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The Search for Amelia Earhart

zekeusa

Bronze Member
SUPER Site Supporter
The search continues June 8th. They may have found the fuselage of her twin engine Beechcraft on a remote island in the South Pacific!
 

Melensdad

Jerk in a Hawaiian Shirt & SNOWCAT Moderator
Staff member
GOLD Site Supporter
This is one of those stories that has always fascinated me.

I'd love to see a documentary on the current search.
 

zekeusa

Bronze Member
SUPER Site Supporter
I was fortunate to attend a lecture with the guy running the expedition. It was very interesting all the detective work he has done. You can google Amelia Earhart and follow their progress. The search may finally be over if they find parts of the aircraft!
 

Umberto

Well-known member
I'll google this. My granddaughter was named after her. Her mother's family are all pilots of sorts as was my late brother. I love aviation and the related articles.
 

zekeusa

Bronze Member
SUPER Site Supporter
From what I can tell they are having sonar and video equipment problems. I heard that there is only a few weeks window in which to work because of severe storms and high winds in the area. The island doesn't have any drinking water either. The images on google are not real.
 

Melensdad

Jerk in a Hawaiian Shirt & SNOWCAT Moderator
Staff member
GOLD Site Supporter
From what I can tell they are having sonar and video equipment problems. I heard that there is only a few weeks window in which to work because of severe storms and high winds in the area. The island doesn't have any drinking water either. The images on google are not real.

I hope they find something. It would be great to get some ending to this story, even if tragic.
 

zekeusa

Bronze Member
SUPER Site Supporter
Weekly updates may be found at TIGHAR.org They have taken over 400 images of the area which they hope are the remains of her aircraft. All of them have to be analized. Weather has been rough end they have had some equipment problems that had to be overcome. Week 4 of the search is coming up.
 

Melensdad

Jerk in a Hawaiian Shirt & SNOWCAT Moderator
Staff member
GOLD Site Supporter
Just a look back into her history, from the Tara Ross Facebook page, on this day (July 2, 1937):

If you are on Facebook and enjoy American history, please find, like and follow Tara Ross's page, she has all sorts of great history articles that will pop up in your feed.​
On this day in 1937, Amelia Earhart departs from Lae, New Guinea in a twin-engine airplane. She and her navigator, Fred Noonan, would never be seen again.

By that point in her career, Earhart was a renowned and much-loved aviator. But she hadn’t always been! Her first hint that she would love flying came when she was in her early 20s. She was in Toronto attending an exposition with a friend.

The two girls watched from a clearing as a stunt pilot entertained the crowd.
“I am sure the sight of two young women alone made a tempting target for the pilot,” Earhart later wrote. “I am sure he said to himself, ‘Watch me make them scamper.’ After a few attempts one did but the other stood her ground.”

The moment was unforgettable. “I believe that little red airplane said something to me as it swished by,” Earhart wrote.

Unsurprisingly, Earhart went on to take flying lessons and to earn her pilot’s license. She worked hard, and she was fearless! Her big break came in 1928 when she was invited to participate as part of the crew on a transatlantic flight. The journey would make her the first woman to fly across the Atlantic.

Earhart jumped at the chance, although she was perhaps disappointed by her relatively minor role. She was responsible for keeping the plane’s log, which made her feel like “just baggage, like a sack of potatoes.” The rest of the world disagreed! The transatlantic journey catapulted her to fame, which she leveraged into support for more flying expeditions.

She set speed, distance, and altitude records. In 1932, exactly five years after Charles Lindberg’s first transatlantic flight, Earhart piloted her own solo flight. She was the first woman to complete such a trip across the Atlantic.

By 1937, Earhart was preparing for her last major aviation feat. She wanted to circumnavigate the globe, but she wanted to do it along the Equator—the longest possible route. Her first attempt failed, but Earhart was determined. “I have a feeling that there is just about one more good flight left in my system,” she said, “and I hope this trip is it.”

Her second attempt at circumnavigating the globe began on June 1. She and Fred Noonan took off from Miami, headed on an easterly course. By June 29, they had arrived in New Guinea. They had flown 22,000 miles and had only 7,000 miles to go. But the next leg would be the hardest.

The next stop was Howland Island. It was tiny, and it would be difficult to spot from the sky. Earhart was relying on Noonan’s celestial navigation skills and a U.S. Coast Guard ship to help her find the island.

Earhart and Noonan departed from New Guinea on July 2. The day became overcast and cloudy, hampering navigational efforts. Finally, the Coast Guard vessel heard from Earhart, but communications indicated that Earhart was having trouble finding the island. “We must be on you but cannot see you,” she radioed, “but gas is running low. Been unable to reach you by radio. We are flying at altitude 1000 feet.”

Earhart’s plane never showed up.

A massive search was undertaken, but Earhart was ever found. Did she crash in the ocean? Did she survive as a castaway? Was she taken captive by the Japanese? Most likely, we will never really know. But we can know what drove her to attempt the flight in the first place.

“Please know I am quite aware of the hazards,” she wrote to her husband before her flight. “I want to do it because I want to do it. Women must try to do things as men have tried. When they fail, their failure must be but a challenge to others.”

Good advice for anyone, isn’t it?
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If you enjoyed this post, please don't forget to “like” and SHARE. Our schools and media don’t always teach our own history! Let’s do it ourselves.
Gentle reminder: History posts are copyright © 2013-2015 by Tara Ross. I appreciate it when you use the Facebook “share” feature instead of cutting/pasting.
Link to the Tara Ross Facebook Page with lots of great historical information about our American history => https://www.facebook.com/TaraRoss.1787/posts/668085796626363:0
 
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