 1927, the airline was originally formed at the behest of senior U.S. Army Air Corps officers to TIGHAR (pronounced “tiger”) is an acronym for The International Group for Historic Aircraft head off a German-owned South American carrier lobbying for landing rights in the American Panama Recovery, a 501(c)(3) non-profit educational http://www.tighar.org Sikorsky S-40 foundation. Canal Zone. Quickly expanding to serve Cuba, Rio de Janeiro, and Buenos Aires, Pan American TIGHAR’s activities include: BOarD OF DirECTORS enjoyed a monopoly as the U.S. government’s • Investigating aviation and aerospace histori- “chosen instrument” for establishing U.S-based cal questions and mysteries through archival international air routes. research, forensic data analysis, and archeo- William Carter, Boise, Idaho Fred Noonan started with the airline in 1930 logical expeditions. Richard E. Gillespie, Oxford, Pennsylvania working in the Caribbean Division as an airport • Producing papers, publications, and videos Jeffrey Glickman, Woodinville, Washington manager, but he was not hired for his managerial to further the foundation’s educational mis- skills. Pan Am aspired to establishing trans-oceanic sion. John Masterson, Casper, Wyoming routes to Europe and the Orient. To achieve that • Providing expert historical and archaeologi- Andrew M. McKenna, Boulder, Colorado goal, Chief Pilot Ed Musick and consultant Charles cal research to government agencies for Lee Paynter, Villanova, Pennsylvania Lindbergh saw the need for new aircraft with the payload and range to cross oceans and a reliable evaluation of cultural resources related to Gary F. Quigg, Crawfordsville, Indiana Sikorsky S-42 aviation/aerospace. navigation system to guarantee their safe arrival. Mark Smith, Jersey City, New Jersey In 1931, Pan American asked six aircraft • Advocating for accuracy, integrity and pro- companies to come up with a design for aircraft fessionalism in the field of aviation historical Patricia R. Thrasher, Oxford, Pennsylvania capable of carrying 300 pounds of mail 2,500 investigation and the preservation of the material culture of flight. miles nonstop against a 30 mph headwind. Only two manufacturers took up the challenge. Each TIGHAR’s activities are conducted primarily proposed a four-engine flying boat. by member volunteers under the direction of Sikorsky’s S-42 was an evolutionary a small full-time professional staff. The orga- development of the ungainly S-40, often called nization’s research is publicly available via the “the Flying Forest,” then servicing Pan Am’s South TIGHAR website. American routes. The Glenn L. Martin Company offered the M-130, an all-new design, larger and TIGHAR · 2366 Hickory Hill Road · Oxford, PA 19363-4417 · USA aerodynamically cleaner than the Sikorsky. Pan 610.467.1937 · www.tighar.org · [email protected] Am ordered three of each. Martin M-130 2 3 Spanning trackless oceans would require not only more capable aircraft but new navigational successive sun shots during the day and star sights at night to assess and correct for the effect of technology and techniques. To address the challenge, the company hired RCA engineer/inventor Hugo headwinds, tailwinds or crosswinds, but he did not attempt to keep the flight precisely on track and Leuteritz to design a long-range radio homing system, and an experienced navigator, Fred Noonan, habitually relied on two-star, rather than more precise three-star, fixes. to adapt traditional nautical methods – dead reckoning and celestial navigation – to aeronautical As he explained in an internal company memo immediately after the first survey flight: applications and train flight crews in their use.3 The factors which contribute to inaccuracies in surface navigation – currents other than anticipated Plans for a lucrative trans-Atlantic route were thwarted by Britain’s refusal to grant landing rights, or estimated, lack of sights, inaccurate radio bearings, etc. – are all encountered in aerial navigation so Pan Am turned its ambition westward and began the daunting task of establishing air mail and and commonly in intensified form. Hence is it impossible on an extended flight to obtain consistently passenger service to the Philippines and China. accurate “fixes” by any single method, or by any combination of methods. But by an understanding of