On July 2, 1937, pilot Amelia Earhart disappeared without a trace - over the middle of the Pacific, in a silver twin-engine plane and on her way into the history books. She was the first woman to fly alone across the Atlantic, an icon of courage and modernity and a role model for generations of female pilots. Her attempt to become the first woman to circumnavigate the earth made her a legend - her disappearance a myth.
Since then, there has been speculation about the fate of the then 39-year-old aviation pioneer: Did she fall into the sea? Was she stranded on an island? Or was she even captured?
Now researchers want to clarify things: On Saturday, a 17-person expedition starts to the tiny Nikumaroro Atoll in the island state of Kiribati, about halfway between Hawaii and Australia. Scientists hope that this is where the wreckage of Earhart's Lockheed Electra 10E could be located.
“I am very grateful to be in a position to solve perhaps one of the greatest mysteries of all time,” said expedition leader Richard Pettigrew. The trip was actually planned last year, but was then postponed due to logistical hurdles and a lack of permits.
The mystery of the “Taraia object”
The starting point of the search is a striking structure in satellite images, the so-called “Taraia object”. It lies in the shallow lagoon of Nikumaroro and measures about ten meters. That's about as long as the fuselage of Earhart's plane. The structure first became visible in satellite images after a 2015 hurricane washed away sediment. Since then it has appeared sometimes more clearly, sometimes weaker - as a bright shimmer under the turquoise water. The name comes from the Taraia Peninsula, which juts southwest from the north side of the lagoon.
Scientists from Purdue University in the US state of Indiana - Earhart's former academic home - want to investigate on site with a team from the non-profit organization Archaeological Legacy Institute (ALI) what really lies beneath the surface.
To begin with, the area will be documented with video and photos before the researchers explore the seabed with magnetometers and sonar. The object should then be carefully uncovered using a hydraulic suction device. The surrounding bank is also systematically searched for debris that has washed up. If the structure turns out to be part of an aircraft, it would be one of the most spectacular archaeological discoveries in aviation history.
Who was Amelia Earhart?
Much of Earhart's popularity came from the charisma of the short-haired young woman who was considered a daredevil even as a child. When she got her pilot's license in 1922, that alone was worthy of a headline. In 1928 she was the first woman to cross the Atlantic, albeit as a passenger. She later expressed her anger that she was just cargo, “like a sack of potatoes.” But at least she was now a national hero and could use her popularity to pursue her true passion project: flying across the Atlantic herself.
And she did. However, the flight across the ocean did not go smoothly: due to failing equipment and a leaky tank, the crossing almost ended in disaster. Earhart struggled with fatigue, flames and ice on his wings. But she brought the plane back under control and finally landed in a field in Northern Ireland.
Media star and women's rights activist
Afterwards, she was assured of worldwide fame. The pilot became a media star, a constant guest in the White House and also used her influence to repeatedly advocate for women's rights because she was "tired of male dominance."
But how could she top the daring Atlantic crossing? Her answer: A flight around the world, which she started in 1937. After numerous stopovers, it was supposed to land back on US soil after circling the globe. But the deadline passed without Earhart or her navigator Fred Noonan showing up.
Bone finds on Nikumaroro
Nikumaroro is not a new name in the long search for Earhart. Researchers have suspected since the 1980s that the pilot made an emergency landing there after missing the tiny Howland Atoll - her actual destination - and running out of fuel. Several expeditions found remains on the island that could date from the 1930s: parts of a woman's shoe and a mirror, buttons and acrylic glass. Evidence that fits Earhart's time but has never been clearly proven.
Bones had also been discovered on Nikumaroro in 1940, but they could no longer be found later. In 2018, the American anthropologist Richard L. Jantz published a study in the journal “Forensic Anthropology” according to which the dimensions of the human remains could well match Earhart’s body measurements.
The Taraia object offers hope for answers. Expedition leader Pettigrew called the mission perhaps the greatest chance of all to finally solve the mystery. "Finding Amelia Earhart's plane, the Electra, would be a once-in-a-lifetime discovery," he said. The team initially only wants to document, not recover. Only a second mission could later collect wreckage and scientifically analyze it.
