Amelia Earhart May Have Survived Crash-Landing, Newly Discovered Photo Suggests
Source: NBC
A newly discovered photograph suggests legendary aviator Amelia Earhart, who vanished 80 years ago on a round-the-world flight, survived a crash-landing in the Marshall Islands.
The photo, found in a long-forgotten file in the National Archives, shows a woman who resembles Earhart and a man who appears to be her navigator, Fred Noonan, on a dock. The discovery is featured in a new History channel special, "Amelia Earhart: The Lost Evidence," that airs Sunday.
Independent analysts told History the photo appears legitimate and undoctored. Shawn Henry, former executive assistant director for the FBI and an NBC News analyst, has studied the photo and feels confident it shows the famed pilot and her navigator. "When you pull out, and when you see the analysis that's been done, I think it leaves no doubt to the viewers that that's Amelia Earhart and Fred Noonan," Henry told NBC News.
Earhart was last heard from on July 2, 1937, as she attempted to become the first woman pilot to circumnavigate the globe. She was declared dead two years later after the U.S. concluded she had crashed somewhere in the Pacific Ocean, and her remains were never found. But investigators believe they have found evidence Earhart and Noonan were blown off course but survived the ordeal. The investigative team behind the History special believes the photo may have been taken by someone who was spying for the U.S. on Japanese military activity in the Pacific.
Read more: http://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/amelia-earhart-may-have-survived-crash-landing-never-seen-photo-n779591
CaliforniaPeggy
(149,699 posts)I hope there will be further developments in this story, and that we will ultimately hear what happened to her and Noonan.
snooper2
(30,151 posts)they wanted to disappear and have a new life together. They actually flew to the Marshall Islands to re-fuel and paid off some locals who have passed this account down through the generations. Next they flew to New Guinea which is where they had decided to live out the rest of their lives together. They did have one son, but their true passion was training local black-eared giant rats to do amazing tricks and feats for the villagers. It is rumored that Amelia in her later years had an albino giant rat with her at all times and it would come when called by it's name, Jim.
Achilleaze
(15,543 posts)underpants
(182,878 posts)trof
(54,256 posts)Unless it's MY post.
Response to trof (Reply #36)
DinahMoeHum This message was self-deleted by its author.
trof
(54,256 posts)He was able to inseminate himself and was the father/mother of a long line of hermaphroditic giant albino rats that still roam the jungles of New Guinea today.
snoop: Did you used to write for the National Lampoon?
still_one
(92,394 posts)Catmusicfan
(816 posts)It would be interesting..
spiderpig
(10,419 posts)She's iconic at Oakland Airport, where I worked for many years.
underpants
(182,878 posts)Middle of the pic. Black pants, white shirt, headband
Kaleva
(36,342 posts)He became a secret agent who spied on the Japanes Empire.
elmac
(4,642 posts)because he could play the national anthem so cool!
underpants
(182,878 posts)Jimi could do it....man
trof
(54,256 posts)You could look it up.
bikebloke
(5,260 posts)Sitting down to the right.
underpants
(182,878 posts)I was just making a joke.
trof
(54,256 posts)I'm pretty sure.
Lochloosa
(16,068 posts)NewJeffCT
(56,829 posts)LeftInTX
(25,551 posts)During his high school years
[img][/img]
underpants
(182,878 posts)Bob Loblaw
(1,900 posts)nt
miyazaki
(2,249 posts)If it was Hendrix, I wanted to make sure.
The resemblance is uncanny.
underpants
(182,878 posts)Sneederbunk
(14,300 posts)LeftInTX
(25,551 posts)It looks like President Obama when he was in high school.
The right wingers could have a field day with this!!!!
tclambert
(11,087 posts)cstanleytech
(26,319 posts)for decades.
roamer65
(36,747 posts)Elvis is still the king!
That was Elvis.
trof
(54,256 posts)underpants
(182,878 posts)People asked me "How did you know it was her?"
