Who was Jack the Ripper, is the lost city of Atlantis real, where did the crew of the Mary Celeste go, and what happened to Amelia Earhart are considered some of the most shocking unsolved mysteries in history. However, it seems we’re close to solving one of these!
87 years after her mysterious disappearance, it seems that a crew of researchers has finally located part of her iconic plane, the “World Wanderer.” The last time Earhart and her navigator Fred Noonan were last seen was in 1937, when she took off from Papua Guinea.
A private crew called Deep Sea Vision has been searching for over a decade for the lost plane and they claim they might’ve found it at the bottom of the Pacific Ocean; Earhart was expected to refuel at Howland Island before continuing her history-changing trip.
According to their reports, Deep Sea Vision revealed they found the wreckage of “what appears to be Earhart’s Lockheed 10-E Electra.” They reportedly located it after scanning over “5,200 square miles of ocean floor.” As mentioned, this has been a very long process, but this particular mission started just this past September.
The Deep Sea Vission started its search mission in September with a crew of 16 experts. The mission started in Tarawa, Kiribati, a port very close to Howland Island, where Earhart and Noonan were expected to refuel their plane. Just a month later, the crew managed to detect a sonar image that looked like an airplane. It was located only 100 miles from the island.
This week, Deep Sea Vision finally shared images of the alleged plane on their social media platforms. Now, is it Amelia Earhart’s plane? There’s no evidence of that for the moment, although Tony Romeo, leader of the team and the main investor of the project (11 million dollars), is certain the debris found at the bottom of the ocean is Earhart’s plane.
“There are no other known crashes in the area, and certainly not of that era or that kind of design with the tale that you see in the image,” Rome said. Not only that, he added that they’re using the “most advanced unmanned underwater drone.”
Naturally, this is just the beginning of the investigation to finally understand what happened to the iconic pilot. “Until you physically take a look at this, there’s no way to say for sure what that is,” said underwater archaeologist Andrew Pietruszka. Now, the team is planning to return to the site to start analyzing the wreckage.
If the debris is indeed part of Amelia Earhart’s plane, they now have to find a way to salvage it! As Romeo claimed, people want “to see this in the Smithsonian; that’s where it belongs. Not the bottom of the ocean.” In the meantime, let’s dive a little bit into what happened to the great Amelia Earhart!
What Happened to Amelia Earhart?
As mentioned, Amelia Earhart, the name etched in aviation history as a symbol of audacious spirit and pioneering prowess, vanished without a trace over the vast Pacific Ocean in 1937. Her disappearance, shrouded in an impenetrable veil of mystery, continues to ignite imaginations and fuel speculation even after eight decades.
Earhart’s passion for the skies blossomed early in her life. In 1923, she became the first woman to fly across the Atlantic as a passenger, igniting a fire within her that refused to be stopped. With relentless determination, she earned her pilot’s license and set record after record, carving her name into the annals of aviation history. In 1932, she achieved the unthinkable, becoming the first woman to fly solo across the Atlantic, proving that the boundless sky held no gendered boundaries.
In 1937, Earhart set her sights on an unparalleled challenge, circumnavigating the globe. With her loyal navigator, Fred Noonan, by her side, she embarked on a journey fraught with danger and uncertainty. They conquered leg after leg, traversing continents and oceans, their Lockheed Electra, aptly named “The World Wanderer,” becoming a symbol of human tenacity in the face of the unknown.
On July 2nd, 1937, as Earhart and Noonan neared Howland Island in the Pacific, their radio transmissions abruptly ceased. Despite extensive searches, coordinated by the U.S. Navy and aided by countless volunteers, no trace of the plane or its occupants was ever found. The world grappled with a chilling reality – their aviation heroine, the woman who dared to defy gravity and societal norms, had seemingly been swallowed by the unforgiving maw of the ocean.
In the face of an unyielding silence, a multitude of theories emerged, each more captivating than the last, weaving a tapestry of possibilities against the backdrop of Earhart’s disappearance. The most widely accepted theory posits that Earhart and Noonan, faced with fuel exhaustion, succumbed to the treacherous embrace of the Pacific depths, which this new discovery could prove right. However, the vastness of the ocean and the absence of wreckage continue to cast doubt, leaving room for alternative narratives.
Despite the ambiguity surrounding her fate, Amelia Earhart’s impact remains undeniable. She shattered aviation barriers, proving that the skies were no respecter of gender. Her courage and unwavering determination continue to inspire generations of aspiring aviators and dreamers, reminding us that the human spirit can reach for the impossible, even in the face of daunting odds.
Earhart’s disappearance may be close to being solved, but even if the mystery remains unsolved, her legacy endures, a beacon of hope and a reminder that sometimes, the greatest journeys are those that leave us forever searching for the horizon.