I feel positive that, with its short, stubby wings plus the additional weight, the Wildcat could not be fitted with six .50s. Further, if it had, I do not believe it would have had the capability of firing together or in pairs, nor do I see any sense in it. I flew the Hellcat (F6F) in combat, and it of course had six .50s, which did not have the capability of firing together or in pairs.

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I enjoyed the captain’s article thoroughly.

Commander Dick Kreider
U.S. Navy Reserve (ret.)
Lancaster, Pa.

The editor responds: With all due respect, you must have missed flying the Grumman F4F-4, which did have six .50-caliber machine guns in the wings. Aside from Vejtasa, most F4F-4 pilots thought the six guns were unnecessary, only adding weight and hurting performance. Therefore, the Eastern Aircraft (GM) FM-1 and FM-2 reverted to the four guns of the F4F-3.

Setting the Record Straight

Really good May issue! I especially enjoyed the article on Lores Bonney. However, having been an Amelia Earhart admirer all my life, I immediately noticed that the story contains an impossible date: “With no news of Earhart, Bonney finally left Khartoum on July 10, 1937. Earhart and Noonan arrived two days later.” Miraculous, since Earhart and Noonan disappeared on July 2, 1937. I was 8 years old at the time, and I have never stopped hoping that NR 16020 would be found.

Incidentally, I am a member of TIGHAR (The International Group for Historic Aircraft Recovery) #0982, and I think we’re just about to finally solve the mystery.

Grace J. Hale
Raleigh, N.C.

The editor responds: Thanks for setting us straight. You are not the first, or the only, reader with sharp eyes.

More on the B-17F Restoration

Mr. Friedman’s letter in the May “Letters” department states that “The B-17F was restored for the Museum of Flight by members of the Boeing Management Association at the Boeing plant in Renton, Wash. The Museum of Flight had little to do with the restoration. The airplane was test-flown by Boeing and then delivered to the museum. Since then it has resided outside the Museum of Flight and has not flown again.”

Those facts are incomplete and inaccurate. While the Renton branch of the BMA sponsored the restoration (underwrote much of the effort), many of the museum’s volunteers were responsible for the actual restoration work. And not all of these retirees were members of the BMA Gold Card Chapter. Several of these same folks had also labored on the restoration of the museum’s Boeing 247D under the sponsorship of the Everett chapter of the BMA.

Pat Collucio and the BMA deserve a big thank you for their efforts in spearheading the work, but it is a disservice to the many museum volunteers who worked hard to complete this first phase of the work to say that the museum had little to do with it.

Yes, the airplane was test-flown by Boeing engineering test pilots (two of whom are also flying our 247D). The plane has been flown on at least three occasions to my knowledge since that delivery to Boeing Field, the most recent of which was back to some hanger space at Renton Airfield, which is where the work to recertify the airplane will be done.

Frank Leathley
Mill Creek, Wa.

Jungle A-20s

I have just read the article by Terry Gwynn-Jones about the recovery of the two Douglas A-20s from Papua New Guinea in the May 2000 issue (”Enduring Heritage”).

I was fascinated to read the story of Hell ‘N Pelican II and to see the photo of it in its jungle location. It was in mid-1972 that two agricultural officers of the Department of Agriculture Stock & Fisheries in Madang actually stumbled across this plane while trying to locate a cattle route from the remote Aiome Patrol Post in the Ramu valley to Madang. One of the officers was seriously ill with malaria and dysentery, and there was no time for them to examine the aircraft because of his urgent need for hospital treatment.

I was also an agricultural development officer. With two companions, I walked into the site of the crash two weeks later. If my memory serves me correctly, it was approximately six hours from the nearest mission station, which itself was two to three hours’ drive from Madang. The Gogol valley was very sparsely populated in that area and the nearest village was some four to five hours’ walk away.

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