Group: Metal a likely piece of Earhart's airplane

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Amelia Earhart in 1936, one year before her disappearance. --Image: National Archives, Army Air Corps.
Amelia Earhart in 1936, one year before her disappearance. --Image: National Archives, Army Air Corps.
When Amelia Earhart died – vanished, to be precise – 77 years ago while attempting to fly around the world, her fans grieved and wondered what had happened. Many are still wondering.

     This week, The International Group for Historic Aircraft Recovery (TIGHAR), a nonprofit that promotes “responsible aviation archeology,” announced it may be closing in on an answer.   
     The group has been researching a patch of aluminum found in 1991 on Nikumaroro, an atoll in the western Pacific. In many respects, that aluminum, TIGHAR says, matches the metal used on Earhart's Lockheed Electra during an alteration to the aircraft made at a stopover in Miami.   
     Earhart was a celebrity of the 1930s, a daring aviator who sailed into the spotlight on wings. Married to publisher George Putnam, in 1932 she became the first woman to cross the Atlantic.
     In 1937, she was to fly around the world with navigator Fred Noonan. Officials lost contact with her aircraft on July 2, and a massive search ensued. Earhart, who was just days short of her 40th birthday, and Noonan, 44, were never found. 
     Research on this aluminum patch bolsters TIGHAR's speculation that the aircraft is beneath 600 feet of water off the west end of the island. The group’s press release  says it will return to the atoll in June 2015 to investigate an anomaly found in a sonar image that could be the aircraft. During a 24-day expedition, TIGHAR will use a remote- operated vehicle underwater. Divers also will look for wreckage, and an onshore team will search for objects detected in historical photographs that may be relics of an initial survival camp.

     Related:

     Winged treasures explored on ground level

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