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Frank,
Thanks for the reply. I dont think there is a photo of the pelorus online
but there is one opposite p326 in The Sound of Wings by Mary Lovell. This
has a caption reading 'The instrument mounted on the tripod is a
pelorus(sighting device for the compass)."   In the same picture there is
what looks like either an air speed indicator or an altimeter. Unfortunately
I cannot scan it as I am aboard a boat and only have my laptop.

Thanks for the comments on Fred's character. You mention about a scene where
he 'hits on' Amelia. Certainly there was specualtion at the time about the
two of them, fuelled probably by Fred's reputation as a 'lady's man'. Amelia
never really struck me as 'that sort' in my readings of her , although some
claim she was having an affair with Gene Vidal. I cant really comment
knowledgeably on her but I would hazard a strong guess that she wasnt Fred's
type! He seemed to go more for the flapper type . In addition he was only
two months married to his second wife.

Regarding the navigational aspects of the fateful flight I would recommend
to those interested, the following books.

Amelia Earhart by Elgen Long (who was the advisor to the film)
Earhart's Final Flight into Yesterday by Captain Laurance Safford.

I would dearly love one of you knowledgeable navigators to read and comment
,as I have spent ten years learning celestial navigation in order that I
might understand this  aspect of the flight, but I really am just an
armchair novice compared to you guys.

Jackie Ferrari.


----- Original Message -----
From: 
To: 
Sent: Wednesday, October 28, 2009 1:45 AM
Subject: [NavList 10289] Re: Amelia Earhart's aerial navigation



Jackie, you wrote:
"One of the few things we know for sure is there was a pelorus fitted on a
bracket at the starboard window which I understood him to have used to take
bearings. This is shown in several photographs."

Can anyone point me to one of these photos somewhere online? I tried to find
one. Based on the text descriptions I've found of the gear in the
navigator's station on the Electra, I would now guess that the current film
got the details exactly correct visually.

And you wrote:
"I havent seen the film yet, but I have heard it pays scant attention to
Noonan. But at least this time round they get the resemblance right.
Apparently he is portayed as unintelligent and boisterous. Quite the
opposite. He was highly intelligent and quiet spoken."

I wouldn't say that he's portrayed as 'unintelligent' --it's just that his
character is barely fleshed out --"scant attention" just as you say. As for
being 'boisterous', the rumors of drinking come up early and there's a
speculative scene where he very mildly hits on Earhart while drinking the
night before the last flight. He (the character) apologizes the next morning
and all is forgiven and forgotten. Though that's all pure speculation, it
wouldn't surprise me if the issue had arisen at some point during the
circum-navigation given Earhart's well-known extra-marital activities and
given the amount of time they spent together. Like I say, it's not played in
the film as salacious gossip. It simply calls attention to something that
every viewer has to be thinking.

I think the square door I thought I saw, and mentioned previously, was a
perspective trick. I checked the trailers online, hoping for a shot of
Noonan's navigation station with the pelorus, and saw a different angle on
the door --not square.

-FER





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