A team of researchers are en route to a chain of remote islands in the South Pacific with the hopes of solving one of the great mysteries of the 20th century. Armed with new data, the team hopes to find the remains of Amelia Earhart, the famous aviator who went missing in 1937 while attempting to fly around the world.
I first wrote about this expedition at the beginning of June when it was revealed that an analysis of radio transmissions that date back to the day Earhart, along with her navigator Fred Noonan, disappeared indicated that the pair could have survived a crash and were calling for assistance while stranded on a small atoll.
The search team has left Hawaii and are on their way to the island of Nikumaroro where they hope to find proof that Earhart and Noonan crashed and survived for a time while they waited for rescue.
They’ll employ a submersible robot to search the waters around the tiny island for the Lockheed Electra aircraft that was being flown around the world and they’ll look for more clues on land as well. Recently an old jar of freckle cream was discovered on Nikumaroro that matches the age and brand that Earhart would have used back in her day. She was known to use the cosmetic cream to cover freckles on her own skin.
The expedition will last for approximately three weeks and cost about $2 million. The question is, if they do solve the mystery, will it make us feel better, or worse about Earhart and Noonan’s ultimate fate?
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Amelia's Lockheed Electra was within 75 miles of her target Howland Island when her radio cut off. Chief Radioman Leo Bellarts said: "Her voice was loud and clear; sounded frantic on her last transmission. Then it cut off."
Nikumaroro is 350 miles south-east of Howland and at a right angle to her flight path — and she didn't have charts for those islands.
Airman Richard Beckham flew over Nikumaroro (Gardner) seven days later and said: "We altered course to Gardner Island … we always went low over the islands at 100 feet … we couldn't see anyone, and we always scanned the beaches."
The US sent nine ships, 66 aircraft, and well over 3,000 sailors and airmen who covered well over 250,000 sq. miles of open sea and every island within a 650 mile radius of Howland.
Taken from, The Hunt For Amelia Earhart
Douglas Westfall, historic publisher, Specialbooks
What puzzles me is why anyone would spend $2 million on this search, especially given the enormous scale of the US search party mentioned in Douglas Westfall's comment.
A very powerful piece of evidence was the radio message intercepted by the young girl, Betty Klenck, in the U.S. in the first days after the disapearance. She said that the woman radio operator kept repeating something like New York City. If I were lost on an island that I did not know the name of and there was a shipwreck called the Norwich City that is what I would be talking about in the limited radio time available. Certainly in the unclear static of the radio message it would sound like New York City. It's a great pity that this girls evidence was disregarded. Of course, to be fair, it's doubtful that any of the people involved would even have known about the Norwich City wreck and who would even think of it. The damage to the radio antenna and the apparent oversight that Howland may be hard to see amongst the small cloud formations that you see across the Pacific accounted for Amelia and Fred's loss. In hindsight it could have been avoided. A great lady in history.
A very powerful piece of evidence was the radio message intercepted by the young girl, Betty Klenck, in the U.S. in the first days after the disapearance. She said that the woman radio operator kept repeating something like New York City. If I were lost on an island that I did not know the name of and there was a shipwreck called the Norwich City that is what I would be talking about in the limited radio time available. Certainly in the unclear static of the radio message it would sound like New York City. It's a great pity that this girls evidence was disregarded. Of course, to be fair, it's doubtful that any of the people involved would even have known about the Norwich City wreck and who would even think of it. The damage to the radio antenna and the apparent oversight that Howland may be hard to see amongst the small cloud formations that you see across the Pacific accounted for Amelia and Fred's loss. In hindsight it could have been avoided. A great lady in history.
Google honoring Amelia Earhart an American aviation pioneer on her 115th Birthday with special doodle.