Fred Noonan facts for kids
Quick facts for kids
Fred Noonan
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Fred Noonan in June 1937 in Bandoeng, Dutch East Indies
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Frederick Joseph Noonan
April 4, 1893 Cook County, Illinois, U.S.
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| Disappeared | July 2, 1937 (aged 44) En route to Howland Island |
| Status | Declared dead in absentia June 20, 1938 (aged 45) |
| Occupation | Navigator |
| Spouse(s) | Josephine Sullivan (divorced) Mary Beatrice Passadori |
| Parent(s) | Joseph T. Noonan Catherine Egan |
Frederick Joseph "Fred" Noonan (born April 4, 1893; disappeared July 2, 1937) was an American flight navigator. He was also a sea captain and an early aviation expert. In the 1930s, he helped create many of the first commercial airplane routes across the Pacific Ocean. He is most famous for being the navigator for Amelia Earhart. They were last seen in Lae, New Guinea, on July 2, 1937. This was their last stop on land before they disappeared over the Central Pacific Ocean. They were trying to fly around the world.
Contents
Early Life and Sea Adventures
Fred Noonan was born in Cook County (Chicago), Illinois. His father died when Fred was four years old. When he was seven, a census report said he was living alone in a Chicago boarding house. But it's likely relatives or friends were taking care of him.
In 1905, when he was 12, Noonan left school. He moved to Seattle, Washington, and started working as a sailor. At 17, he began working on a British sailing ship called the Crompton. From 1910 to 1915, Noonan worked on many ships. He moved up to important roles like quartermaster and bosun's mate.
He continued working on merchant ships during World War I. These were ships that carried goods. He was an officer on ships that carried weapons. Three of these ships were sunk by U-boats (German submarines). After the war, Noonan kept working at sea. He became a well-known ship's officer. He always got "good" reviews for his work. In 1927, Noonan married Josephine Sullivan.
Fred Noonan had a great 22-year career at sea. He sailed around Cape Horn seven times! But then he wanted to try something new. In the late 1920s, he learned to fly planes. In 1930, he got a "limited commercial pilot's license." He wrote "aviator" as his job. The next year, he got a license to be a ship's captain for "any ocean."
In the early 1930s, he worked for Pan American World Airways (Pan Am). He taught navigation in Miami. He also managed an airport in Port-Au-Prince, Haiti. Later, he became an inspector for all of Pan Am's airports.
In March 1935, Noonan was the navigator on the first Pan Am Sikorsky S-42 clipper plane. This was in San Francisco Bay. In April, he navigated a famous round-trip flight. It went between San Francisco and Honolulu. This flight was piloted by Ed Musick.
Noonan then helped map Pan Am's clipper routes across the Pacific. He flew on many trips to places like Midway, Wake Island, Guam, the Philippines, and Hong Kong. He used modern navigation tools. But he also carried a ship's sextant, which is a tool for finding your position using the stars.
By 1937, Fred Noonan was very well-known. He was an expert navigator. He had helped create commercial airline navigation. He was 43 years old, tall, thin, with brown hair and blue eyes. He was living in Los Angeles. He left Pan Am because he felt he couldn't get any higher in his job as a navigator. He wanted to start his own navigation school. He married Mary Bea Martinelli in March 1937.
Amelia Earhart's World Flight
Amelia Earhart met Fred Noonan through friends in the Los Angeles aviation world. She chose him to be her navigator for her world flight. They would fly in a Lockheed Electra 10E plane. This plane was paid for by Purdue University. Their goal was to fly around the world near the equator.
The plane was very advanced. It was called a "flying laboratory." But not much real science was planned. The world already had many commercial airline routes. Noonan himself had navigated and mapped many of them. So, the flight is now seen as an exciting publicity stunt. Noonan probably joined because Amelia Earhart was very famous. Her fame would bring a lot of attention to him. This could help him start his navigation school when they returned.
Their first attempt started with a record-breaking flight. They flew from Burbank, California to Honolulu. But as the Electra was taking off for the next part of the trip, its wing hit the ground. Earhart cut an engine to keep balance. The plane spun around and the landing gear broke. No one was hurt. But the Electra had to be sent back to Los Angeles for expensive repairs.
More than a month later, they tried again. This time, they left California flying in the opposite direction.
Earhart said their 40-day trip from Burbank to New Guinea was "leisurely." They took off from Lae on July 2, 1937. They were heading for Howland Island. This island is a tiny piece of land in the Pacific Ocean, only about 2,000 meters long. The plan for the 18-hour flight was to get close to Howland using Noonan's skills with stars. Then, they would find the island using radio navigation signals. These signals were sent by the United States Coast Guard ship Itasca.
But there were many problems and misunderstandings. Over scattered clouds, they never reached the island. Earhart said by radio that they thought they were very close to Howland. But they never made good radio contact. The fliers disappeared over the western Pacific. The U.S. Navy and Coast Guard searched for a long time. But they found no physical evidence of the plane or the fliers.
Later research showed that Howland's position was marked incorrectly on their map. It was off by about five nautical miles. There is also film evidence that a belly antenna on the Electra might have broken during takeoff. However, radio communications seemed normal as they flew away from Lae.
What Happened to Them?
It is possible that Earhart and Noonan ran out of fuel. Then, the Electra would have crashed into the ocean. They would have died there. But in her last message, Earhart said they were flying a standard "line of position." This is a normal thing for an experienced navigator like Noonan to do. This line would have passed near Gardner Island (now Nikumaroro). This island is in the Phoenix Group to the southeast.
There is evidence that Earhart and Noonan might have found Gardner Island. At that time, no one lived there. They might have landed the Electra on a flat reef near a wrecked ship. Then, they might have sent out radio messages from there.
In 1940, Gerald Gallagher, a British officer, found something on the island. He radioed that he thought he had found Earhart's skeleton. He also found a sextant box under a tree. In 1998, experts studied the bones. They included a forensic anthropologist and an archaeologist. They said the bones found on the island seemed to match a woman of Earhart's height and background. They were found with women's shoes and a navigator's sextant box.
Fred Noonan in Popular Culture
Fred Noonan is not as famous as Amelia Earhart. But people still remember him. He is often mentioned in books by W.P. Kinsella. David Graf played him in the "The 37s" episode of the Star Trek: Voyager TV show. Also, a baseball stadium and a company that rents airplanes are named after Fred Noonan.
Images for kids
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Fred Noonan in June 1937 in Bandoeng, Dutch East Indies
See also
In Spanish: Fred Noonan para niños
