Amelia Earhart's Disappearance

Amelia Earhart's Disappearance

Unraveling the Mystery

by Camila Beltran

Why I Chose To Research This

Different Theories and Claims By the Crowd

What has Been Uncovered

Ameia Earhart's Plane Structure

Uncovering the Truth

Work Cited

“Amelia Earhart | Biography, Childhood, Disappearance, & Facts | Britannica.” Encyclopædia Britannica, 2024, www.britannica.com/biography/Amelia-Earhart. Accessed 19 Apr. 2024.

Greshko, Michael. “Top 3 Theories for Amelia Earhart’s Disappearance.” History, 5 July 2017, www.nationalgeographic.com/history/article/amelia-earhart-disappearance-theories-spd. Accessed 7 May 2024.

PBS NewsHour. “Has Amelia Earhart’s Vanished Plane Finally Been Found?” PBS NewsHour, 31 Jan. 2024, www.pbs.org/newshour/nation/has-amelia-earharts-vanished-plane-finally-been-found. Accessed 19 Apr. 2024.

Petras, George, and Janet Loehrke. “Is This Amelia Earhart’s Plane? A Look at Possible Wreck 16,400 Feet below the Ocean: Maps.” USA TODAY, USA TODAY, 7 Feb. 2024, www.usatoday.com/story/graphics/2024/02/07/amelia-earhart-plane-found-maps/72453721007/. Accessed 19 Apr. 2024.

“The Legend of Amelia Earhart’s Disappearance.” Si.edu, 19 Aug. 2010, airandspace.si.edu/stories/editorial/legend-amelia-earharts-disappearance. Accessed 19 Apr. 2024.

Did She Run Out of Fuel?

Conspiracy Theories

Amelia Earhart used a Lockheed Electra 10-E to attempt to fly across the world. The plane had a height of 10.1 feet and a length of 38.7 feet. It holds a total fuel capacity of 1,151 gallons. In the article, "Is this Amelia Earhart's plane? A look at possible wreck 16,400 feet below the ocean" it states that the plane was, "powered by two air-cooled supercharged Pratt & Whitney Wasp S3H1 nine-cylinder radial engines" (Petras & Loehrke 1). The Deep Sea Vision found a sonar image of an object that looked like Amelia's Lockheed.

Bad weather and running out of fuel caused the downfall of Amelia's plane in the ocean. In the article, "The Legend of Amelia Earhart's Disappearance", it says " Having experienced bad weather during the long 4,113 km (2,556 miles) flight from Lea to Howland Island, Earhart and Noonan used up their supply of fuel, and crash landed in the ocean" (1). Amelia's plane had less than a full tank of gasoline because she thought that would reduce the weight of the plane. In addition, another theory is that Amelia and Noonan landed their plane in Nikumaroro after not being able to find Howland. The coordinates that Amelia gave the Italsca, providers of air navigation, show that if they missed Howland Island they could have either crashed in open ocean or on Nikumaroro.

Romeo's Deep Sea Diving might be close to solving the puzzle of what really happened to Amelia Earhart and her plane. He bought an underwater drone and a 16 people crew to begin a 100-day search for a sign of Amelia Eahart's plane. They scanned over 5,200 square miles of seafloor. They narrowed their search to an area around Howland Island between Papua New Guinea and Hawaii. In th article, "Has Amelia Earhart's vanished plane finally been found?", states, "But it wasn’t until the team reviewed sonar data in December that they saw the fuzzy yellow outline of what resembles a plane" (Pollard & Finley 1). “In the end, we came out with an image of a target that we believe very strongly is Amelia’s aircraft,” Romeo told The Associated Press. He undertook this mission to uncover this adventure to solve aviation's greatest unsolved mystery.

After losing contact with Amelia Earhart, the Navy and Coast Guard searched about 250,000 square miles of ocean. They were searching for Amelia and the navigator, Noonan. In the article it says, "They spend 16 days searching an area about the size of Texs for Earhart and Noonan without success" (Petras & Loehrke 1). Amelia ad Noonan were legally declared dead. In addition, they came to the conclusion that the plane had run out of fuel and crashed into the Pacific. They were running out of fuel before they disappeared.

All of these conspiracy theories that people has come up with are either proven wrong or there is no evidence at all. In my opinion, Amelia Earhart's plane crashed in the Pacific Ocean and sunk down. I also believe that Romeo has found the plane becaisu of the sonar images.

