Background
On July 24th, 1897, Amelia Mary Earhart was born in Atchison, Kansas. She was born to parents Amelia "Amy" Otis Earhart and Edwin Stanton Earhart. Two years later, in 1899, Amelia's sister Muriel was born.
Due to marital issues between their parents, Amelia and Muriel often spent time with their maternal grandparents. Even after being reunited, Amelia's family moved around a lot due to her father struggling with employment.
In 1915, Amelia's parents split and her mother moved the family to Chicago, Illinois. Here, Amelia attended Hyde Park High School, where she graduated in 1916. From here, she attended the Ogontz School outside of Philidelphia. Instead of graduating, Amelia became a nurse, helping wounded World War I soldier at Toronto's Spadina Military Hospital.
Prior to this, Amelia was not interested in flying. During the war, however, she met many aviators and pilots, soon becoming interested in aviation. At an air show in Long Beach, California in 1920, Amelia took her first flight in a plane. This is when she knew: she needed to learn how to fly.
In 1928, Amelia met publisher George Putman. Together, he helps her publish two books: 20 Hrs. 40 Mins and The Fun of It.
Through the years, Putnam proposed to Amelia. Six times, she denied him. In 1931, however, she accepted and the couple got married. She kept her maiden name and even emphasized that their relationship was a "dual partnership."
Amelia Earhart's Accomplishments
As a woman in the early 1900s, Amelia quickly became a spotlight with her many accomplishments and flights.
In 1922, she sets an unofficial record for female pilots' altitude, reaching 14,000 feet in her Kinner Airster biplane.
In 1923, she becomes the 16th woman to receive an international pilot's license from the Fédération Aéronautique Internationale.
In 1928, Amelia made a trans-Atlantic flight as Wilmer Stultz's passenger.
In 1929, she competed in a Women's Air Derby race in her new Lockheed Vega, coming in third place.
In 1930, she sets the first of her own seven records for women's speed and distance, flying at 181.18 miles per hour.
In May of 1932, Amelia becomes the first woman to fly solo across the Atlantic Ocean. She travels from Newfoundland and to Northern Ireland. Because of this flight, she receives many awards, including the Gold Medal of the National Geographic Society, awarded by President Hoover. Three months later, in August of 1932, she flies across North America and back, becoming the first woman to do so.
In 1933, Amelia breaks her previous record of flying across North America.
Two years later, in 1933, she accomplishes three solo flights in less than 6 months. Her first is from Honolulu, Hawaii to Oakland, California. She is the first person to ever make this flight solo. The second is from Los Angeles to Mexico City in April. Following this, in May, she flies from Mexico City to New York.
The First Attempt
In 1936, Purdue University bought Amelia a new plane: a Lockheed Electra L-10E, which she dubbed "the flying laboratory". Together, Amelia and husband George begin to raise money for her dream: "a circumnavigation of the globe," according to a PBS Timeline article.
With the Electra ready, Amelia composed a crew of three men to make the trip with her. The first was Captain Harry Manning - who had been the captain of the President Roosevelt - to be her first navigator. Fred Noonan, with extensive knowledge and experience of flight and marine navigation, was her second navigator. And finally, Paul Mantz, a Hollywood stunt pilot, was her technical advisor.
The original plan for this around-the-world flight was to fly west. The group would start in Oakland, California and fly to Hawaii. According to a Biography article about Amelia Earhart, "from there, the group would fly across the Pacific Ocean to Australia. Then they would cross the sub-continent of India, on to Africa, then to Florida, and back to California."
This flight attempt began on March 17th, 1937. The first leg, from Oakland to Honolulu, took them 15 hours and 47 minutes. After staying for a few days in Hawaii, the group prepared for departure, but it didn't work out. The plane suffered damaged and was shipped back to California for repairs.
During the time the Electra was being repaired, Amelia and her husband once again worked to raise money for another attempt at the around-the-world flight.
The Fateful Final Flight
After a few months of repairs, Amelia and the Electra were ready for the flight. On this trip, however, only Fred Noonan was joining Amelia.
The plan for this flight was to fly eastward instead of westward. This would help them avoid any bad weather. Another bonus of this plan was that it put the most grueling leg of their journey at the end of the trip.
Together, the pair flew from Oakland, California to Miami, Florida. On June 1st, 1937, they began their journey. From Miami, they flew towards Central and South America. The pair flew to Africa, across the Indian Ocean and into New Guinea on June 29th, 1937.
Amelia and Fred had formed an elaborate plan to fly from New Guinea to Howland Island, a small dot in the Pacific between Australia and Hawaii. In preparation for this flight, certain communication items were taken off the Electra to make room for fuel - which could have been their fatal error.
On July 2nd, 1937, Amelia and Fred took off in the Electra, never to be seen again.
Near Howland Island sat the Coast Guard cutter Itasca. The crew of this ship was waiting to guide the plane and pilot to Howland Island, considering it was such a small dot in the ocean.
Just over 14 hours after takeoff from New Guinea, the Itasca received a transmission from the Electra. It was garbled but was understood to be Amelia, telling them of "cloudy weather". More messages came through, clearer but still concerning.
Amelia only received a single transmission from the Itasca, although they had been transmitting for hours. Her transmissions became clearer and stronger, which indicated she was close, but neither party could see the other.
20 hours and 14 minutes into this leg of the journey, the last transmission from the Electra came through. The plane and the pair never arrived on Howland Island and has not been seen since.
The Itasca soon realized they lost contact with the Electra and began searching for it immediately.
