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The Amelia Earhart papers online at Perdue University include some interesting documents.
 
https://earchives.lib.purdue.edu/digital/collection/earhart/search/order/date/ad/asc
 
The biggest one is a 100+ page report written by the skipper of Itasca while 
at sea after the fiasco at Howland. I expect it's self serving to some 
extent, but nevertheless there's much to learn from a document written while 
the events were still fresh in the author's mind.
 
https://earchives.lib.purdue.edu/digital/collection/earhart/id/3119/rec/2172
 
If you plan to reconstruct a time line from these documents, it's a good idea 
to make a time conversion table. For instance, the first column could be GCT: 
0000 Sun, then 0100 Sun, etc. to 0000 Mon. The next column could be the 
corresponding Lae times: 1000 Sun to 1000 Mon. Then Itasca time at Howland, 
starting at 1230 Sat. Hawaii and California times are helpful too. This table 
will save much confusion. (Don't trust my time zone offsets. I'm writing this 
off the top of my head.) Also it helps to make a list of all the players, 
including place names and radio call signs.
 
Apparently it was standard Coast Guard practice in those days to use local 
time at ship for message time stamps. It seems a recipe for confusion, but 
you have to deal with it. About the only ones consistently using GCT are the 
British (some of their messages are in the Perdue archive). A bigger problem 
is the lack of any time stamp on some messages, even Western Union telegrams.
 
Regarding the Electra fuel load, New Guinea Civil Aviation Board official J.A. 
Collopy reported it had a 100 US gallon tank half full of 100 octane, that 
being enough for the overload takeoff. I wonder if Earhart later regretted 
the unused capacity, since 50 gallons would have enabled one hour and 150 
more miles of flight according Lockheed (the aircraft mfr). On the other 
hand, 50 gallons of gas weigh 300 pounds. She barely got off the ground as it 
was.
 
A description of the Lae airfield is attached to the Colophy report, and I was 
surprised that it had neither phone nor telegraph service. Communication with 
the outside world was via the Guinea Airways radio station.
 
https://earchives.lib.purdue.edu/digital/collection/earhart/id/3011/rec/2159
https://earchives.lib.purdue.edu/digital/collection/earhart/id/1687/rec/2113
 
In view of later events, it's ironic the Perdue collection includes three 
photos of a smiling Earhart holding a radio direction finder antenna.
 
https://earchives.lib.purdue.edu/digital/collection/earhart/id/218/rec/1831
 
They were taken in California before she began the westbound circumnavigation 
attempt that quickly ended with a crash in Hawaii.
 
RDF was also aboard during her fatal eastbound attempt. A June 25 telegram 
from Bandoeng to husband George Putnam described its frequency bands and said 
any frequency not near the end of a band was OK. (UNNEAR in a telegram is 
charged as one word, cheaper than NOT  NEAR.)
 
https://earchives.lib.purdue.edu/digital/collection/earhart/id/2980/rec/2006
 
However, the info the Coast Guard sent to Itasca omitted the band limits and 
gave only the receiver's frequency range. Itasca was requested to select a 
suitable RDF frequency for the Howland arrival, but had no knowledge of the 
band ends that Earhart wanted to avoid. For instance, 400 kHz would have been 
at the dividing point between bands on her receiver.
 
https://earchives.lib.purdue.edu/digital/collection/earhart/id/1929/rec/2014
 
On the other hand, on June 25 she requests Ontario (another Coast Guard ship, 
closer to Lae) transmit on 400 kHz and Itasca on 7.5 MHz. The latter is 
outside the range of her receiver if her earlier message was correct.
 
https://earchives.lib.purdue.edu/digital/collection/earhart/id/1931/rec/2003
 
On the same date the CG told Itasca something quite different.
 
https://earchives.lib.purdue.edu/digital/collection/earhart/id/1931/rec/2003
 
On June 27, Itasca reported to San Francisco that 355 and 425 kHz were the 
best frequencies in her vicinity.
 
https://earchives.lib.purdue.edu/digital/collection/earhart/id/3036/rec/2172
 
But on the 29th Lae sent a message to Mr. Black aboard Itasca saying she now 
understands a "long continuous signal on approach" will be transmitted on 
3105 kHz. (Black was an official from the Department of the Interior, which 
had jurisdiction over Howland. He was serving as Earhart's representative 
aboard Itasca.) On the next page Itasca states the intent to transmit DF 
signals at the top and bottom of the hour, but on 7.5 MHz per Earhart's 
earlier request! I have not seen where she and the Coast Guard agreed on 
exactly what communication and navigation services would be supplied at 
Howland. The Itasca report's account of the final hours is agonizing to read.
 
https://earchives.lib.purdue.edu/digital/collection/earhart/id/3040/rec/2172
 

   

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