Me: "trust me, I know Elvira when I see her"
trof
(54,256 posts)<div style="position:relative;height:0;padding-bottom:56.25%"><iframe src="
?ecver=2" style="position:absolute;width:100%;height:100%;left:0" width="640" height="360" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe></div>SethH
(170 posts)remember him?
Sunlei
(22,651 posts)RIP.
csziggy
(34,137 posts)Researchers Identify Fragment of Amelia Earharts Plane
October 29, 2014 By Sarah Pruitt
In June 1937, Amelia Earhart departed from Miami, Florida, on her second attempt to circumnavigate the globe along the equator. In a Miami Herald photograph of her twin-engined Lockheed Electra taking off for San Juan, Puerto Rico, on the morning of June 1, a shiny metal patch covers one of the back windows of the plane. By linking that metal patch to a scrap of aluminum found on the remote Pacific atoll of Nikumaroro, researchers have provided a tantalizing new clue in the enduring mystery of Earharts disappearance.
After departing from Miami on June 1, 1937, Amelia Earhart and her navigator, Fred Noonan, completed nearly 22,000 miles of their attempted circumnavigation of the globe, making stops in South America, Africa, India and Lae, New Guinea. On July 2, they took off from Lae for their next target destination, tiny Howland Island in the Pacific. The distance from Lae to Howland Island was about the same as a transcontinental flight across the United States. Somewhere during the journey over the vast Pacific Ocean, the Lockheed Electra plane disappeared. A massive land, air and sea search failed to turn up evidence of Earhart, Noonan or the plane, and their fate remains a subject of endless speculation.
The International Group for Historic Aircraft Recovery (TIGHAR), which has spent the last 25 years investigating Earharts ill-fated final voyage, recently focused its attention on a scrap of aluminum recovered in 1991 from the uninhabited Pacific atoll of Nikumaroro, located some 350 miles southeast of Howland Island. To them, it appeared as if the metal sheet could be the same patch of metal that appears in the Miami Herald photograph of Earharts Electra, covering one of the rear navigational windows.
Known as Artifact 2-2-V-1, the metal scrap found on Nikumaroro is 19 inches wide and 23 inches long, and has a distinctive pattern of rivets. To test their hypothesis, TIGHAR researchers traveled to Wichita Air Services in Newton, Kansas to compare the dimensions and features of the sheet of metal to the components of a Lockheed Electra being restored to airworthy condition. They found that the rivets and other features of Artifact 2-2-V-1 appeared to match those of the patch that would have been used to fix Earharts plane. In a press release this week, TIGHAR explained: The patch was an expedient field modification. Its dimensions, proportions, and pattern of rivets were dictated by the hole to be covered and the structure of the aircraft. The patch was as unique to [Earharts] particular aircraft as a fingerprint is to an individual.
http://www.history.com/news/researchers-identify-fragment-of-amelia-earharts-plane
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
dixiegrrrrl
(60,010 posts)She has been "dead" all of my life, which is more real than a blurry pic.
jberryhill
(62,444 posts)progressoid
(49,999 posts)underpants
(182,878 posts)Did Confederate ghosts advise Hitler?
That's my brother's summary of the History Channel.
tclambert
(11,087 posts)JHB
(37,161 posts)bullsnarfle
(254 posts)they showed a close-up of the caucasian man in the left part of the photo next to a stock picture of Fred Noonan. If that isn't him I would swear it's his twin brother...spooky.
BittyJenkins
(411 posts)As a du member, with an MFA in figurative painting, I have looked at a lot of noses....I am not a star member so I apologize for the link:
[link:http://newsradio1310.com/castaways-bones-may-belong-to-amelia-earhart-after-all-scientists-say/|
I would post a smiles to accent my point but none of them have noses.
underpants
(182,878 posts)BootinUp
(47,186 posts)TNNurse
(6,929 posts)I kept thinking if only there had been an Amazon warrior to help earlier in WWI.
Does anyone remember the SNL skits about "What if" in history? Our fave was always "What if Eleanor Roosevelt could fly?" She was seen flying around the world fixing things. Also I remember "What if the Confederacy had B-2 bombers?".
