A new image discovered in a photograph taken from a 2009 expedition to a remote island in the Pacific Ocean has reignited a hope that answers to what happened to Amelia Earhart 86 years ago might soon be found.
Investigators studying a photograph taken during a 2009 expedition near Nikumaroro Island have suggested that an engine cover seen buried under the water there could have been part of Earhart’s missing Lockheed Electra plane, The Daily Mail reported.
“There is an object in the photo that appears to be a Lockheed Electra engine cowling,”Ric Gillespie, executive director of The International Group for Historic Aircraft Recovery (TIGHAR), told the outlet. TIGHAR has been investigating the disappearance of Earhart for more than thirty years.
FRANCE – JANUARY 1: Undated picture taken in the 30′ s of American female aviator Amelia Earhart in front of her plane. Amelia Earhart was the first woman to fly the Atlantic as a passenger, in 1928, and followed this by a solo flight in 1932. In 1935 she flew solo from Hawan to Califofrnia. In 1937, with Fred Noonan, they set out to fly round the world, but their plane was lost over the Pacific, 02 July. (Photo by STAFF/AFP via Getty Images)
“The similarity to an engine cowling and prop shaft was not noticed until years later and the exact location was not noted at the time, which meant attempts to re-locate the object were unsuccessful,” Gillespie explained of the time lapse between the initial photography and the discovery.
Forensic analysis of the engine cowling will officially determine whether it once belonged to Earhart’s plane, the Daily Mail reported. If the engine cover is positively identified as being a portion of the missing Lockheed Electra, it could bolster and dispel theories about what happened to the ground-breaking aviator in 1937. (RELATED: Amelia Earhart Reappears In Recovered Film Footage [VIDEO])
Earhart and her navigator Fred Noonan disappeared on July 2, 1937 during the longest leg of her attempt to become the first woman to successfully circumnavigate the world. TIGHAR’s long-held belief is that Earhart and Noonan landed and eventually died on Nikumaroro, a theory bolstered by the discovery of bones on the island in 1940. A forensic analysis of the bones’ measurement, performed decades after their discovery, led researchers to conclude they likely belonged to Earhart, but as the actual bones were lost, a detailed analysis, including DNA testing, is not possible, National Geographic reported.