Amelia Earhart’s plane may have been discovered at the great depths of sea
One of the greatest mysteries may have just been solved. Amelia Earhart, one of the most renowned pilots of her time, attempted to circumnavigate the globe in 1937 in her Purdue-funded Lockheed Model 10-E Electra with Fred Noonan, her navigator. There have been many theories on what happened to Earhart, some backed up with evidence. Before talking about these theories, however, it is important to note previously discovered facts about Earhart’s course.
Amelia Earhart’s Final Course
According to Knowledgia, Earhart had tried to circumnavigate the globe earlier than the incident where she vanished. On March 17, 1937, she made her very first attempt with Fred Noonan and Harry Manning. However, either from a pilot mistake or blown tire caused them to stop at Honolulu, where they had to quit the mission.
Earhart and Noonan wanted to try again, while Harry Manning declined to join. Earhart and Noonan were successful for the first few weeks, going to South America, Africa, the Indian subcontinent and South-East Asia. They refueled at multiple locations and made it to Lae, New Guinea. They were only 7,000 miles away from their destination to finish their mission.
Although their flight started quite smoothly, on the morning of July 2, 1937, things started to become worrisome. The flight to Howland Island for another refuel was thought to be safe, but this was not the case. Back in New Guinea, Harry Belfour was tasked to give transmissions to Earhart and Noonan. He tried to warn the both of them that the headwinds were much stronger than thought to be. It is still unknown to this day if they received the transmission or not.
At 2:18 p.m. on that day, Belfour received a transmission from Earhart that she was at an altitude of 7,000 feet. One hour later, another transmission came in, saying Earhart was now at an uneconomical altitude of 10,000 feet. The USCGC Itasca was awaiting Earhart’s arrival at Howland Island. One transmission shows that Earhart said that she and Noonan must have been on top of Itasca but could not see them. Gas was running low, and they were not able to receive the morse code messages sent by the Itasca. At 8:43 a.m. the next day, Earhart said, “We are on the line 157, 337. We will repeat message. We will repeat this on 6210 kilocycles. Wait.” The message was never repeated. The U.S. frantically searched for Earhart and Noonan, but on January 5, 1939, Amelia Earhart and Fred Noonan were declared legally dead.
New Evidence for Amelia Earhart’s Lockheed Electra
Knowing what happened to Earhart, recent evidence shows that Earhart’s Lockheed Electra may have been found. According to CNN, Deep Sea Vision, an ocean exploration company in South Carolina, may have found Earhart’s plane. Using sonar imaging and a Hugin 6000, the group spotted an anomaly more than 16,000 feet underwater in the Pacific Ocean.
Tony Romeo, CEO of Deep Sea Vision, gives a few reasons why he believes this may be Earhart’s Lockheed Electra. First, the sonar images show clear twin-vertical stabilizers, which was very distinctive in Earhart’s Lockheed Electra. Second, anything that appears above the sandy surface of the sea floor in that area is very unusual. Lastly, the size of the so-called “plane” does closely match what we would expect from the actual plane.
Other Theories
There are other theories to what may have happened during the incident of Earhart, some of which sound ridiculous, while others may be true. According to CNN, there are five different theories.
The first theory is called crash and sink. The U.S. Government and the Smithsonian believe this was most likely to have happened. This theory suggests that Earhart and Noonan crashed into the Pacific Ocean after running out of fuel, ultimately dying.
People also believe that Earhart may have survived and died as a castaway. Richard Gillespie, a board member for The International Group for Historic Aircraft Recovery (TIGHAR) believes that Earhart and Noonan safely landed on Gardner Island, now called Nikumaroro. In addition, TIGHAR believe they may have seen a small, blurry speck of a landing gear component from the Lockheed Electra in a photo. They also claim that a skeleton of a castaway found on the island is Earhart since the skeleton is consistent with a woman of Earhart’s height and ethnic origin.
Another theory posits that Earhart and Noonan did survive but were captured by the Japanese in the Marshall Islands. The blurry picture below shows several people, two of which both look like Earhart and Noonan. While one has the same distinct hairline as Noonan, the other has the same hair length and body size of Earhart. Also, a ship next to them is pulling something up, which could be Earhart’s Electra. This is backed up by more evidence from residents of the Marshall Islands. They say that they did witness the aviators land there. The island even issued stamps for the 50th anniversary of Earhart’s flight, suggesting the plane crash landing at Mili Atoll and the recovery of the Electra by the Koshu. If this was true, why did the Japanese even capture Earhart and Noonan?
Some theorize that Earhart and Noonan were not just flying but were on a secret mission to gather intelligence about the Japanese. People believe that the secret mission was approved by Former President Franklin Roosevelt. This would explain why the Japanese could have arrested Earhart and Noonan.
The final theory, which has been debunked but still lives on, is that Earhart changed her identity. It is possible that Earhart survived World War II as a spy and lived under the name of Irene Bolam until her death in 1982. According to the theory, she was captured, taken to Saipan, then to Tokyo. She was kept prisoner in the Imperial Palace until 1945. Irene Bolam sued book publishers for publishing this idea, claiming she is not Earhart.
Conclusion
It is still inconclusive to say which theory is true. She may have been kidnapped by the Japanese, died in the sea or even changed her identity. Looking for clues is the only way to find the true information on what could have actually happened. For instance, if the so-called “plane” is lifted up or closely examined in the future, we may be finally able to solve this ever-lasting mystery.