So I thought "What if Wonder Woman had really ended WWI?"
Dave Starsky
(5,914 posts)That was my favorite. Kirk Douglas flying over and dropping bricks on the heads of the Romans.
TNNurse
(6,929 posts)In our house if you say "What if" and pause, you will get "Eleanor Roosevelt could fly". We both do it.
jalan48
(13,883 posts)DeminPennswoods
(15,290 posts)The aviation expert who MSNBC had on was talking about how for many decades Marshall Islanders had spoken of how Earhart, Noonan and the plane (put on a barge and towed) were taken away by a Japanese ship, the same one that's in the photo towing a plane, to Saipan. Presulably up until now, their story was dismissed as not credible.
How many people have searched for Earhardt's remains and the plane's remains over the years and found absolutely nothing? If she, Noonan and the plane had landed safely, it would certainly explain why nothing has ever been found.
The aviation guy also said there also appears to be evidence of her/Noonan were on Saipan.
Enoki33
(1,587 posts)DinahMoeHum
(21,809 posts)Folks, the incident happened in July 1937. The US and Japan were NOT at war with each other at that time.
The "History Channel" can go eat a bag of shit.
http://www.tmz.com/2017/07/05/new-amelia-earhart-documentary-survived-plane-crash/
https://tighar.org/Projects/Earhart/AEdescr.html
dalton99a
(81,570 posts)DeminPennswoods
(15,290 posts)No one knows for sure who took the picture, just speculation that it was somone spying for the US.
In 1937, Japan attached China setting off the 2nd war between the two countries. The US was following events in the Pacific and actually evacuated Americans from Nanjing. It's quite possible there were US spys or observers in the Pacific then.
Link: https://history.state.gov/milestones/1937-1945/pearl-harbor
jberryhill
(62,444 posts)NO ONE ASKED THE JAPANESE:
https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2017/jul/11/blogger-discredits-claim-amelia-earhart-was-taken-prisoner-by-japan
The image was part of a Japanese-language travelogue about the South Seas that was published almost two years before Earhart disappeared. Page 113 states the book was published in Japanese-held Palau on 10 October 1935.
The caption beneath the image makes no mention of the identities of the people in the photograph. It describes maritime activity at the harbour on Jabor in the Jaluit atoll the headquarters for Japans administration of the Marshall Islands between the first world war and its defeat in the second world war.
The caption notes that monthly races between schooners belonging to local tribal leaders and other vessels turned the port into a bustling spectacle.
Kota Yamano, a military history blogger who unearthed the Japanese photograph, said it took him just 30 minutes to effectively debunk the documentarys central claim.
sarisataka
(18,770 posts)but relations were quite frosty over Japan's activity in China.
Later in 1937 Japan sank the gunboat USS Panay. Japan claimed it was accidental but crew members said they were bombed by planes and fired on by Japanese boats despite US flags clearly painted on the decks and sides of the boat.
Still, given Amelia's fame, it is difficult to picture Japan taking her captive after having allowed her and Fred to be openly seen as the photo indicates. It appears several people are aware of the photographer.
Adrahil
(13,340 posts)The people on the dock appear to be natives. But in any case, in 1937, it would be VERY possible, IMO, that some Japanese officers would not know who she is. If that pic is legit, it's pretty convincing to me.
underpants
(182,878 posts)Now mostly electronically but back then everyone had eyes all over.
Leith
(7,813 posts)Was nothing like Japan today. It was a hyper-militarized country. Paranoid, aggressive, racist, crazed by religion, and weaponed up to the point of denying their citizenry food. It's perfectly plausible that they would dispose of a couple Americans out for what the Japanese would consider a joy ride to spy on them.
That being said, the "History Channel" can keep munching away on that shit. Shows like American Pickers and Pawn Stars are NOT history (according to the online TV Guide, that's all they are showing today).
trof
(54,256 posts)Got here from Home.
Didn't mean to make light of OP.
But having said that...
I haven't had a laugh this good in a long time.
At the way off-tangent comments went.
