FRED NOONAN NOTES
There is no good evidence to say that he resigned from PAA because he had risen as far as he could go. Another similar statement is that he resigned because he could not be a pilot.
I believe that he was fired because of drinking. I believe this because,
1. This was told in great detail by a contemporary to a highly respected PAA executive who was writing the history of PAA. This was no mere chat over coffee. It was not a posting on a forum. It was not a throw away line in someone's memoirs. It was an important enough document to be filed away with other taped interviews between the crew members who worked and flew with Fred Noonan and a man who was much their superior in terms of position within the company. If John Leslie had not known about what Vic Wright was recounting I doubt he would have allowed mere speculation to be transcribed.
Moreoever in the interview with Harry Canaday, much the same story is told though with more reserve. Again, no censorship. Incidentally the story that Canaday had to navigate because Fred was drunk appears to be borne out by the Clipper logs. Canaday all of a sudden goes from having had no more than a few hours navigation instruction to suddenly having to navigate the whole flight. I mention this only though as possibly backing up this story, not as final proof. There could be other reasons Canaday had to navigate that leg.But one has to ask in that case why not tell of them if only to quash the story that he had to cover for Fred.
The Wright Transcript also appears to shed light on the story about Fred falling in the bathtub and knocking out his teeth. A dental chart certainly shows the teeth as missing.
In John Leslie's file in Miami there exists correspondence between Horace Brock and Leslie concerning Brock's manuscript for his book 'Flying the Oceans'in which Brock refers to Fred's drink probem. Leslie castigates Brock telling him you can't KNOW this. And this has always been the official PAA line. As Vic Wright said in his interview...Fred was sent to the Cincinnati Division because PAA could not be seen to be losing face. Cincinnati Division is a euphemism for fired.
I intend to use this space to put all the 'evidence' for and against this issue for those interested to make up their own mind. Jackie Ferrari (talk) 08:58, 28 June 2008 (UTC)