the weaknesses of each method, it should be possible to greatly minimize the errors inherent in all The Pacific Division of them.6 In December 1934 Sikorsky delivered the first S-42 flying boat, but its performance was marginal. Only by stripping out all passenger accommodations and devoting the entire useful load to fuel could its range He went on to caution that: meet the 2,500 mile goal. For the Pacific Division, the Sikorsky boats would be used only for non-revenue The inaccuracies of direction finding bearings can be very definitely cataloged: twilight effects, faint route surveys. Passenger and mail service would await the delivery of the more advanced Martins.4 signals, wide splits of minima, and inaccurate calibration.7 Noonan saw radio direction finding as a useful but less-than-perfect check on traditional navigation. His confidence in his own accuracy, however, was legendary. In a 1974 letter, Pan Am’s first publicity director, William Van Dusen, wrote: He was a cool one, never got excited. On the first return survey flight from Hawai’i (the schedule called for 12½ hours) the China Clipper was out 22 hours. Everyone thought they might be lost. We radioed Noonan through Musick. Fred was reading a mystery story. ‘Tell ’em not to worry,’ he told Musick. My navigation’s alright, the wind’s just bad. Tell ‘em we’ll be there in another hour and thirty-five minutes.’ And they were right on the dot!8 The first official airmail flight to Manila in November 1935 was a national event that conferred Navigating across the world’s largest ocean required island-hopping from a home terminal at celebrity status on the crew of the China Clipper. Fred Noonan was hailed as the ship’s navigator and Alameda on San Francisco Bay to bases in American territories on Oahu, Midway, Wake Island, Guam, Chief Pilot Musick made the cover of TIME magazine. Manila and ultimately to Hong Kong. Safe arrival at small, isolated atolls after thousands of miles over Pan Am inaugurated passenger service from San Francisco to Manila with the “Hawaii Clipper,” on featureless seas would be guaranteed by radio direction finding facilities at each destination staffed by October 21, 1936. Demand was heavy and, with the skilled operators. Early in 1935, Pan Am construction crews from the chartered freighter SS North Haven two other M-130s, “China Clipper” and “Philippine began building antenna arrays, offices, and hotels for passengers on Midway and Wake.5 Meanwhile, Clipper” in service, the airline began scheduling Noonan trained navigators and developed navigational techniques in long Atlantic research flights out weekly flights to Manila. For the crews, each round- of Miami. trip involved sixteen thousand miles of flying over On April 16-17, 1935, a period of twelve days. The hiring and training of new personnel had not kept pace with the Pan American’s new Pacific 45 Division tested its aircraft Great expansion of service so there were no relief crews Circle and navigation system in a 270 along the route. Pilots, navigators, radio operators, OAHU 50 260 and flight engineers were averaging 125 hours a survey flight from California 40 to Hawai‘i with an S-42 SAN FRANISO month in the air – far in excess of Department of Hawai’i 60 christened “Pan Am Clipper.” 240 Commerce regulations. 70 The six-man crew consisted Rhumb 230 80 35 of Chief Pilot Ed Musick in Line “Has Anyone Seen Fred?” 90 220 the left seat, First Officer Noonan did not handle the pressure well. In R.O.D. Sullivan, Junior Flight a 1975 interview, Pan Am pilot Harry Canaday Officer Harry Canaday, Bearing from Honolulu recalled the anxiety Noonan’s behavior caused for Bearing from Alameda Radio Operator W.T Jarboe, Chief Pilot Ed Musick: 10 15 Engineering Officer Victor 5 20 25 Ed was extremely interested in the navigation and Wright, and Navigation 145 140 135 130 125 120 who wouldn’t be? Responsible for an airplane Officer Fred Noonan. As shown in this map of the first survey flight to Hawaii, the Pacific Division navigation out over the waste of the Pacific? And Noonan It was the navigator’s job system can be thought of as two funnels with their narrow ends at the departure point was the best navigator we could find and he to keep track of the flight’s and the destination. Radio bearings from ground stations guided the outbound course knew it.