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Especially when you do click the link, and it only says:
Amelia Earhart Plane Fragment Discovery Could Solve World's Greatest Aviation Mystery
So is the mystery solved or not? :evil:
 
garrick92 said:
Debunked by one of The Amusing Randi's minions.

Is this latest conclusion about the aluminum piece good evidence of Earhart's Lockheed Electra craft? The detailed information not been published in a journal. It's not been open to scrutiny by other experts. Until there is a consensus that this piece of metal is what TIGHAR hopes it is AND other threads of evidence point to a similar conclusion, it is not reasonable to conclude that the TIGHAR hypothesis about Earhart and Noonan's demise has been confirmed.

I saw an interesting documentary on Randi: An Honest Liar. He was more fun in his younger to middle-aged years. Still, he exposed a lot of charlatans who preyed on the weak and unwary.

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt2246565/
 
Pioneer pilot may have died a castaway on Pacific island
Ben Hoyle, Los Angeles
September 12 2016, 12:01am, The Times

She was the national heroine who brought rare joy and then a wave of grief to Depression-era America when her pioneering aviation feats ended in a still unsolved mystery.

Since Amelia Earhart vanished over the Pacific on July 2, 1937, four months into an attempted circumnavigation of the globe, conspiracy theories have swirled about what happened to her and her navigator, Fred Noonan.

Now nearly eight decades after their disappearance, compelling evidence has emerged that suggests that she survived for days longer than previously thought and died a castaway on a remote South Pacific atoll.

[I can't access the rest of the story (Paywall), so if anyone has access to more details, please pass them on!]

http://www.thetimes.co.uk/edition/n...e-died-a-castaway-on-pacific-island-jmdwn96n5
 
[I can't access the rest of the story (Paywall), so if anyone has access to more details, please pass them on!]


The findings are the result of more than 25 years of research by the International Group for Historic Aircraft Recovery which has been combing the island of Nikumaroro for clues since 1989.

Ric Gillespie, the co-founder of the group, said that from the moment Earhart’s Lockheed Electra was last seen on radar on July 2 to July 6 there were more than 100 transmissions from her calling for help, which were picked up as far as Texas and Melbourne.
“People started hearing radio distress calls from the aeroplane and they were verified,” he said.

Earhart, an American, captured the imagination of the world when she became the first woman to fly solo across the Atlantic in 1932. Fierce winds and mechanical problems eventually forced her to land in a field near Londonderry, Northern Ireland, instead of Paris. “After scaring most of the cows in the neighbourhood,” she said, “I pulled up in a farmer’s backyard.” The flight, she felt, proved that women were equal to men in “jobs requiring intelligence, co-ordination, speed, coolness and willpower”.

Nearing 40 and seeking one final challenge she set out to become the first woman to fly around the world. “I have a feeling that there is just about one more good flight left in my system, and I hope this trip is it,” she said. She and Noonan left Miami on June 1, 1937, heading east. By June 29 all but 7,000 miles of the journey had been completed but the most dangerous section still lay ahead.

On July 2 they set out for Howland Island, a dot of land southwest of Honolulu. The US Coast Guard cutter Itasca, their radio contact, struggled to communicate because of faint or static-interrupted transmissions. Earhart was last heard of flying at 375m (1,230ft) and low on fuel.

A big rescue operation was launched and George Putnam, Earhart’s husband of six years, bankrolled his own search. Earhart was declared legally dead on January 5, 1939, and the US government concluded she had run out of fuel and crashed at sea.

Despite the various conspiracy theories, Mr Gillespie made it his life’s work to prove that they made it to Nikumaroro, then uninhabited and about 400 miles southeast of Howland Island. His group has found improvised tools, shoe remains and aircraft wreckage, as well as pieces of a pocket knife, bits of make-up and bone fragments. Mr Gillespie said that credible radio operators recognised Earhart’s weak voice in a message about six hours after she went missing. She said that she was injured but not as badly as Noonan.

A Texas housewife also heard her pleas on short-wave radio. In Florida a young radio listener grabbed a notebook and began to transcribe a “very confusing” distress call that may have referenced a shipwreck on the island.

For Mr Gillespie it adds up to proof that his theory is the right one. “She’s out there calling for help”, he said.

