Anna Malakhouskaya | October 31st, 2021
The early 20th century in North America was known as a time of innovation thanks to the industrial revolution. A notable figure at this time in the field of aviation was Amelia Earhart, a woman from Kansas who went on to become one of the most accomplished women in the industry prior to her disappearance. In her time as a pilot, Earhart broke many expectations; becoming the first woman to cross the Atlantic, the first female to complete a nonstop transcontinental flight, and setting the record for the longest transcontinental flight without refuelling (1). Amelia Earhart was an incredibly skilled aviator and was known to be extremely resourceful under pressure.
In May 1937, Earhart set out to become the first woman to fly around the world via the equator for a total of 29,000 miles, spanning around 40 days (2). On July 2, Earhart and Noonon were about 22,000 miles into their journey and were flying from LAE, New Guinea to Howland Island. The plane was fueled to max capacity, carrying 1000 pounds of fuel. Upon setting out for their journey, the pair flew into some serious headwinds that were much stronger than anyone had anticipated, leading the radio operators to try and warn Earhart (3). Yet none of the radio operators' warnings went through. A US boat off the coast of Howland Island, the Coast Guard cutter Itasca, had tried to maintain contact with Earhart to keep her informed about the weather near the island, and the crew did report an increase in Earhart’s radio signal indicating she was close to the island. However, despite the apparent close proximity, the crew was never able to make visual contact with the plane. The last radio transmission from Earhart was received at 8:43 AM, “we are on the line 157, 337 [coordinates close to Howland Island]. We will repeat the message. We will repeat this on 6210 kilocycles. Wait”. (4) Earhart's voice was reportedly frantic and she was reporting low amounts of fuel onboard her plane. Following this transmission, the radio and Earhart went silent, never to be heard from again.
To this day no evidence of the pair or their plane has been definitively discovered and so the mystery persists about what happened on that fateful July day. There are 2 main theories circulating about what happened: (1) crashing into the ocean, (2) becoming a castaway on Nikumaroro.
The first theory is the most widely accepted theory, that Earhart and Noonan’s plane ran out of fuel and crashed into the ocean somewhere North West of their intended destination. This theory is corroborated by the fact that Earhart had reported being low on fuel and that the aggressive headwinds had led to increased fuel consumption on board the plane. However, despite extensive search efforts, 3 expeditions over a period of 12 years using sonar mapping near the area of Earhart’s last radio communication, there has been no trace found of any wreckage of the plane (5).
The second theory is that Earhart was able to land the plane on the island of Nikumaroro, located South East on the 157 and 337 parallel where she reported flying on and became a castaway. The island of Nikumaroro had been uninhabited since 1892 and yet there were signs of recent habitation found on the island including remains of a campfire, a box for a sextant, and a Benedictine bottle Earhart was known to carry (6). A set of partial skeletal human remains were also discovered on the island, however, a doctor examined the bones in 1940 and ruled that the bones could not have come from either Earhart or Noonan. This led to the doctor DISCARDING the bones, preventing future DNA testing from ever happening. In spite of a lack of bones to analyze, “in 2018, a forensic analysis of the bone measurements conducted by anthropologists from the University of Tennessee showed that ‘the bones have more similarity to Earhart than to 99 percent of individuals in a large reference sample,’ according to a university statement at the time” (7). It was also reported that as long as a week after their disappearance, several radio transmissions were heard that could very well have come from Earhart’s plane. This transmission corresponded perfectly with the low tides on Nikumaroro when the plane's radio could not have been underwater and therefore functional. However, numerous planes flew over the island in the week after Earhart’s disappearance and saw no signs of a castaway on the island leading people to dismiss this theory (8).
Amelia Earhart was an inspiration to many and lives on in history as one of the most accomplished women in aviation. Yet the mystery surrounding her disappearance remains so long as a body or wreckage is not discovered.
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