Tears were rolling down my cheeks.
Seriously.
Or not.
But in times like these, I needed that.
Thanks.
LeftInTX
(25,551 posts)Anything by the History Channel, isn't quite "breaking news".
This ranks up there with perennial newly discovered photos of Billy the Kid.
This was a fun thread!
trof
(54,256 posts)Archae
(46,345 posts)Well, Star Trek: Voyager said so...
diva77
(7,656 posts)oh...never mind
Orrex
(63,224 posts)harun
(11,348 posts)Orrex
(63,224 posts)Blue_Tires
(55,445 posts)but it got a lot of folks to watch the show, so mission accomplished...
crosinski
(412 posts)Or was there anything going on that would have made it difficult for the US to retrieve them, or anything that would have made the Japanese want to keep them thinking they were spies?
StevieM
(10,500 posts)So maybe there is some kind of connection.
Or maybe not.
crosinski
(412 posts)Maybe someone will get lucky someday, find a tooth, and retrieve some dna to solve the mystery once and for all.
UTUSN
(70,740 posts)flotsam
(3,268 posts)Wiki has a good bio. He was a qualified pilot and also had a masters license as a sea captain.
UTUSN
(70,740 posts)Still In Wisconsin
(4,450 posts)I just gotta know.
Mrs. Overall
(6,839 posts)I would never have posted it if I could have foreseen the derision.
Just thought it was interesting historical speculation and seemed to be reported with some veracity in most of the major news outlets.
Nailzberg
(4,610 posts)Rhiannon12866
(206,008 posts)They consulted some very impressive experts and used state-of-the-art technology that wasn't available in 1968 when there was the last serious attempt to finally solve this mystery. I recommend it!
DeminPennswoods
(15,290 posts)I would've liked to have seen a longer segment on the forensic weather analysis that likely steered her off course.
Overall, I thought they made a good circumstantial case for their theory.
Rhiannon12866
(206,008 posts)And I found that both compelling and impressive. They left no stone unturned, and did revisit the weather patterns of that time, though I agree, would have liked to see more. I felt it ended kind of abruptly after all that buildup, wish they had found more after all that backbreaking excavation, but I thought they made a pretty convincing case and it left me feeling sad. They must have thought they were rescued. If the government abandoned them, that is pretty damning and I hope we learn more on that. The 90-year-old lady was the most convincing to me, I thought they went as far as they could, but I was still hoping for more...
muriel_volestrangler
(101,361 posts)Last edited Tue Jul 11, 2017, 11:59 AM - Edit history (1)
Blogger discredits claim Amelia Earhart was taken prisoner by Japan
...
But serious doubts now surround the films premise after a Tokyo-based blogger unearthed the same photograph in the archives of the National Diet Library, Japans national library.
The image was part of a Japanese-language travelogue about the South Seas that was published almost two years before Earhart disappeared. Page 113 states the book was published in Japanese-held Palau on 10 October 1935.
The caption beneath the image makes no mention of the identities of the people in the photograph. It describes maritime activity at the harbour on Jabor in the Jaluit atoll the headquarters for Japans administration of the Marshall Islands between the first world war and its defeat in the second world war.
...
The photo was the 10th item that came up, he said. I was really happy when I saw it. I find it strange that the documentary makers didnt confirm the date of the photograph or the publication in which it originally appeared. Thats the first thing they should have done.
https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2017/jul/11/blogger-discredits-claim-amelia-earhart-was-taken-prisoner-by-japan
MosheFeingold
(3,051 posts)And stayed in a house in Pecos, TX with a plaque about Emilia Airhart -- a small bed and breakfast at the time that offered kosher food (or kind of kosher food; I ended up eating fruit and boiled eggs).
Apparently, she got lost over Texas, missed the larger Midland Airport (a rather large military airport at the time) and landed in Pecos.
Looking at a map, this is a rather big miss, and cities, even small cities, are hard to miss from the air in the desert.
So, I remaining leaning on the obvious: either she, or her navigator (or both) sucked at directions.