Amelia Earhart

Search and theories

The United States government spent $4 million looking for Earhart, which made it the most costly and intensive air and sea search in history at that time, organized by the Navy and Coast Guard. Many researchers believe the plane ran out of fuel and Earhart and Noonan ditched at sea. However, one group (TIGHAR - The International Group for Historic Aircraft Recovery) suggests they may have flown along a standard line of position, which Earhart specified in her last transmission received at Howland, to Nikumaroro (then known as Gardner) Island in what is now Kiribati, landed there, and ultimately perished. TIGHAR's research has produced a range of documented, archaeological, and anecdotal evidence (but no proof) supporting this theory.

Over the decades, others have come forward with supposed proof that Earhart was captured by the Japanese and interned for a number of years before either perishing or being executed. A photograph supposedly of Earhart during her captivity exists, though skeptics have pointed out that it looks like it was taken at the same time as other photos shot before her final flight. Possibly the strangest suggestion is that Earhart was forced to make propaganda radio broadcasts as one of the many women known as Tokyo Rose.

Yet another school of thought suggests that Earhart later managed to return to America where she changed her name and lived out her life quietly, while another blames her disappearance on Unidentified Flying Objects.

In 2004 explorer David Jourdan announced plans to use sonar to search a 1,000 square mile (2,600 km²) area near Howland Island for Earhart's plane. The ocean where Jourdan plans to search is approximately 5,000 meters (17,000 ft) deep.

Books

Amelia Earhart was an accomplished writer who served as aviation editor for Cosmopolitan magazine from 1928 to 1930. She authored numerous magazine articles and essays, and published two books based upon her experiences as a flyer during her lifetime:

• 20 Hrs., 40 Min. was her journal of her 1928 flight across the Atlantic as a passenger (making her the first woman to make such a journey).
• For the Fun of It was a memoir of her flying experiences, as well as an essay on women in aviation.

A third book credited to Earhart, Last Flight, was published following her disappearance and featured journal entries she made in the weeks prior to her final departure from New Guinea. Compiled by Putnam himself, historians have cast doubt upon how much of the book was actually Earhart's original work and how much had been embellished by Putnam.

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.