A recent discovery dating back to 1938 may shed light on the fate of Amelia Earhart’s aircraft, with a peculiar object found on a remote island possibly indicating a sighting of the plane. Researchers suggest that this anomaly presents compelling evidence that it could be Earhart’s missing plane, which disappeared over the central Pacific Ocean on July 2, 1937, during her attempt to fly around the world with navigator Fred Noonan.
The duo was en route to Howland Island when their radio communications ceased, and they never reappeared. Now, scientists are examining a metal object submerged in a lagoon on Nikumaroro Island, identified in recently unearthed images taken a year after Earhart’s disappearance. Purdue University in Indiana believes the “Taraia Object” could be Earhart’s renowned Lockheed 10-E Electra.
A team comprising 15 researchers from Purdue and the Archeological Legacy Institute (ALI) is set to travel to the island between Hawaii and Fiji on November 4 to investigate what they suspect to be the main body and tail of the missing plane. Dr. Richard Pettigrew, the executive director of ALI, expressed that discovering Amelia Earhart’s aircraft would be a significant find, aligning with his longstanding belief that Nikumaroro is where the plane might be.
The International Group of Historic Aircraft Recovery has gathered other compelling evidence supporting the theory that Earhart and Noonan’s final destination was Nikumaroro. The upcoming three-week mission will focus on the “Taria Object,” a peculiar item first identified in satellite images in 2015 on the north shore of Nikumaroro’s lagoon. Purdue University’s senior vice president, Steve Schultz, mentioned that confirming the object’s identity would be a crucial step in honoring Earhart’s legacy and potentially bringing the Electra back to West Lafayette as she had planned.
Despite extensive search efforts by the US Navy and Coast Guard following Earhart and Noonan’s disappearance, no concrete leads were found, leading to Earhart’s official declaration of death in 1939. Numerous endeavors have been made over the past nine decades to locate her remains or the wreckage, but they have all been unsuccessful.
Most recently, a million-dollar expedition by Tony Romeo and his Deep Sea Vision team initially believed they had found Earhart’s plane based on sonar images. However, further investigation revealed it to be a natural rock formation, not the Lockheed Electra. In a related development, US President Donald Trump announced last month that he would declassify and release government records associated with Earhart and her final flight.
