CCXXV
The
monsoon rains were unrelenting. Had Earhart and Noonan been in some isolated
settlement it’s quite possible that they would have been driven stark staring
mad with cabin fever and nothing much to do. It was going to take some days ---
and no one was really sure how many --- to get a replacement for the
temperamental fuel analyzer and to ensure that the stubbornly misbehaving fuel
flow meter and generator meter were up to snuff. Fortunately, Batavia (now
Djakarta) was a major stop for KLM Royal Dutch Airways, and there were always various
long-distance aircraft calling --- even a few Electras.
 |
|
The Dutch trading post of Batavia was first
founded in 1696. Today it is Djakarta, the capital and most populous city of
Indonesia, and has a population of 10,000,000
|
In
the meantime, the very European Bandoeng and nearby Batavia, the capital of the
Dutch East Indies, were happy fleshpots to lose themselves in. Amelia went
souvenir shopping and wrote up her booknotes. She and Fred Noonan were given
the Ambassadorial treatment, with a car and driver and a tour guide at their
disposal. Despite the pounding rains which started and stopped with the
suddenness of flipping a light switch, they made the most of their enforced
visit to the island of Java.
 |
|
The Flying Laboratory at Bandoeng
|
Amelia’s
health complaints continued. Although her case of touristas seemed to subside for a day or two, it returned with a
vengeance after she ate a staple of the local cuisine, rijsttafel (“rice table”).
Despite its Dutch name, it is a traditional Indonesian feast consisting of forty
or more dishes such as egg rolls, sambals, satay, fish,
fruit, vegetables, pickles, and nuts. Served in small portions, each dish is accompanied
by a different rice preparation.
 |
|
A Dutch family in Bandoeng enjoying rijsttafel at home, 1936
|
A
Dutch doctor diagnosed Earhart with dysentery. She was angry at her own
weakness, gobbled medications to settle herself, refused to rest, and stewed at
the idea that her July 4th homecoming was not to be. Her judgement and common sense were becoming
impaired by weariness and illness.
Her
bad humor led to an argument with Fred Noonan when she was invited to the Royal
Governor’s mansion in Batavia for a state dinner as the guest of honor. Noonan’s
name was not on the invitation. It was clearly an oversight, a faux pas on the part of their hosts, and
the intelligent thing to have done was to show up to dinner with Noonan at her
side as if there had been no mistake at all. He was her only crewmember and her
flying partner, after all. Instead, Amelia stupidly and childishly announced to
Fred that he could not come along. Even sick, she should have known better.
 |
|
The Royal Coat of Arms of The Netherlands
|
The
argument that erupted was legendary. For years afterward, people who were
present at the Hotel Cecil remembered the shouting from behind closed doors.
Noonan and Earhart’s distinctively American voices could not have been mistaken
though apparently no English-speaking guests ever reported what was being said
--- perhaps it was too indelicate for the era to bear repeating --- but the
substance of the brouhaha can be well imagined.
 |
|
The archipelago of the East Indies remained a
Dutch colony between 1602 and 1949 before winning independence as Indonesia.
Today it has the largest Muslim population of any nation and is struggling to
remain secular and to protect the rights of its minorities
|
Earhart
went off to dinner --- alone --- and Noonan found his way to the bar. This ugly
episode provides us with the Worldflight’s only verifiable episode of Noonan
resorting to drink, courtesy of two pilots named Chaters and Callopy, who
claimed to have been his drinking companions that evening. According to the two,
they stuck with beer while Noonan belted down straight whiskey, ejaculating
imprecations at Earhart all night long. Noonan had a frightful hangover the
next day. Fortunately, they remained grounded.
If
Noonan did drink that night --- and
there’s no reason to think he didn’t --- A.E. has to carry some responsibility
for it. Harry Manning and Paul Mantz both
had seen her at her worst, and so now had Fred Noonan. Once again, the overeager
prima donna who lurked inside of Amelia Earhart had shown her ugly
countenance. Whether this contributed to
her ultimate fate is a question that cannot be answered.
 |
|
The Netherlands East Indies, famed for the
islands of Java, Bali, Borneo, Celebes, and Sumatra among thousands of others
|
