Amelia Earhart Mystery Solved?

Un1v4c writes: "According to this article on MSN... "A Delaware-based archaeological group is sufficiently intrigued to send a diving team to an atoll 2,000 miles southwest of Hawaii to get an up-close look at whatever produced the rust-colored spots on the space photographs taken by Space Imaging of Thornton. "Nothing out there occurs naturally that's rust colored," said Rick Gallespie of the International Group for Historic Aircraft Recovery. He believes the rusty object just beyond the reef that surrounds the uninhabited atoll could be an engine and the landing gear of Earhart's Lockheed 10-E Special Electra."" See also this article on space.com and the picture in question. Apparently Earhart never had a piece of outhouse wash up on shore to help her escape.

Comments

Re:News Flash!

[Anonymous Coward]

located in the Pacific ocean 457.6 square miles east of Hawaii

They also found a pink spot 37 volts south of Alaska.

The reason why TIGHAR has focused on Nikamuro...

[garagekubrick]

The group TIGHAR, which is in charge of this expedition, has had success with retrieving lost or buried planes of historical significance in the past. Though they may never find anything on Nikamuoro the reason they've chosen to focus on this island in particular is because: a) Like many rational people, their studies of history prove that most of the conspiracy stories are bunkum.

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.

Airplane crashes?

[No Such Agency]

OK, let's assume this IS a plane wreck, and not just an algal bloom, or a huge blob of toxic waste or whatever. What are the odds that it's Earhart's airplane? Some of you may recall that America and Japan had a little war in the Pacific Ocean a while ago, and both used a prodigious number of airplanes. Many of these are unaccounted for. It could be a B-17, a "Kate" flying boat or any number of other mid-sized planes that were tooling around the Pacific.

That said, it'd be nice if Amelia Earhart was finally laid to rest, even if not literally. She was a pioneer whose dedication and skill probably inspired many young women to the realization that there was more to life than being June Cleaver.

Still missing

[JBowz15]

In related news, Amelia Earhart's luggage remains missing.

Finally, the Rock has come back to /.