To the untrained eye, the photo supplied by TIGHAR may not appear to show any evidence of wreckage. But TIGHAR director Ric Gillespie said said forensic imaging specialist Jeff Glickman of the firm Photek Inc identified the images as a debris field.

Earhart and her navigator, Fred Noonan, departed Papua New Guinea on 2 July, 1937, during Earhart’s quest to circumnavigate the globe along an equatorial route. But they disappeared and emergency searches did not locate them.

Theories have abounded for years as to their fate, with some believing the pair had simply run out of fuel and ditched in the sea, others contending that they landed on the island of Nikumaroro in the Phoenix Islands, 350 miles southeast of Howland Island and fended for themselves for several months until they succumbed to injury or disease.

â—„ Previous | Image of | Next â–º

-