My first reaction was that it looks more like a F86 Sabre, MIG or other like swept wing aircraft. I guess ditching could turn an aircraft into a swept wing variety. But like you, I look forward to the results of a closer investigation. Thank you.
I don't know why this didn't occur to me sooner but twin tail and swept wing only one answer... F-14 Tomcat.... One was lost in the area after flying out of range of it's base and being unable to refuel...
Nice effort but it is more likely to be a https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mitsubishi_G3M "Nell" bomber. Note that it has the same twin tail design. On 12/8/41 Howland Island was attacked by a group of these bombers from Kwajalein island. I do not know if the location of this target is in line with a flight path from Kwajalein but that might be important. In the two weeks after the 12/8/41 raid single "Nell" bombers returned to attack Howland. I have no Japanese sources to tell me whether or not any of the attacking planes were lost. You may have solved a mystery for a Japanese family rather than an American one.
On December 8, 1941 Howland was bombed and 2 colonists were killed. Attacks also took place on December 10th and then on January 5th and 24th, 1942. Colonists on Howland and Baker Islands were not rescued until January 31, 1942
A Japanese air attack on December 8, 1941 by 14 twin-engined Mitsubishi G3M "Nell" bombers of Chitose Kōkūtai, from Kwajalein islands, killed two of the Kamehameha School colonists: Richard "Dicky" Kanani Whaley, and Joseph Kealoha Keliʻhananui. The raid came one day after the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor and damaged the three airstrips of Kamakaiwi Field. https://www.eaglespeak.us/.../pacific-war-prep-howland...
One final comment which leads me to believe that it is a "Nell". The sonar image shows significant returns outside of the twin tails. That is a characteristic of the "Nell" and is not present on the Electra which has almost no tail surface past the twin uprights.
I think the chances that this return are from a plane are small — my bet would be on a pile of rocks. I certainly wouldn’t hazard an identification on such an extraordinarily low resolution image.
As Howland was undefended until 1943, might be tough to make a case that one or more of the bombers went down there. But who knows, one would have to make a really deep dive into the Japanese language war records. Until then, Earhart’s plane is the only one known to have gone down anywhere near the island.
I agree with your assessment that it may not be an airplane at all.. When I look at the tail I see 3 empennages not two. I would not expect that the bombers were lost to enemy action on Howland but to some operational failure (engine, fuel etc.). The main point of my post is to invoke Occam's razor, pointing out that if it is an airplane there were at least 17 G3M bombers in the area and only one Electra.
My first reaction was that it looks more like a F86 Sabre, MIG or other like swept wing aircraft. I guess ditching could turn an aircraft into a swept wing variety. But like you, I look forward to the results of a closer investigation. Thank you.
I thought exactly the same thing. :-D
I don't know why this didn't occur to me sooner but twin tail and swept wing only one answer... F-14 Tomcat.... One was lost in the area after flying out of range of it's base and being unable to refuel...
Nice effort but it is more likely to be a https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mitsubishi_G3M "Nell" bomber. Note that it has the same twin tail design. On 12/8/41 Howland Island was attacked by a group of these bombers from Kwajalein island. I do not know if the location of this target is in line with a flight path from Kwajalein but that might be important. In the two weeks after the 12/8/41 raid single "Nell" bombers returned to attack Howland. I have no Japanese sources to tell me whether or not any of the attacking planes were lost. You may have solved a mystery for a Japanese family rather than an American one.
On December 8, 1941 Howland was bombed and 2 colonists were killed. Attacks also took place on December 10th and then on January 5th and 24th, 1942. Colonists on Howland and Baker Islands were not rescued until January 31, 1942
A Japanese air attack on December 8, 1941 by 14 twin-engined Mitsubishi G3M "Nell" bombers of Chitose Kōkūtai, from Kwajalein islands, killed two of the Kamehameha School colonists: Richard "Dicky" Kanani Whaley, and Joseph Kealoha Keliʻhananui. The raid came one day after the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor and damaged the three airstrips of Kamakaiwi Field. https://www.eaglespeak.us/.../pacific-war-prep-howland...
One final comment which leads me to believe that it is a "Nell". The sonar image shows significant returns outside of the twin tails. That is a characteristic of the "Nell" and is not present on the Electra which has almost no tail surface past the twin uprights.
I think the chances that this return are from a plane are small — my bet would be on a pile of rocks. I certainly wouldn’t hazard an identification on such an extraordinarily low resolution image.
As Howland was undefended until 1943, might be tough to make a case that one or more of the bombers went down there. But who knows, one would have to make a really deep dive into the Japanese language war records. Until then, Earhart’s plane is the only one known to have gone down anywhere near the island.
I agree with your assessment that it may not be an airplane at all.. When I look at the tail I see 3 empennages not two. I would not expect that the bombers were lost to enemy action on Howland but to some operational failure (engine, fuel etc.). The main point of my post is to invoke Occam's razor, pointing out that if it is an airplane there were at least 17 G3M bombers in the area and only one Electra.
But the Electra is known to have crashed there, and none of the bombers are (pending the deep dive into the Japanese language war records).