Legendary wreckage of his twin-engine aircraft found after 80 years? – Exemption

First there was a rumor that her plane had crashed in the Pacific Ocean on the Marshall Islands, before she was believed to have been captured by Japan. Then on the small atoll of Nikumaroro in Kiribati, a Delaware-based organization, the “International Group for the Recovery of Historic Aircraft,” discovered a piece of metal believed to be from its twin-engine Lockheed L-10 Electra. . But also some small bones, probably her fingers, and a “pot of salve”, which she may have used to hide her freckles. Forensic analysis in 2018 of bones found on the same island in 1940 suggested they belonged to Amelia Earhart… and this new lead, who remains the lead at this point, in the long search to solve the mysteries surrounding the crash. of the legendary aviator in 1937.

This time, it is the American company Deep Sea Vision (DSV), which published a sonar image on Monday January 29, confirming that it is most likely the twin-engine aircraft of the American aviator, a pioneer of his discipline. The image was captured after an extensive search west of Holland Island, a deserted reef lost in the middle of the Pacific between Australia and Hawaii.

The story is this. Amelia Earhart, along with her navigator Fred Noonan, took off from Oakland, California on May 20, 1937 to fly around the world, a feat never before accomplished by a woman. A daring, almost crazy bet: He wants to complete the task by flying over the equator from west to east, the longest distance possible. Her reputation precedes her: five years earlier, she became the first woman to cross the Atlantic solo, a remarkable feat.

After reaching South America, Africa and India, Earhart and Noonan disappeared on July 2. They took off from Laa, Papua New Guinea on a flight of only 4,000 km and were supposed to refuel at Holland Island, but that never happened. The prevailing hypothesis is that Earhart and Noonan experienced a fuel shortage, forcing them to abandon the plane near Holland Island. It is this lead that DSV Image seeks to support.

“No other crashes are known in this region”

According to the American company, the blurry image was taken by an underwater robot “(The model) features the unique twin tails and the wingspan of his legendary aircraft which conforms to the contours”.

“I’d be hard-pressed to be sure it’s anything but a plane, first, and secondly, it’s not Amelia’s plane, DSV boss Tony Romeo, a pilot and former US Air Force intelligence officer, said on NBC. There is no other known crash in the area with this type of design and clearly visible tail, and certainly not from this era.”

In a press release, Romeo assures: “We always thought that she would have done everything she could to try to land the plane gently, and the signature of the plane that we see in the sonar image suggests that this was the case.” The company says it spent 90 days exploring 13,500 km² of ocean floor. And he wants to keep the mystery a little further by keeping the exact location of this discovery a secret for the moment.