No one came.

http://www.thetimes.co.uk/edition/n...e-died-a-castaway-on-pacific-island-jmdwn96n5[/QUOTE]
 
Has this not been TIGHAR's position for some time? They don't seem to have any actual new evidence since the last documentary I saw maybe 7 years ago.
 
Has this not been TIGHAR's position for some time? They don't seem to have any actual new evidence since the last documentary I saw maybe 7 years ago.

Yes - the current news article pretty much repeats what we've heard from TIGHAR for years now.

There have been ongoing activities within the last 7 years.

The most recent was an expedition (Niku VIII) scheduled for 2014, but not actually executed until summer 2015.

The Niku VIII final report (which includes a lot of non-Niku VIII summation) is accessible as a PDF file at:

https://tighar.org/Publications/TTracks/2015Vol_31/October2015WEB.pdf
 
There was a rather lengthier article in The Mail:

Pioneering aviator Amelia Earhart 'died a castaway after crashing on a Pacific island' - despite making more than 100 chilling radio distress calls that were heard around the world

Main points...

"From July 2 onward he says, more than 100 radio distress calls were made by Earhart and heard by people all over the world, from Texas to Australia."

"Earhart told those listening that she was injured, but Noonan was worse."

"In 1940, Gerald Gallagher, a British colonial officer and licensed pilot, told his superiors that he'd found a skeleton on the island."

"TIGHAR members - including engineers and archaeologists - also claim to have found aluminium paneling fitting 1930s specifications, Plexiglas like that used in Earhart's plane, and ball bearings."

"They also claim to have found a size 9 Cat's Paw heel dating from the 1930s, similar to that seen on Earhart's footwear in world flight photos."

"TIGHAR plans to search the area with submarines next year - the 80th anniversary of Earhart's disappearance.
Perhaps then the truth will be discovered."
 
What do you think of the alternative theory that she landed on or near Saipan and was captured by the Japanese? Regardless of whether she was executed, died of dysentery or somehow got back to the US. The basic theory has been around since the 70's at least. There were supposedly witnesses both to her as a captive and to the plane being destroyed.
 
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Sorry if this has already been mentioned but FT magazine included a photograph of (something) under some kind of wrapping that was suggested by the person who sent the pic in possibly Amelia's plain .. correct time, location with a what looked like an armed US soldier standing and grinning in front of it at the mouth of a hanger .. has anyone got a link to that pic please ?
 
What do you think of the alternative theory that she landed on or near Saipan and was captured by the Japanese? Regardless of whether she was executed, died of dysentery or somehow got back to the US. The basic theory has been around since the 70's at least. There were supposedly witnesses both to her as a captive and to the plane being destroyed.

I can attest to the notion of Earhart's capture by the Japanese circulating (if only in speculative pulp publications ... ) as early as the very late 1950's or early 1960's. I was still pretty young when my cousin related such a story and directed me to a hand-me-down magazine article about it. I don't remember the magazine, but I suspect it was something like True or Argosy.

There are two facets to common instances of this theory: (a) she landed on / near some island under Japanese control at the time; and (b) she finally died in Japanese custody on Saipan.

IMHO it's conceivable she fell into Japanese custody, but it's unlikely to have involved her landing on or near Saipan. To have ended up at Saipan would have required a navigational blunder of staggering proportions - even for Earhart (who didn't have a great reputation for her navigation skills or new technology (e.g., radio) usage).

I believe a more plausible Japanese-capture scenario would have involved her ditching or landing at some remote island (such as Gardner ... ) at a time when a surreptitious Japanese military recon mission happened to be there. This would explain why any such capture and subsequent detention were kept secret. We now know that the Japanese were reconnoitering islands almost all the way to Hawaii prior to the war.
 
Sorry if this has already been mentioned but FT magazine included a photograph of (something) under some kind of wrapping that was suggested by the person who sent the pic in possibly Amelia's plain .. correct time, location with a what looked like an armed US soldier standing and grinning in front of it at the mouth of a hanger .. has anyone got a link to that pic please ?

