Elgen Marion Long (August 12, 1927 – January 26, 2022) was an American aviator, author, and researcher who set fifteen

aviation Aviation includes the activities surrounding mechanical flight and the aircraft industry. ''Aircraft'' include fixed-wing and rotary-wing types, morphable wings, wing-less lifting bodies, as well as lighter-than-air aircraft such as h ...

records and firsts, including his 1971 flight around the world over both poles. He received the FAI Gold Air Medal for his accomplishment. He developed the "Crash and Sink" theory explaining the disappearance of

Amelia Earhart Amelia Mary Earhart ( ; July 24, 1897 – January 5, 1939) was an American aviation pioneer. On July 2, 1937, she disappeared over the Pacific Ocean while attempting to become the first female pilot to circumnavigate the world. During her li ...

and

Fred Noonan Frederick Joseph Noonan (born April 4, 1893 – disappeared July 2, 1937, declared dead June 20, 1938) was an American flight navigator, sea captain and aviation pioneer, who first charted many commercial airline routes across the Pacific Ocean ...

. For over 35 years, Long researched the last leg of Earhart and Noonan's flight in an attempt to determine where their Lockheed Electra may have crashed. He and his wife, Marie Katherine Long, documented the people and data involved in the disappearance, a collection that is held by the SeaWord Foundation.

Life

Long was a Navy veteran who flew in seaplanes throughout the Pacific during

World War II World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...

. He retired as Senior Boeing 747 Captain from The Flying Tiger Line in 1987. He served over forty years as pilot, examiner, instructor, radio operator, and navigator.

Rescue of Yemenite Jews

In January 1949, while working as a commercial-flight navigator for

Alaska Airlines Alaska Airlines is a major American airline headquartered in SeaTac, Washington, within the Seattle metropolitan area. It is the fifth-largest airline in North America when measured by scheduled passengers carried, as of 2024. Alaska, togethe ...

, Long was instructed to make for a

British Royal Air Force The Royal Air Force (RAF) is the air and space force of the United Kingdom, British Overseas Territories and Crown Dependencies. It was formed towards the end of the First World War on 1 April 1918, on the merger of the Royal Flying Corps (R ...

base in

Aden Aden () is a port city located in Yemen in the southern part of the Arabian peninsula, on the north coast of the Gulf of Aden, positioned near the eastern approach to the Red Sea. It is situated approximately 170 km (110 mi) east of ...

, a port city in

Yemen Yemen, officially the Republic of Yemen, is a country in West Asia. Located in South Arabia, southern Arabia, it borders Saudi Arabia to Saudi Arabia–Yemen border, the north, Oman to Oman–Yemen border, the northeast, the south-eastern part ...

. There, his crew took part in rescue mission,

Operation Magic Carpet Operation Magic Carpet was the post–World War II operation by the U.S. War Shipping Administration (WSA) to repatriate over eight million American military personnel from the European (ETO), Pacific, and Asian theaters. Hundreds of Libert ...

, that would come to be known as “On Eagle’s Wings” - a reference to Exodus 19:4 - that airlifted tens of thousands of

Yemenite Jews Yemenite Jews, also known as Yemeni Jews or Teimanim (from ; ), are a Jewish diaspora group who live, or once lived, in Yemen, and their descendants maintaining their customs. After several waves of antisemitism, persecution, the vast majority ...

facing persecution and death out of Yemen and into Israel.

Earhart research

In 1971, Long flew solo around the world over both the

North North is one of the four compass points or cardinal directions. It is the opposite of south and is perpendicular to east and west. ''North'' is a noun, adjective, or adverb indicating Direction (geometry), direction or geography. Etymology T ...

and South Poles in a

Piper Navajo The Piper PA-31 Navajo is a family of twin-engined low-wing tricycle gear utility aircraft designed and built by Piper Aircraft for small cargo and feeder airlines, and as a corporate aircraft. Production ran from 1967 to 1984. It was licen ...

, setting fifteen world records and firsts. Long was the first man to have crossed

Antarctica Antarctica () is Earth's southernmost and least-populated continent. Situated almost entirely south of the Antarctic Circle and surrounded by the Southern Ocean (also known as the Antarctic Ocean), it contains the geographic South Pole. ...

alone via the South Pole. He was also the first to use inertial navigation in crossing the Antarctic Continent. For those feats, he was awarded the Federation Aeronautique International "Gold Air Medal" as the world's outstanding sports pilot, the Institute of Navigation ''Superior Achievement Award'' for outstanding performance as a practicing navigator, and the Airline Pilots Association ''Award for Outstanding

Airmanship Airmanship is skill and knowledge applied to Air navigation, aerial navigation, similar to seamanship in maritime navigation. Airmanship covers a broad range of desirable behaviors and abilities in an aviator. It is not simply a measure of skill ...

''. Beginning in 1971, Long and his wife, interviewed and collected data from over a hundred surviving individuals that had a direct connection with

's last flight. Using the data they collected, Long - a former accident investigator for the Airline Pilots Association and Member of the International Society of Air Safety Investigators - used his expertise in radio communications, navigation, and aircraft operational performance to collaborate with his wife to write the book, ''Amelia Earhart: The Mystery Solved'', published in 1999, about Earhart's last flight. In 1976, Long was interviewed by the television program, '' In Search of...,'' and gave his prognosis on Earhart's fate and the positive condition her aircraft would be in, in the deep sea. Long is the originator and leading proponent of the book's "Crash and Sink" theory explaining Amelia Earhart's disappearance. Long theorised that the Electra ran out of fuel and ditched at sea relatively near to

Howland Island Howland Island () is a coral island and strict nature reserve located just north of the equator in the central Pacific Ocean, about southwest of Honolulu. The island lies almost halfway between Hawaii and Australia and is an Territories of the ...

, the atoll Earhart was attempting to reach. Movie rights to the book were purchased for Fox Searchlight Studios and Long was hired as technical consultant for the film '' Amelia'' (2009). Long devoted most of his retirement years to researching and writing about Earhart's last flight. He led two expeditions to the mid-Pacific Ocean where Earhart and Noonan disappeared, and in 2006, participated in a search that attempted to locate their downed aircraft on the ocean floor near Howland Island.

Death

Long died in

Reno, Nevada Reno ( ) is a city in the northwest section of the U.S. state of Nevada, along the Nevada–California border. It is the county seat and most populous city of Washoe County, Nevada, Washoe County. Sitting in the High Eastern Sierra foothills, ...

, on January 26, 2022, aged 94.

References

External links