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They found her body in 1940

Maybe, maybe not.

It is, of course, impossible to know whether the bones inspected by Dr. Hoodless in 1941 were in fact those of a white female, and if anything even less possible to be sure that they were those of Amelia Earhart. Only the rediscovery of the bones themselves, or the recovery of more bones from the same skeleton on the island, can bring certainty. What we can be certain of is that bones were found on the island in 1939-40, associated with what were observed to be womenâ(TM)s shoes and a navigatorâ(TM)s sextant box, and that the morphology of the recovered bones, insofar as we can tell by applying contemporary forensic methods to measurements taken at the time, appears consistent with a female of Earhartâ(TM)s height and ethnic origin.

The bones found might have been from Amelia Earhart's body, but they were identified as male at the time and then lost. Only when the measurements of the bones were looked at in 1998 was it noticed that they could have been Earhart's, but there is no way to know for certain. Unfortunately, the internet being what it is, everyone ignores the parts of the report that stress that the findings are inconclusive and repeats the claim that her body was found as if it were an absolute, unquestionable fact.

How did they ID the part? Through painstaking detective work, as documented in this report.

She wasn't very resourceful, she wasn't that good of a pilot and she didn't know how to operate a radio. She had multiple accidents and by all accounts was more into the glamour and promotion aspects, pushing her clothing styles, rather than promoting women in aviation. Lucky? Sure. On her first attempt around the world she cracked up her plane. That was going East to West around the globe with the most difficult leg of the flight being early in the attempt. There were a lot of famous pilots who died trying to set records or do things nobody else had done with an airplane during her era.

What made her noteworthy was that she had a rich husband who promoted her exploits as much as possible and always made sure there were cameras and reporters around. Think of her as a 1930s Pia Zadora.

Well, combined with other circumstantial evidence it does seem likely that this is a decent place to look if it's something one is passionate about. Certainly when combined with other physical evidence (documentation of a body found under a tree just a few years after the crash, a zipper manufactured in Pennsylvania, remains of a bottle of what may have been a "freckle ointment", remains of a pocket knife etc) I think there's decent reason to figure that this is possibly where the Electra went down. Probable? Hmm... that's a stretch I think but I for one am quite happy to see this one particular mystery given a bit more time. She was a pioneer and became a model for many young women both during her time and after to step out of the shadows of men... something that became much more prevalent many years after her death with the women's rights movement (really, plural) that literally changed the way Western civilization functions. For that, well I think some closure would be nice.

There's even some good circumstantial evidence that this might be the place... though granted it's a little flimsy. One that I liked particularly though was the S.O.S. painted on the side of the Norwich City, where the crew abandoning her had no real reason or probably time to paint that. Creepy and cool :) And yes, I know the discussion is linked from the same people who are investigating this... but they seem to have a trove of circumstantial evidence that no-one else seems to talk about or has on-line.

Personally, I find it fascinating and will be following with great interest.

Here's the link to that page of research. Note that they don't claim it's her shoe, but give evidence from the finds and from photographs taken as she left on her voyage.

I have to say, overall I'm pretty impressed with this group. They seem to have pretty level heads, and as far as I can tell are doing an admirable job of scientific investigation.

These guys aren't basing this off of two pixels on a photo shot from space -- they've got pretty good reasons to believe that this is where she ended up. They've really done a bit of research on this; it looks as if they've been working at this since the early sixties, and they've been sending expeditions to the island since the early ninties.

See also some of their research. bulletins. Sure, they might be wrong, but based the last of the transmissions heard from her plane and such, this is a *very* likely place for her to have ended up.

These guys aren't basing this off of two pixels on a photo shot from space -- they've got pretty good reasons to believe that this is where she ended up. They've really done a bit of research on this; it looks as if they've been working at this since the early sixties, and they've been sending expeditions to the island since the early ninties.

See also some of their research. bulletins. Sure, they might be wrong, but based the last of the transmissions heard from her plane and such, this is a *very* likely place for her to have ended up.

These guys aren't basing this off of two pixels on a photo shot from space -- they've got pretty good reasons to believe that this is where she ended up. They've really done a bit of research on this; it looks as if they've been working at this since the early sixties, and they've been sending expeditions to the island since the early ninties.

See also some of their research. bulletins. Sure, they might be wrong, but based the last of the transmissions heard from her plane and such, this is a *very* likely place for her to have ended up.

b) Anecdotal historical evidence from natives continually points out to a plane like hers crashing near the island that was visible in a lagoon for awhile, and around the time of her disappearance.

c) The recovery in a previous expedition of artifacts such as a shoe and labels from food cans produced around the time of her disappearance.

d) A British research ship which a few years later took the bones of a "European woman" from the island, and the logbook and anecdotal evidence of such.

e) In terms of Navigation, and her position near her disappearance, Nikamuoro is a lot more probably than Saipan.

This group would not be raising $400k just for naught - they are trying to be thorough and rational... Perhaps this sometimes is clouded by the evangelical zeal they have by which they want to find the wrecked plane... Because at the very least it would finish off the ridiculous stories that transform her into some martyr. Let's not forget that Earhart was a devoted pacifist who worked as a nurse while in her teens on WWI soldiers returned home, and she was doubly progressive in teaching and looking after non white children at around the same time. TIGHAR may not find anything, but at least their search respects Earhart as opposed to using her for silly theories about how she was a spy for the US government. Let's not forget that it became inscribed in stone that her navigator Noonan was a tempestuous alcoholic due to one volume of biography that never attributed the knowledge of such - and subsequent research in later years was never able to find the man as incomptent at his job.

- This is essentially treasure hunting, the success rate of these things is extremly low.

- The success rate of this group is low, they've already sent out five expeditions with theories of success, to return with nothing.

- The evidence in this case is light. Wonder why you don't see the spots on the picture? They are a pixel or two large. Not to mention, almost the same color as the ocean. See for yourself here, they claim the "anamoly" is the sunken plane.

I suspect this is a case of, we paid the money for this, now lets see if we can find something. If you look hard enough, you can see almost anything anywhere (heck, I finally saw 3D holograms in noise :). That all said, it's exciting to see folks chasing this stuff down, and the adventure getting there is almost as good as actually finding anything.

I wish them luck, but hope no one is holding their breath on this one.

You can find more information about the planned expedition to the island here.

You can find more information about the planned expedition to the island here.

Just for reference, it's worth checking out the whole story as presented in the TIGHAR archives. In particular check out the Tarawa file as it has some really interesting details dug up from the archives of that area in the 30's.

Like everyone else I find the two pixels less than impressive, but the corroboration with an extensively documented history of findings on the island which could really match up with the Earhart flight leaves open the possibility.

Just for reference, it's worth checking out the whole story as presented in the TIGHAR archives. In particular check out the Tarawa file as it has some really interesting details dug up from the archives of that area in the 30's.

Like everyone else I find the two pixels less than impressive, but the corroboration with an extensively documented history of findings on the island which could really match up with the Earhart flight leaves open the possibility.

For anyone looking, try this link. I missed the link the first time thinking that the island picture was it. Thanks for the pointer tetrad.

Check out this analysis from TIGHAR. The second page has a magnification of the photo where they think the plane is.