NIKUMARORO ISLANDS, KIRIBATI: Nearly 90 years after Amelia Earhart's disappearance, a freshly unearthed picture has provided a new lead in the hunt for her. She is believed to have crashed and died on Nikumaroro Island — a remote atoll between New Zealand and Hawaii.
The then 39-year-old pioneering aviatrix was trying to become the first woman to fly around the globe in 1937 when her plane vanished en route to Howland Island in the Pacific Ocean.
At that time, a million-dollar investigation was immediately launched to locate Earhart and her navigator Fred Noonan.
However, no traces of the pair were found for many years, triggering a flurry of ludicrous theories, one of which indicated that she was killed as a castaway on Nikumaroro Island and devoured by enormous crabs.
Then, last year, a scientific analysis shared a series of hidden letters and numbers etched on an aluminum panel that washed ashore on Nikumaroro Island, not far from where Amelia Earhart's plane vanished.
The discovery sparked optimism that investigators were close to solving one of the 20th century's most enduring mysteries. However, those hopes were crushed after meticulous analysis confirmed that the panel did not belong to Earhart's Lockheed Electra.
Could the new image solve the mystery of Amelia Earhart's disappearance?
Now, an expert has revealed that investigators are critically analyzing a new image which they think shows an engine cover buried underwater close to Nikumaroro that could have come from Earhart's plane.
Ric Gillespie told Daily Mail that the underwater picture was taken during an expedition to Nikumaroro in 2009. “There is an object in the photo that appears to be a Lockheed Electra engine cowling,” stated Gillespie, executive director of The International Group for Historic Aircraft Recovery.
Notably, Gillespie’s group has led The Earhart Project, which has been looking into the 1937 disappearance of Earhart and her navigator Fred Noonan, since 1988.
"The similarity to an engine cowling and prop shaft was not noticed until years later and the exact location was not noted at the time, which meant attempts to re-locate the object were unsuccessful," Gillespie added.
However, it is important to note that even if the engine cover is confirmed to be from Amelia Earhart's aircraft, the results of the forensic investigation may not instantly indicate what happened to the renowned flyer.
What led mystery of Amelia Earhart's disappearance to Nikumaroro Island?
This newly unearthed image could assist in disproving certain theories and supporting others, including TIGHAR's steadfast belief that Earhart and Noonan landed and ultimately perished on Nikumaroro.
The research group believes the aluminum panel could support their theory as well.
They previously stated that the panel, known as 2-2-V-1 and found in 1991, may have been the metal patch that Earhart's plane received during her tragic round-the-world flight attempt when repairs were conducted in Miami.
Scientists last year uncovered letters and numbers etched on the panel that experts said could be related to a manufacturing code. The letters and numbers "D24," "XRO," and either "335" or "385" were found, not visible to the naked eye.
Following this find, a frantic search began with experts on the case as well as amateurs attempting to decode the text. However, the conclusion of this search was anticlimactic.
"Our forensic imaging specialist Jeff Glickman is still working on his final report, but it is looking like 2-2-V-1 is from the upper wing surface of a WWII Douglas C-47," Gillespie said.
"Disappointing after all these years and so many promising similarities to the patch on Earhart's Electra, but science is what it is. This, of course, has no bearing on all of the other evidence that puts Earhart on Nikumaroro," he added, standing by his theory.
