Amelia Earhart Plane Found? Missing Fragment in Nikumaroro Likely Lockheed Electra

Since the disappearance of Amelia Earhart over the Pacific Ocean on July 2, 1937, no sign of Earhart or her aircraft has ever been documented. Now, according to a new report, a piece of aircraft debris found in Nikumaroro from 1991 has been identified to a high degree of certainty to be part of Earhart's lost plane.

The International Group for Historic Aircraft Recovery (TIGHAR) details that the aircraft fragment made of aluminum is the first artifact linked to Earhart's final expedition. It is believed to be part of the unique window installed in the legendary aviatrix's Lockheed Electra during her stay in Miami, her journey's fourth stop.

"During Amelia Earhart's stay in Miami at the beginning of her second world flight attempt, a custom-made, special window on her Lockheed Electra aircraft was removed and replaced with an aluminum patch. The patch was an expedient field modification. Its dimensions, proportions, and pattern of rivets were dictated by the hole to be covered and the structure of the aircraft. The patch was as unique to her particular aircraft as a fingerprint is to an individual. Research has now shown that a section of aircraft aluminum TIGHAR found on Nikumaroro in 1991 matches that fingerprint in many respects," said the new study.

"The Miami Patch was an expedient field repair," quoted Discovery News of Ric Gillespie, executive director of TIGHAR. "Its complex fingerprint of dimensions, proportions, materials and rivet patterns was as unique to Earhart's Electra as a fingerprint is to an individual."

The artifact measuring 19-inches wide by 23-inches long provides strong evidence that contrary to many conspiracy theories on the events that led to the death of Earhart and navigator, Fred Noonan, the plane did not crash into the Pacific Ocean. Rather, TIGHAR suggests that the pair ran out of fuel about 350 miles southeast of Howland Island, their target destination and became castaways and eventually died due to a lack of resources.

"Earhart sent radio distress calls for at least five nights before the Electra was washed into the ocean by rising tides and surf," explained Gillespie.

This newly provided information sheds more light to the 77-year-old aviation mystery. Newsweek reports that TIGHAR will be making yet another journey to Nikumaroro "to further investigate the anomaly using remotely operated vehicle technology."

TIGHAR is in the process of raising funds to make the journey to the uninhabited atoll in the southwestern Pacific republic of Kiribati and hopefully, bring more answers about the Amelia Earhart disappearance.