I don't recognize the photo from your description, but ... There were multiple opportunities for Earhart's Electra to be in a hangar with a military guard. When she wrecked the Electra trying to take off from Luke Field / Ford Island (military airfield at Pearl Harbor, Hawaii, March 1937) the damaged aircraft was photographed quite a bit on the tarmac and inside a hangar. I don't recall any Luke Field photo showing the plane covered.
 
I don't recognize the photo from your description, but ... There were multiple opportunities for Earhart's Electra to be in a hangar with a military guard. When she wrecked the Electra trying to take off from Luke Field / Ford Island (military airfield at Pearl Harbor, Hawaii, March 1937) the damaged aircraft was photographed quite a bit on the tarmac and inside a hangar. I don't recall any Luke Field photo showing the plane covered.
Thanks and I'll dig out the old issue of FT to let you know the issue number. The photo was sent in by a reader. I don't know if it's valid or not.
 
Thanks and I'll dig out the old issue of FT to let you know the issue number. The photo was sent in by a reader. I don't know if it's valid or not.

The picture and the short text are on page 66, Letters section, of FT 308, October 2013. The text says that the picture was taken at the Aslito airfield, Saipan, during the Summer of 1944. I honestly have a hard time recognizing an Electa on the background but... The reader that posted it, David Pawlowski, asked for the opinion of other readers about the picture. That I have known, he never received an answer on the magazine.
 
The picture and the short text are on page 66, Letters section, of FT 308, October 2013. The text says that the picture was taken at the Aslito airfield, Saipan, during the Summer of 1944. I honestly have a hard time recognizing an Electa on the background but... The reader that posted it, David Pawlowski, asked for the opinion of other readers about the picture. That I have known, . he never received an answer on the magazine.
Ta .. and I can't make a decision based on that picture either ..
 
The whole story around the picture seems hazy. The airplane "was destroyed by orders from the highest levels of the US military". Where this particular bit of information comes from? From the same people that took the picture?
 
This, I believe, is the photo in question ...

avz-Earhart-Aslito.jpeg


Direct URL: http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-cbsiBztW2...CN8/cVq8tpEeMNY/s1600/avz-Earhart-Aslito.jpeg
 
According to the Earhart on Saipan blog:

http://earhartonsaipan.blogspot.com

... Earhart, Noonan, and the Electra 10E were seized by the Japanese after crash-landing at or around Mili Atoll. The Mili Atoll storyline has been bubbling up for decades, but this alternative hasn't received much attention since TIGHAR began trumpeting their Gardner Island theory.

Anyway ... The Saipan version hinges on multiple claims that a twin-engined aircraft found at Aslito airfield was in fact Earhart's. Every version of every such account I've seen states that a guard (or someone else there at the time ... ) alluded to Earhart whenever asked about the identity of the twin-engined plane. In other words, all the reports I've seen claim someone else insinuated to the reporting informant it was "Earhart's plane."

Such tenuous claims would be a lot more compelling if Earhart's Electra 10E was the only twin-engined utility / transport aircraft resembling a Lockheed Electra that could possibly have been found on Saipan.

As it turns out, this is not the case ...

First, the Japanese Navy received an Electra 10 (designated KXL1) sometime in 1936, ostensibly to be evaluated for potential acquisition. I haven't been able to locate any clues as to what became of this specimen.

Second, the Electra 10 was subsequently lengthened into the 'Super Electra' model 14 series, which first flew a few weeks after Earhart's disappearance. This is relevant because:

(a) Thirty Super Electra 14's (designated '14WG3B' / 'LO Transport') were delivered to Japan, and subsequently given the Allied designation 'Toby' during WWII.
(b) Another 119 of these Super Electra 14 LO Transport variants were built under license in Japan by Tachikawa, receiving the Allied designation 'Thelma' during WWII.
(c) Kawasaki's Ki-56 transport was a revised derivative of the Tachikawa LO Transport (i.e., a Super Electra 14), of which 121 were built and designated 'Thalia' by the Allies.
(d) The Lockheed Hudsons employed by the RAAF and RNZAF in the South Pacific were also variants on the Lockheed Super Electra 14.

All we can say based on the Saipan claims is that a twin-engined aircraft apparently resembling Earhart's Electra 10E was found at Aslito airfield. I have yet to see any evidence (including the photo above ... ) that supports this specific claim. Assuming, for the sake of discussion, the claim has merit ...

