Researchers will go looking for the plane's remains in June 2015, might even try to pull the wreckage out of the water

Oct 30, 2014 07:47 GMT  ·  By
Researchers believe to have found the remains of Amelia Earhart's plane
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   Researchers believe to have found the remains of Amelia Earhart's plane

Back in May 2013, the International Group for Historic Aircraft Recovery (TIGHAR, for short) announced the discovery of what they described as an anomaly in the waters off the coast of an uninhabited atoll in the South Pacific.

At that time, TIGHAR researchers said that, having analyzed this anomaly with the help of sonars, they found that it was the right shape and size to be the wreckage of Amelia Earhart's plane.

Fast forward a few months, and earlier this week, the explorers issued a statement saying that they uncovered further evidence that the anomaly they detected close to the Nikumaroro atoll in the Pacific was, in fact, the long-lost wreckage.

A one-of-a-kind aluminum patch

In their statement, the folks behind TIGHAR detail that this new evidence that they say hints at the final resting place of Amelia Earhart's plane is basically an aluminum patch.

The patch was found on the Nikumaroro atoll and is believed to have once been part and parcel of Amelia Earhart's plane. More precisely, the researchers conducting this investigation say that it once served to replace a window on Amelia Earhart's aircraft.

A photo of the piece of aluminum aircraft debris is available below. Its shape, its dimensions and its pattern of rivets are argued to indicate that it is the very same aluminum patch that was fitted onto the Amelia Earhart's plane before she embarked on her second world flight attempt.

The aluminum patch and the wreckage

Supposing that TIGHAR explorers are right and that this aluminum patch was indeed once included in the makeup of Amelia Earhart's plane, this means that the anomaly whose discovery was announced last year might really be the long-lost wreckage.

Thus, the anomaly was detected at a depth of roughly 600 feet (nearly 183 meters) just off the west end of the South Pacific atoll, where researchers found this aluminum patch.

Come June 2015, explorers plan to use a remotely operated vehicle to have a closer look at this anomaly. Besides, trained divers will be used to explore the ocean floor at shallower depths and an onshore team will be entrusted with looking for other relics that might be hidden from view on the Nikumaroro atoll.

The team behind this research project expects that, during the 24-day expedition scheduled to take place next summer, they will manage to settle once and for all whether or not the wreckage of Amelia Earhart's plane does, in fact, rest in the South Pacific Ocean just next to the aforementioned atoll.

What happened to Amelia Earhart anyway?

First off, it need be said that Amelia Earhart was the first woman pilot to fly solo across the Atlantic Ocean. Unfortunately, her 1937 attempt to fly solo around the world did not work out quite as planned.

Long story short, her plane disappeared close to Howland Island in the central Pacific Ocean, and historians and researchers are still pretty much clueless about how and why this happened.

Based on evidence uncovered thus far, some say that Amelia Earhart was forced to make an emergency landing on the reef at Nikumaroro and even sent radio distress signals for several days before the remains of her plane were pushed into the water by local tides.

TIGHAR researchers expect that, were they to locate the plane's remains and have a close look at them, they might be able to shed new light on the circumstances that led to Amelia Earhart's death.

Aluminum patch believed to have once been part and parcel of Amelia Earhart's plane
Aluminum patch believed to have once been part and parcel of Amelia Earhart's plane

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Researchers believe to have found the remains of Amelia Earhart's plane
Aluminum patch believed to have once been part and parcel of Amelia Earhart's plane
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