Amelia Earhart

On June 1, 1937, Amelia Earhart and navigator, Fred Noonan took off in a twin engine Lockheed Electra plane from Miami. Her goal: To be the first woman to fly around the world. Their 29,000-mile trip would follow a long equatorial route during which the duo would make pit stops in several locations across the continents of South America, Africa, and Asia.

The trip was relatively smooth and without event when Earhart and Noonan landed in Lae, New Guinea on June 29, 1937. With the bulk of the trip behind them, the duo faced the last 7,000 miles flying over the waters of the Pacific Ocean. On July 2, 1937 the plane once again took to the air, departing Lae in their very heavily loaded plane. The next intended stop was Howland Island, a tiny piece of land in the Pacific Ocean that had been set up specially as a runway and refueling station for Earhart's journey.

The plane never reached Howland Island, though. The United States Coast Guard received one of the last known transmission from Earhart at 7:42am, with the pilot signaling that she was unable to hear any incoming communications: "We must be on you, but cannot see you -- but gas is running low. Have been unable to reach you by radio. We are flying at 1,000 feet." Following that were some Morse code communications in which Earhart attempted to determine the direction they were headed in. Communications from there were mostly garbled, with Earhart seeming confused not only about her location, but also about which frequency she was broadcasting on.

A short time later communications ceased entirely, and the plane was lost. To this date no evidence has been found of the plane, Earhart, or Noonan's final resting place. The events that lead to their disappearance remain mysterious and controversial.

She departed from Lae, Papua New Guinea on July 2, 1937 en route to the uninhabited Howland Island. As far as anyone knows, she never reached Howland Island.

(map courtesy of [aerospaceweb.org])

Credible evidence has been building in years past to suggest that Amelia Earhard and navigator, Fred Noonan may have died on land, on the uninhabited Nikumaroro Island, part of the republic of Kiribati in the southwestern Pacific Ocean.

Leading the investigation into this theory is The International Group for Historic Aircraft Recovery (TIGHAR). They have been working off of reports from 1940 that a British Colonial Service officers found part of a skeleton on a very remote part of the island that might not have been noticed by rescue planes. Since 1940, the skeleton has been lost and therefore no testing can be done to prove whether or not it was Earhart's skeleton. However, notes about the skeleton indicate that it was from the body of a female of European descent, and was similar to the stature of Earhart.

In addition to the skeleton, there is other evidence that Amelia may have perished on the island. A United States naval officer who was part of the search effort trying to find Amelia made note of "recent habitation" on the uninhabited island. http://dsc.discovery.com/news/2009/10/23/amelia-earhart-02.html For reasons unknown, no one followed up on this sighting.

Some artifacts were also found on Nikumaroro Island suggesting that Amelia may have landed there. Artifacts include a woman's 1930s-style shoe, a sextant box with serial numbers possibly linking it to Noonan. Both artifacts have been lost since approximately 1941. Knowledge of their existence and details of their condition survive from 1941 telegrams detailing the finds.

Also helping to build the argument for this theory is that according to TIGHAR, over 200 radio signals, many possibly coming from Earhart's craft, were received days after she disappeared. None of them were decipherable or helpful, but they do point to the aircraft having been on land.

If this theory is correct, then Amelia Earhart may have landed there after realizing she was short on fuel. She and Noonan may have tried to survive on the island and radio for help from Amelia's airplane for days after the disappearance. Earhart and Noonan may have perished from injuries, dehydration, starvation, infection, poisoning from the local wilderness, or from accidents on the island.

TIGHAR plans to launch an expedition in the Summer of 2010 to collect more evidence of Earhart's stay on Nikumaroro Island.

Nikumaroro Island is located about 300 miles southeast of Howland Island, where Amelia was supposed to land for refueling.

Amelia Earhart helped found a club in 1929 for the advancement of women pilots. Originally founded by 99 different women fliers, Amelia was named as the first President of the group. Amelia's legacy continues today, as The Ninety Nines still work to provide "networking and scholarship opportunities for women and aviation education in the community and [preserve] the unique history of women in aviation."http://www.ninety-nines.org/

(pictured at left, the Ninety Nines logo)

This is a publicity still from the upcoming 2009 movie, "Amelia", a biopic starring Hilary Swank as Amelia, and Richard Gere as her husband, George Putnam.