It's no big stretch to suspect the occupying US personnel may have thought they'd found the most famous Electra specimen (quite possibly the only specimen they'd ever seen, and then only in photos ... ), and they didn't know or realize the Japanese themselves had owned and operated circa 270 similar aircraft.

In contrast, I find it a huge stretch to presume any twin-engined Electra-style plane discovered at Aslito had to be the same aircraft Japanese forces allegedly secured and removed from Mili Atoll. As such, my comments above are directed against the Saipan / Aslito discovery storyline specifically, and not the Mili Atoll storyline generally.
 
TIGHAR has posted a new webpage:

https://tighar.org/Projects/Earhart/Archives/Research/Bulletins/78_EarhartArms/78_EarhartArms.html

... concerning a recent attempt to correlate Earhart's body measurements with the skeletal remains discovered on Nikumaroro in 1940, which were examined and documented but subsequently lost. Most references to those 1940 remains suggest or claim they were from a male. TIGHAR had a consulting forensic analyst examine photos of Earhart and estimate certain arm bone length parameters which (according to the examination report) were atypically long for an average woman of her time.

The result was an estimate that Earhart's relevant bone / arm length parameters were consistent with the data given in the examination report from 1940.

As TIGHAR concedes, it's not definitive, but it adds a bit of weight (or, perhaps more accurately, mitigates one pesky stumbling block) to their theory.

A copy of the consultant's report can be accessed via a hot link off this new TIGHAR webpage.
 
Dogs trained in sniffing out human remains to be used in search for Amelia Earhart

The ongoing search to find the remains of flight pioneer Amelia Earhart will soon involve dogs trained to find human remains.

National Geographic reports that four dogs from the Institute for Canine Forensics, or ICF, will be sent to the International Group for Historic Aircraft Recovery, or TIGHAR, which has been investigating Earhart's disappearance for three decades.

They will be searching for any trace of the pilot on a remote island in the Pacific called Nikumaroro. It is likely that Earhart and navigator Fred Noonan landed there in 1937 and ultimately died.

The team will deploy dogs on the island in hopes they will be able to detect the scent of human remains and lead researchers to areas where bones can be excavated and analyzed.

This is not the first time groups have used dogs in the search for Earhart's body.

In 2015, TIGHAR announced on its Facebook page that one archaeologist brought back soil samples from Nikumaroro so a group of ICF dogs could examine them. Results were inconclusive, but they suggested the presence of "residual human decomposition scent." ...

SOURCE: https://www.aol.com/article/news/20...mains-to-be-used-in-search-for-amel/22582883/
 
Absolutely on my list of top ten mysteries of all time. Do we have a Top Mysteries thread with JTR, Amelia, Hoffman, Dyatolov Pass, etc?
 
Absolutely on my list of top ten mysteries of all time. Do we have a Top Mysteries thread with JTR, Amelia, Hoffman, Dyatolov Pass, etc?
No, and it's probably best to keep them all separate, as they don't have anything in common apart from being mysteries!
 
In 2015, TIGHAR announced on its Facebook page that one archaeologist brought back soil samples from Nikumaroro so a group of ICF dogs could examine them. Results were inconclusive, but they suggested the presence of "residual human decomposition scent." ...

My favourite Estee Lauder perfume..
 
Here stateside, the CBS Evening News this evening ran a segment on this story. It was fairly perfunctory, and included some sound bites from an aviation history professional noting the 'Japanese capture' scenario wasn't new.
 
No, and it's probably best to keep them all separate, as they don't have anything in common apart from being mysteries!
True, but a list of people's preferences (seems a strange word for this) would be interesting to me to see what and what does not fascinate other Forteans as opposed to what and what does not fascinate me. It would probably mention some regional mysteries that are new to folk which they might enjoy reading about. Virginia Carpenter, anyone?
 
Here stateside, the CBS Evening News this evening ran a segment on this story. It was fairly perfunctory, and included some sound bites from an aviation history professional noting the 'Japanese capture' scenario wasn't new.
Enola & Bless, debunkers are pointing out that it's a pretty blurry photo. What do you think?
 
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