UPDATE: History Channel program appears to be flawed... twisting very flimsy evidence into something that appears compelling. I fell for it... and apparently so did others.
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I recently saw a program on The History Channel that unearthed some possible evidence about Amelia Earhart and the fate of her last flight. There's a NY Times article about it.
Very compelling narrative, at least in the TV program. It alleges that Amelia was a much more highly skilled pilot than most people believed back then. The theory is that due to a navigational error (partly induced by bad weather), she realized they wouldn't reach their next way point, so she turned back to hopefully land on a south Pacific island. Unfortunately, she ended up reaching the Marshall Islands, which were under Japanese control at the time.
From all the evidence turned up, it looks like she landed safely with minor damage to her plane. Bits of small plane parts were found on one of the Atolls which appear to match a museum preserved version of her plane. It is theorized that the Japanese discovered her and treated her as a spy and she became a prisoner. They have not been able to find a trace of her grave anywhere. They have no idea how long she lived.
The main contention is the possibility that the US military knew Earhart had been captured, but did nothing about it. This is according to some US Naval documentation that was classified but accidentally released. Why was nothing done? Because they knew her fate from having cracked Japanese communication codes. It would've been detrimental to reveal that. But... WHY NOT after the war, contact them regarding Earhart? That I find puzzling.
The article doesn't buy the narrative that Amelia landed her plane and survived... despite the documentation and physical evidence of plane parts.
EDIT: It did fail to reveal that the "key photo" was debunked. Found in a publication 2 years prior to Amelia's flight! [LINK]
I really wish what would have been brought up recently is the idea of contacting the Japanese. Surely they'd have records that may identify Amelia Earhart and her navigator Fred Noonan. But nobody mentions it. Very strange. I don't think there would be any shame in it. After all, it was a different time and there's no trace of anyone from that administration. Maybe the Japanese find it too reprehensible to consider it?
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I recently saw a program on The History Channel that unearthed some possible evidence about Amelia Earhart and the fate of her last flight. There's a NY Times article about it.
Very compelling narrative, at least in the TV program. It alleges that Amelia was a much more highly skilled pilot than most people believed back then. The theory is that due to a navigational error (partly induced by bad weather), she realized they wouldn't reach their next way point, so she turned back to hopefully land on a south Pacific island. Unfortunately, she ended up reaching the Marshall Islands, which were under Japanese control at the time.
From all the evidence turned up, it looks like she landed safely with minor damage to her plane. Bits of small plane parts were found on one of the Atolls which appear to match a museum preserved version of her plane. It is theorized that the Japanese discovered her and treated her as a spy and she became a prisoner. They have not been able to find a trace of her grave anywhere. They have no idea how long she lived.
The main contention is the possibility that the US military knew Earhart had been captured, but did nothing about it. This is according to some US Naval documentation that was classified but accidentally released. Why was nothing done? Because they knew her fate from having cracked Japanese communication codes. It would've been detrimental to reveal that. But... WHY NOT after the war, contact them regarding Earhart? That I find puzzling.
The article doesn't buy the narrative that Amelia landed her plane and survived... despite the documentation and physical evidence of plane parts.
EDIT: It did fail to reveal that the "key photo" was debunked. Found in a publication 2 years prior to Amelia's flight! [LINK]
I really wish what would have been brought up recently is the idea of contacting the Japanese. Surely they'd have records that may identify Amelia Earhart and her navigator Fred Noonan. But nobody mentions it. Very strange. I don't think there would be any shame in it. After all, it was a different time and there's no trace of anyone from that administration. Maybe the Japanese find it too reprehensible to consider it?
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