Fred Noonan Fred Noonan Frederick Joseph "Fred" Noonan (born April 4, 1893; declared missing July 2, 1937 and 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 during the 1930s. He was last seen in Lae, New Guinea, on July 2, 1937, on the last land stop with famed aviator Amelia Earhart (1897-1937), as her navigator when they disappeared somewhere over the Central Pacific Ocean during one of the last legs of their attempted pioneering round-the-world flight. Fred Noonan was born in Cook County, Illinois (the
Tommy Noonan half-brother of actor John Ireland. Noonan was the son of Michael James Noonan and Grace Ferguson. His father was a vaudeville comedian and a native of Galway County, Ireland. His mother, a piano teacher, was from Glasgow, Scotland. He attended New York University. In 1934, Noonan and Ireland made their stage debuts with a New York-based experimental theater. They later appeared together in three films, including "I Shot Jesse James" (1949). Noonan had a repertory company of his own prior to World War II. On Broadway, Noonan appeared in "How to Make a Man" (1960) and "Men to the Sea"