I wanted to research Amelia Earhart's disappearance because it is a underlying question of what actually happened to her and her plane. It is a mystery that is yet to be solved about the lost connection of the Lockheed, Amelia Earhart's plane. Did the plane crash in the ocean? Did the get captured by the Japanese? No one knows what truly happened to Ameia Earhart and the navigator, Fred Noonan. I was curious about people's theories towards the dissapearace of Amelia and what information and proof there was.

Different Theories and Claims By the Crowd

Theories About Amelia's Disappearance

Research Question

Disappearing from the Radar

Around Howland Island

What led Amelia Earhart to decide to take on this risky journey?

What led her to fly across the Atlantic? What are the details concerning Amelia Earhart’s disappearance and plane crash? Why did the plane and Amelia disappear from the radar? Was her plane never found? Did her plane malfunction?

Howland Island was claimed by the US in 1857. This island served as a stop for planes flying between Hawaii an Australia. In the Britannica article is says, "On July 2, 1937, the noted American aviator Amelia Earhart and her navigator, Frederick J. Noonan, were lost near Howland after having stopped at Lae, Papua New Guinea" (The Editors of Encyclopedia Britannica). Amelia's plane is believed to have crashed near Howland Island, but after a thorough search it was not found.

Did Japan Capture Them?

In My Opinion...

One of the many theories presented is that they headed north to the Japanese controlled Marshall Islands and they were taken hostage because the Japanese thought they were US spies. In the aticle, "Amelia Earhart's Disappearance", it states, "One, for example, militarycorruption.com, claims that U.S. Secretary of the Navy James Forrestal was involved in the cover-up of the destruction of Earhart's Lockheed Electra 10E at Aslito Field on Sapian in 1944... he was attempting to efface any evidence tha might have implicatd Earhart in a secret spy mission for the U.S. government" (1). People say that she was more than a daring pilot, she was a U.S. agent. She never intended to fly to Howland Island, their real mission was to document the activities going on in the Japanese Islands. Additionally, another theory is that she survived her Pacific Ocean crash and assumed another identity as Iren Bolam, a housewife.

Amelia Earhart always had an independent and adventurous nature. She went in her first airplane ride in 1920 which led her to taking flying lessons. This is were she fell in love with the thrill of aviation. During this time in her life, promoters searched for a women to fly across the Atlantic Ocean. In 1928 Amelia was selected for the flight. Some say this decision was made due to her resemblance to Charles Lindbergh. Charles had become the first man to fly nonstop solo across the Atlantic. Amelia was determined and accomplished a solo flight across the Atlantic. In the article, "Amelia Earhart" it says, "She notably experienced mechanical difficulties and inclement weather and was unable to land in her scheduled destination of Paris." (The Editors of Encyclopedia Britannica). Even in these dangerous circumstances, Amelia didn't stop there. She took many more flights across the United States. In 1937, Amelia set out to fly across the world.

Most of these conspiracy theories that people have come up with are either proven wrong or there is no evidence at all. In my opinion, Amelia Earhart's plane crashed in the Pacific Ocean and sunk down because the plane ran out of fuel. That to me is the most logical theory out there. This theory was also deduced by the Navy. I also believe that Romeo has found the plane because of the sonar images he had obtained. The images were similar to Amelia's Lockheed. All in all, dsepite of what happened to Amelia Earhart, she is still an inspiration to women and Romeo says, "Amelia is American's favorite missing person" (Pollard & Finley 1).

Since the disappearance of Amelia and Frederick, new theories have been predicted. In an article it says, "Others speculate she and Noonan were executed by the Japanese or died as castaways on an island" (Pollard & Finley 1). Another theory is that they they got captured by Japan because they thought they were American spies. Furthermore, people also think that Amelia reappeared as "Tokyo Rose". This is a name of women who the Japanese forced to broadcast propaganda to American troops in the Pacific durng WWll. This theory was never proven but existed throughout the minds of people.

To help with navigation, two brightly lit U.S. ships were stationed to mark the route. In additon, Amelia Earhart was in intermittent radio contact with Itasca, a US Coast Guard near Howland Island. In the article "Amelia Earhart" it states, "Late in the journey, Earhart radioed that the plane was running out of fuel" (The Editors of Encyclopedia Britannica)." An hour later they announced, "We are running north and south." That was the last transmission recieved by Itasca. A search was undertaken but it was unsuccessful. They were declared lost as sea.