Amelia earhart: Who was she? By
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- THE UNTHINKABLE – KHAQQ CALLING ITASCA , SOS !
| After the crackup at Luke field, Hawaii
The flight was called off and the aircraft was shipped by sea to the Lockheed facility in Burbank, California for repairs. B A this point, Harry Manning left the flight and Fred Noonan agreed to be the principal navigator. Concerns of his reliability increased While the Electra was being repaired, Earhart d her husband worked to secure additional funds and prepared for a second attempt. The new flight quietly began with an unpublicized departure from Oakland on May 21, 1937. She stopped a couple of places along the way, arriving in Miami on May 23, 1937. The idea was if anything went wrong, they could turn back without any undue publicity. In Miami, Earhart publicly announced her plans to circumnavigate the globe. The flight’s opposite direction was explained as the result of changes in global wind and weather patterns along the planned route since the earlier attempt. Fred Noonan would be aboard the entire flight. They departed Miami on June 1, and after numerous stops I South America, Africa, the Indian subcontinent and Southeast Asia, arrived in Lae, New Guinea on June 29, 1937. At this stage, about 22,000 miles of the journey6 had been completed, with 7,000 remaining, almost all over the Pacific Ocean. THE UNTHINKABLE – KHAQQ CALLING ITASCA , SOS!Something went seriously wrong during the flight, which climaxed with the Electra disappearing at an unknown location. According to the document issued by Chief Bellarts’ division officer, W. L. Sutter, Chief Bellarts had been assigned responsibility for monitoring all incoming transmissions from Earhart’s plane. Radioman Third Class (RM3) C. O’Hare was assign ned to handle all other radio traffic received by the ITASCA. RM3 W. L. Galten was assigned to man the ship’s direction finder when Earhart’s aircraft came within 1000 miles of Howland Island. RM3 G. E. Thompson was the relief operator for all three of the above operators. Radioman Second Class (RM2) Frank Cipriani was assigned to operate the direction finder on Howland Island. At 6:15 a.m., Earhart reported being about 200miles from Howland, and began whistling into hr microphone so that ITASCA could take her bearing. They were unable to do this on ITSCA. Half an hour later, at 6:45 a.m. Earhart radioed: “Please take a bearing on us and report in half an hour.” A minute later she radioed: “I will make a noise in microphone. Am about 100 miles out from Howland Island.” Fifty-six minutes later, at 7:42 a.m., she radioed: “KHAQQ calling ITASCA. We must be on you but cannot see you but gas is running low. Been unable to reach you by radio. We are flying at 1000 feet.” The next two messages follow: 7:54: “KHAQQ calling ITASCA. We are circling but cannot hear you.” 8:00: “KHAQQ calling ITASCA. We received your signals but are unable to get a minimum. Please take a bearing on us and answer on 3105 kilocycles in voice.” The final message came through at 8:43. According to Chief Bellarts, Earhart’s voice indicate she was under a great deal of stress. 8:43 KHAQQ to ITASCA. We are on the line 157-337. Will repeat message. We will repeat this on 6210 kilocycles wait. We are running on line, listening on 6210 kilocycles. After that, only mystery. The government and media reported that Earhart had ditched not far from the Itasca, due to her radio signal strength, which was an S5 (the strongest signal strength). But to this day, multiple attempts to search the sea near Howland Island have been unsuccessful. In 2010, the Waite Institute, upon completion of their search, declared that as far as they were concerned, Earhart’s plane was not in the sea near Howland Island. 
Chief Leo Bellarts, lead radio operator aboard the Itasca 
The Itasca in the 1930s 
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