556

Amelia Earhart

Currency:USD Category:Collectibles Start Price:NA Estimated At:NA
Amelia Earhart

Bidding Over

The auction is over for this lot.
The auctioneer wasn't accepting online bids for this lot.

Contact the auctioneer for information on the auction results.

Search for other lots to bid on...
Auction Date:2020 May 13 @ 18:00 (UTC-05:00 : EST/CDT)
Location:15th Floor WeWork, Boston, Massachusetts, 02108, United States
ALS - Autograph Letter Signed
ANS - Autograph Note Signed
AQS - Autograph Quotation Signed
AMQS - Autograph Musical Quotation Signed
DS - Document Signed
FDC - First Day Cover
Inscribed - “Personalized”
ISP - Inscribed Signed Photograph
LS - Letter Signed
SP - Signed Photograph
TLS - Typed Letter Signed
Historic archive of three US Coast Guard documents associated with the unsuccessful search for Amelia Earhart after her disappearance on July 2, 1937, each one page, 8 x 10.5, July 4, 1937. Includes:

A carbon copy US Coast Guard Official Dispatch from Itasca to Headquarters, July 4, 1937, in part: "For Secretary Morganthau quote No information Earhart plane since 0843 2 July period Heard faint signals between 1825 and 1858 2 July which developed as nearly as could be ascertained into call q85 signals unreadable and from call letters definitely not Earhart period We are calling Earhart frequently and consistently on 3105 kilocycles and undoubtedly amateur and other stations mistake us for Earhart plane period We are pushing search at top speed day and night in logical areas north of Howland and have thoroughly searched 2000 square miles daylight today with negative results period amateur stations report unverified position from Earhart plane west of Howland which area we will search during daylight tomorrow period if party afloat on plane or raft they are drifting north and west at estimated maximum two miles per hour period visibility and general search conditions excellent period sea conditions to present time now favorable if plane or raft is afloat period have radio listening stations Howland and Baker Island and all reported commercial craft over large area familiar with situation and on the alert both visual and radio period."

Typed memo signed by District Commander Eugene T. Osborn to Assistant Secretary Stephen B. Gibbons, in part: “In the second line the numeral group 0843 indicates the time at or near Howland Island which translated in our time would make it about 3.10pm 2 July…The call Q85 indicated in the fourth line is the only intelligent reading that could be gained from the weak signals. The 2000 square miles indicated in the ninth line were previously reported as being 3000, which is correct, is not known.”

A carbon copy U.S. Coast Guard Official Dispatch from San Francisco Division to Headquarters, July 4, 1937, in part: “Itasca and HAWSEC report hearing dashes and strong carrier wave on 3105 KCS in response to broadcast from Honolulu station KGMB for Earhart to answer if she heard request period…Itasca searching westerly quadrant to cover reported positions at daybreak.” In very good to fine condition, with creasing and intersecting folds.

In March 1937, Earhart began her first attempt to circumnavigate the globe and made it only from Oakland, California, to Honolulu, Hawaii, where the plane was damaged on a takeoff run. After it was repaired in California, Earhart and Noonan made a second attempt by flying east from Oakland to Miami, Florida, in May, then leaving Miami on June 1, 1937. They made several stops in South America, Africa, the Indian subcontinent, and Southeast Asia, before arriving at Lae, New Guinea, on June 29, 1937, having covered about 22,000 miles of the 29,000-mile flight.

At midnight GMT, on July 2, 1937, Earhart and Noonan took off from Lae Airfield, headed for Howland Island, which was 1,700 nautical miles southwest of Honolulu, Hawaii, and just north of the equator. Their last known position report was near the Nukumanu Islands, about 800 miles into the 2,550-mile flight to Howland. The plane never successfully established radio communications with the USCGC Itasca, which was on station near Howland Island to guide Earhart and Noonan's plane to the island. Just before 5:00 a.m. on July 2, the Itasca received calls broken up by static, but Earhart was unable to hear voice transmissions from the ship. At 6:14, Earhart reported that the aircraft was within 200 miles and requested that the ship provide a bearing for the aircraft. At 7:30-7:40, Earhart was 100 miles out and running out of gas but still could not hear the Itasca. The last known transmission from Earhart came at 8:43 a.m., and the Itasca used oil-fired boilers to generate smoke, but Earhart apparently did not see it.

One hour after Earhart's last recorded message, the USCGC Itasca began an unsuccessful search north and west of Howland Island. The U.S. Navy soon joined the search, which lasted until July 19, 1937. At a cost of $4 million, the air and sea search by the Navy and Coast Guard was the most expensive and intensive in American history up to that time.