It’s one of the most famous aviation disappearances in history.
But experts may be one step closer to finally locating the wreck of Amelia Earhart’s plane, which vanished nearly 90 years ago.
The legendary aviator and her navigator, Fred Noonan, set out from Lae in New Guinea in July 1937 as part of her bid to become the first female pilot to circumnavigate the world.
They were never seen again and, despite the most extensive sea and air search in American history up to that point, no trace has ever been found of Earhart or her Lockheed Electra plane.
Now, a deep sea exploration group have restored a radio identical to the one used during the fateful trip.
And they say it’s helped them significantly narrow down their search area.
‘Our latest radio communication analysis is a major leap forward in solving one of the most enduring mysteries in aviation history,’ Dave Jourdan, president of Nauticos, the company behind the mission, said.
‘We have narrowed the search area dramatically, and this new expedition presents our best chance yet to finally locate Amelia Earhart’s plane.’
Amelia Earhart (pictured here with her plane) wanted to be the first female pilot to circumnavigate the globe
This radio system is identical to the one used on Earhart’s final flight, and has finally allowed the experts to determine the plan’s approximate location at 8am on the day it vanished
Nauticos, which specialises in deep–sea exploration and historical research, procured and restored a Western Electric 13C aircraft transmitter and a Bendix Model RA–1A receiver in 2020.
This radio system is identical to the one used on Earhart’s final flight, and has finally allowed the experts to determine the plane’s approximate location at 8am on the day it vanished.
The groundbreaking discovery significantly refines the search area near Howland Island in the Pacific Ocean, the intended destination of Earhart’s ill–fated journey.
Until now, an area of sea floor measuring a total of 3,610 square miles – roughly the size of Connecticut – has been meticulously surveyed in a bid to find the wreckage.
A new expedition – the fourth launched by Nauticos – will be informed by tests run on the radio that recreated the circumstances surrounding the disappearance.
Earhart and her navigator took off from Lae in New Guinea on July 2, 1937 and began receiving communications from a vessel off the shore of Howland Island.
However, radio reception was poor and Earhart informed the boat their fuel was running low.
While she was unable to provide coordinates, her last transmission included a compass position.
Amelia Earhart and her navigator Fred Noonan, pictured at Honolulu Airport in Hawaii on March 20, 1937 – just a few months before they disappeared
Howland Island – the uninhabited coral island in the central Pacific Ocean – was the place Earhart was searching for
Nauticos replicated the conditions of the final flight, using the same equipment, to determine the approximate location of her final transmissions.
Jeff Morris, the expedition’s project manager, said: ‘The fourth Nauticos mission to search for Amelia Earhart will be based on the scientific data that we’ve collected during extensive radio testing.
‘This is no longer theory. This is scientifically–measured information that tells us where she was at 8am on July 2, 1937.’
Earhart had planned to fly west to east around the world in a series of 34 legs. When she disappeared, she was on leg 31 and had covered 22,000 miles with 7,000 miles to go.
As part of her journey, she had to incorporate a stop on the tiny Howland Island to refuel as her aircraft did not have the range for the South Pacific. This particular leg of the journey involved a 2,556–mile, 18–hour flight across the international date line.
The Coast Guard ship Itasca waited with fuel for the next leg of the journey, and began to receive Earhart’s intermittent voice messages which increased in strength, indicating she was getting closer to Howland.
The Itasca received Earhart’s strongest radio voice signal at 7:58am, when she told them she was circling and searching and running low on fuel. The last transmission was received at 8:43am – but then nobody ever heard from her again.
Nevertheless private companies, individuals and groups have continued to look for the wreckage.
Earhart had planned to fly west to east around the world in a series of 34 legs. When she disappeared, she was on leg 31 and had covered 22,000 miles with 7,000 miles to go
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Last year, a deep–water exploration company hoped they had found her plane on sonar images.
However, this turned out to be a rock formation.
The Nauticos expedition will be joined by pilot and journalist Amelia Rose Earhart, who says she is committed to preserving the memory of her namesake.
The company says they will document the expedition through social media updates and live streams.
WHAT ARE THE THEORIES ON AMELIA EARHART’S FINAL DAYS?
Theory One: Amelia Earhart and Fred Noonan crash into the Pacific a few miles short of their intended destination due to visibility and gas problems, and die instantly.
Theory Two: Earhart and Noonan crash land on the island of Nikumaroro, where they later die at the hands of coconut crabs, which hunt for food at night and grow up to three-feet long. The name comes from their ability to opened the hardened shells of coconuts.
Theory Three: Earhart and Noonan veer drastically off course and crash land near the Mili Atoll in the Marshall Islands. They are rescued but soon taken as prisoners of war by the Japanese and sent to a camp in Saipan. Noonan is beheaded and Earhart dies in 1939 from malaria or dysentery.
Theory Four: Earhart and Noonan make it to Howland Island as planned and are eaten by cannibals.
Theory Five: Earhart was an American spy sent to gather information on the Japanese ahead of World War II.
Theory Six: Earhart and Noonan are unable to locate Howland Island, and head toward their ‘contingency plan’. After a ten hour journey back toward the location they came from, they crash in the jungle of East New Britain Island, in what is now known as Papua New Guinea.
There are several conflicting theories about Earhart’s disappearance. The alleged details of Earhart’s final flight, and where she is believed to have ended up based on different theories over the years