Researchers revisit Nikumaroro to investigate possible Earhart aircraft wreckage
Researchers from the Archaeological Legacy Institute and Purdue University are travelling to Nikumaroro in the Pacific to investigate an object that might be the wreckage of Amelia Earhart’s plane. Their search could shed light on the aviator’s disappearance in 1937, though the object’s identity is disputed and earlier searches have not found her aircraft.
The team left Kiribati’s capital on Wednesday aboard a cargo vessel for the 830-mile journey and expects to reach the island by Monday. The object, seen in satellite imagery in 2020, has also appeared in aerial photographs dating to 1938; some researchers think Earhart may have landed on the island, while a rival expert says it resembles a fallen tree. The accepted account is that Earhart and navigator Fred Noonan ran out of fuel while trying to reach Howland Island, but no physical evidence of the plane has been recovered.
- Researchers are heading to Nikumaroro to inspect a possible aircraft wreck.
- The object has appeared in aerial photographs dating back to 1938.
- Experts disagree over whether it could be Earhart’s plane.
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Amelia Earhart was a pioneering American aviator who disappeared with her navigator, Fred Noonan, during an attempt to fly around the world in 1937. They were trying to reach Howland Island, a small Pacific island, when radio contact was lost.
The commonly accepted explanation is that their aircraft ran out of fuel before reaching Howland Island and came down at sea. Nikumaroro, another remote Pacific island, has been a focus of searches because some researchers think Earhart and Noonan may have landed there. No physical evidence of the aircraft has been confirmed.
The question matters because evidence from Nikumaroro could help explain what happened to the pair. Researchers disagree over whether an object photographed on the island is aircraft wreckage or something else, and earlier searches have not found the plane.
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Originally published by BBC World as “Expedition hopes to find aviator Amelia Earhart’s plane on remote island”.