It is one of the greatest mysteries of the 20th century. But today an expedition is heading for a remote South Pacific island that they believe holds the key to finally solving the 70-year-old puzzle of the missing aviator Amelia Earhart.
Fifteen members of the International Group for Historic Aircraft Recovery (Tighar) will hunt for evidence that the American pilot and her navigator, Fred Noonan, may have crash-landed on a reef and died as castaways on the long-uninhabited atoll of Nikumaroro.
Earhart was the first woman to fly solo across the Atlantic and her disappearance as she neared the end of a month-long, round-the-world flight in 1937 has provided aviation with one of its most enduring riddles. Earhart, 39, and Noonan, 44, had left Lae, New Guinea, on July 2 bound for the tiny Howland Island 2,550 miles to the east, only to vanish as they neared their destination. A 16-day search by US Navy and Coast Guard ships turned up no sign of the fliers or their silver, twin-engine Lockheed Electra.
But the official finding, that they ran out of fuel and crashed into the sea, sinking along with their plane, has never satisfied amateur sleuths.
Some of the more bizarre theories include one that she was captured by the Japanese and forced to make propaganda broadcasts during the Second World War as one of the many women known as Tokyo Rose.
Discuss Add this link to... Bury
Fifteen members of the International Group for Historic Aircraft Recovery (Tighar) will hunt for evidence that the American pilot and her navigator, Fred Noonan, may have crash-landed on a reef and died as castaways on the long-uninhabited atoll of Nikumaroro.
Earhart was the first woman to fly solo across the Atlantic and her disappearance as she neared the end of a month-long, round-the-world flight in 1937 has provided aviation with one of its most enduring riddles. Earhart, 39, and Noonan, 44, had left Lae, New Guinea, on July 2 bound for the tiny Howland Island 2,550 miles to the east, only to vanish as they neared their destination. A 16-day search by US Navy and Coast Guard ships turned up no sign of the fliers or their silver, twin-engine Lockheed Electra.
But the official finding, that they ran out of fuel and crashed into the sea, sinking along with their plane, has never satisfied amateur sleuths.
Some of the more bizarre theories include one that she was captured by the Japanese and forced to make propaganda broadcasts during the Second World War as one of the many women known as Tokyo Rose.
Discuss Add this link to... Bury
LinksMarker is a Web 2.0 content management system
Warning: Error writing file '/tmp/MY2Wk4jA' (Errcode: 28) in /home/linksmar/public_html/libs/db.php on line 233
Comments