Post by MCDemuth on Jul 30, 2019 3:32:12 GMT
Gardner Island hypothesis:
The Gardner Island (Nikumaroro) hypothesis assumes that Earhart and Noonan, having not found Howland Island, would not waste time searching for Howland. Instead, they would turn to the south and look for other islands. The 157/337 radio transmission suggests they flew a course of 157° that would take them past Baker Island; if they missed Baker Island, then sometime later they would fly over the Phoenix Islands, now part of the Republic of Kiribati, about 350 nautical miles (650 km) south-southeast of Howland Island. The Gardner Island hypothesis has the plane making it to Gardner Island (now Nikumaroro), one of the Phoenix Islands.
A week after Earhart disappeared, Navy planes from USS Colorado (which had sailed from Pearl Harbor) searched Gardner Island. The planes saw signs of recent habitation and the wreck of the SS Norwich City, but did not see any signs of Earhart's plane or people.
In 2012, a photograph, taken in October 1937 of the reef at Nikumaroro after her disappearance, was enhanced. According to the analysts who viewed it, "a blurry object sticking out of the water in the lower left corner of the black-and-white photo is consistent with a strut and wheel of a Lockheed Electra landing gear"
In 1988, The International Group for Historic Aircraft Recovery (TIGHAR) began an investigation of the Earhart/Noonan disappearance and since then has sent ten research expeditions to Gardner Island/Nikumaroro. They have suggested Earhart and Noonan may have flown without further radio transmissions for two and a half hours along the line of position Earhart noted in her last transmission received at Howland, then found the then-uninhabited Gardner Island, landed the Electra on an extensive reef flat near the wreck of a large freighter (the SS Norwich City) on the northwest side of the atoll, and ultimately perished...
TIGHAR's research has produced a range of archaeological and anecdotal evidence supporting this hypothesis. TIGHAR has sent a number of expeditions to Nikumaroro looking for evidence, although they have found nothing conclusive; expeditions include ones in 2007, 2010, 2012, and 2017. Artifacts discovered by TIGHAR on Nikumaroro have included improvised tools; an aluminum panel, possibly from an Electra, made using 1930s manufacturing specifications; an oddly cut piece of clear Plexiglas the same thickness and curvature of an Electra window; and a size 9 Cat's Paw heel dating from the 1930s, which resembles Earhart's footwear in world flight photos. Recently rediscovered photos of Earhart's Electra just before departure in Miami show an aluminum panel over a window on the right side. Ric Gillespie, head of TIGHAR, claimed the found aluminum panel artifact has the same dimensions and rivet pattern as the one shown in the photo "to a high degree of certainty". Based on this new evidence, Gillespie returned to the atoll in June 2015, but operations using a remotely operated underwater vehicle to investigate a sonar detection of a possible wreckage were hampered by technical problems. Further, a review of sonar data concluded it was most likely a coral ridge. The evidence remains circumstantial, but Earhart's surviving stepson, George Putnam Jr., has expressed support for TIGHAR's research.
A few news articles have considered TIGHAR's theory, and generally consider it the most plausible of the "Earhart survived" theories, although not proven over crash-and-sink...
Read More Here:
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Amelia_Earhart#Gardner_Island_hypothesis
Robert Ballard
Robert Duane Ballard (born June 30, 1942) is a retired United States Navy officer and a professor of oceanography at the University of Rhode Island who is most noted for his work in underwater archaeology: maritime archaeology and archaeology of shipwrecks.
He is most known for the discoveries of the wrecks of the RMS Titanic in 1985, the battleship Bismarck in 1989, and the aircraft carrier USS Yorktown in 1998. He discovered the wreck of John F. Kennedy's PT-109 in 2002...
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Robert_Ballard
Announcement From TIGHAR'S Ric Gillespie:
"On July 23, 2019, National Geographic announced that Bob Ballard, finder of the Titanic, will try to find the Earhart aircraft at Nikumaroro.
Prior to TIGHAR's 2012 expedition, Dr. Ballard described his views on the search for the Earhart plane and wished TIGHAR “fair winds, a following sea, and a little luck” (youtu.be/67qlnUXBdrQ). We sincerely wish him the same.
TIGHAR will not be officially participating in the expedition but we have reached an agreement with National Geographic for TIGHAR's assistance in the production of the two-hour television special “Expedition Amelia.” All news about the expedition will come from National Geographic.
tighar.org/smf/index.php/topic,2077.0.html
Fantastic News!!!
If only one person can find Amelia Earhart's plane in the surrounding waters off Gardner Island (Nikumaroro), Bob Ballard is the one to do it!
Best Of Luck to him in his search!