President Franklin D. Roosevelt put together a large search for Amelia, Fred and the Electra. In total, the search efforts included 66 ships and nine aircraft, and cost over $4 million. This massive search was called off 16 days after their disappearance, on July 18th, 1937.
Despite the President calling off the search, Amelia's husband George did not give up. Working off of tips from experts and even psychics, he financed more search efforts.
In October of 1937, however, even he accepted that he may not find her and those searches also ended.
Despite any evidence, a year and a half later in a Los Angeles court, Amelia Earhart was officially declared dead.
Theories and Conspiracies
In the 80-something years since the fateful flight, many theories and conspiracies have surfaced about what happened to Amelia Earhart, Fred Noonan and the Electra. Below, in no particular order of accuracy or what I believe, are three theories as to what happened.
Surviving on Nikumaroro The International Group for Historic Aircraft Recovery (TIGHAR) brought forward this hypothesis. When they couldn't find Howland Island, TIGHAR believes that Amelia and Fred instead landed on Nikumaroro Island, 350 nautical miles southwest from Howland Island. TIGHAR has taken many trips to this island since 1989 in efforts to search for evidence. According to researchers, this theory began with the last transmissions from Amelia. They include a line of coordinates, on which Nikumaroro lies. If they could not find Howland Island, it is believed they continued flying and eventually found Nikumaroro. According to a National Geographic article on theories of the disappearance, it is stated that "radio operators received 121 messages over the next 10 days. Of those, at least 57 could have been from the Electra." TIGHAR researchers believe it is possible the Electra landed relatively intact and Amelia or Fred attempted to make contact at night. In 1938, the island was colonized by the British Empire as one of their last expansions. During this and various visits to the island between late 1937 and when it was colonized, Nikumaroro yielded many possible artifacts. In 1940, 13 bones were found near the remnants of a campfire. These bones were shipped to Fiji for testing and ultimately lost. However, there are measurements recorded from these bones. These measurements were more recently tested by TIGHAR researchers and concluded to possibly be belonging to a woman of Amelia's height and weight. Various artifacts recovered from Nikumaroro include tools, a possible piece of the Electra and Plexiglass believed to match a window of the Electra. Recently, TIGHAR has taken another expedition to Nikumaroro. This time, they took forensic dogs with them, hoping to find more evidence of skeletal remains.
The Marshall Islands, Japan and New Identities While plausible, this theory has no one defined end. In this theory, it is believed that the pilot and navigator could not find Howland Island, so they rerouted to the Marshall Islands. At the time, these islands were controlled by the Japanese. Some believe it was here that Amelia and Fred were kidnapped by the Japanese and held as U.S spies. A photo found in U.S National Archieves may provide evidence and a strong base for this theory. Acccording to a USA Today article about the photo, it shows "a picture of a woman who appears to be Amelia Earhart and a man that looks like her co-pilot, Fred Noonan, after their crash." Some believe that if they were captured by the Japanese, they were eventually executed by them as well. Another end some people have given to this theory has been one of major controversy: they landed in the Marshall Islands then returned to the United States under new identities. Some believe a woman by the name of Irene Bolam was actually Amelia Earhart. An article by TIGHAR dives into the legends and realities of this claim. In 1970, a book that brought forward this theory of Amelia Earhart being Irene Bolam was published. Soon after, it was pulled from shelves. Irene Bolam sued the authors and the publisher of the book, siting defamation, as she was doubted for years. While some believe there is minor circumstantial evidence, many do not give much thought to this theory or either ending.
An Open-Ocean Crash The most believed and supported theory in the US is that the pair and the Electra crashed into the ocean, never to be seen again. When the Itasca was receiving transmissions from the Electra, they believe they heard Amelia say that she was close to Howland Island but was running low on fuel. With no fuel left, the Electra crashed into the Pacific, taking it's passengers with it. Using transmissions and logs, a company by the name of Nauticos attempted to find the lost Electra and answers to the questions people have been asking for years. They used factors from the garbled transmission and knowledge of the fuel supply to come up with a general idea as to where the remnants of the plane may be. Despite multiple efforts by more than one company, they have yet to find the Electra within the ocean. They have, however, ruled out a large area for future searches.
Robert Ballard and His Hopes
For years, scientist and explorer Robert Ballard accepted what the Navy believed happened: they crashed into the ocean. However, in 2012, he was introduced to a new possibility.
For background context, Robert Ballard is known for finding lost shipwrecks. His finds include the Titanic, the Nazi battleship Bismarck and 18 shipwrecks in the Black Sea. When his friend showed him a picture with a barely disernable speck, Ballard knew.
The speck was determined to be landing gear from a Lockheed L-10E Electra. The photo, taken off the coast of Nikumaroro, provided a precise location to search.
Armed with years of experience and a ship full of modern technology used for searches, Ballard was ready. Even with his advantages it was determined the expedition would not be any easy one. This didn't stop Ballard, however.
Due to the terrain of Nikumaroro underwater, along with tides and various other factors, it is believed that what may be left of the Electra is nothing more than scattered debris. Ballard has faith in his technology.
Even people who do not believe the theory that Amelia, Fred and the Electra ended up on or near Nikumaroro Island support Ballard's efforts. Their hope is that if they do not find anything, they can silence that theory.
In August of 2019, their search began. It lasted two weeks and ultimately did not yield any evidence of the plane. However, they do not consider this a failure.
A key motivator to keep the crew going comes from Ballard himself: it took multiple expeditions to find the Titanic, even though they had a better idea of where it sank. And they eventually found it.
The hopes of Ballard, his crew and many people who wants answers to the lingering questions of what happened to Amelia Earhart is that one day, they will find those answers.
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