Discovering what really happened to Earhart
The romanticism of the Earhart mystery
By Debbie Lowe Staff writer

Tuesday, July 24, would have been the 110th birthday of Amelia Earhart. And at this very minute, a team of 15 researchers, mostly scientists, are on the south sea island formerly known as Gardner Island. They are there to search for conclusive evidence that Earhart, along with navigator Fred Noonan, survived a crash landing and lived for a time before their deaths.

There are many rumors surrounding the disappearance of the female aviator who was employed at Purdue University on the West Lafayette campus as a counselor prior to the attempt to fly around the world. One rumor found on the History channel is that Earhart did not disappear and did not die on that trip, but changed her identity and lived out the remainder of her life in New Jersey. Another rumor involved a theory that Amelia was on a spy mission for the United States Government in which it was expected she would be captured by the Japanese. The theory explains the government would have to rescue her and thereby learn Japan's war plans and secret locations of munitions.

The International Group for Historic Aircraft Restoration, TIGHAR, which includes one member from Crawfordsville, firmly believe they can prove Earhart and Noonan crashlanded on Gardner Island due to fuel exhaustion. The island is located 1,000 miles from Fiji and 600 miles from Samoa Island and was renamed Nikumaroro after the disappearance.

TIGHAR researchers left Los Angeles July 12, traveled to Fiji and boarded a 120-foot sail boat for the five day, 1,000 mile trek to Nikumaroro. They arrived there July 19.

The group plans to focus their research primarily on two sites on the island. One area, known as 'the seven site,' is where a campsite and partial skeleton were found in 1940. Unfortunately, the skeleton was lost years later and has not been recovered. However, records of the find are still intact.

The other is a village site where aircraft parts were found on a previous expedition. The parts are believed to be from a portion of Earhart's Lockheed Electra, which was purchased by the Purdue Research Foundation in West Lafayette for the around-the-world trip.

Three special investigations will be carried out by the group during the expedition. A taphonomy study will be performed to determine what native crabs do with articles, such as bone and teeth, when they latch on to them and scurry off. Historical documents indicate only five teeth were found with the skull and mandible in 1940. That would mean approximately 23 teeth, and perhaps four wisdom teeth, were carried away by the crabs. Scientists want to know where crabs take objects so they can more readily predict where to find the personal effects of Earhart and Noonan to prove the island was their last resting place.

A reef/tidal survey will be conducted in another area on the island. Using sophisticated surveying equipment, information will be collected about the reefflat where the Electra is believed to have landed on July 2, 1937, and three days later washed over the reef edge. The depth of the water around the island atoll, comprised of volcanic rock, is approximately 10,000 feet, making search and recovery efforts a very costly proposition for the group.

The third investigation, the 'arrowhead investigation' will focus on an area depicted in a 1938 aerial photograph of the island showing a bare spot in the vegetation nearly 50 feet across that appears unnaturally bright as if made with beach sand. It was earlier determined there is no flaw in the photograph and it is a site that archeologists believe Earhart and/or Noonan used to signal passing aircraft of the location of the survivor(s).

Gary Quigg is a TIGHAR member and one of the researchers on site for this expedition. Quigg is a Crawfordsville native and graduated from Ball State University. He was the featured speaker at the Delphi Airport during the recent Transportation Festival. The Experimental Aviation Association (EAA) Chapter #256 hosted the event.

During the talk, Quigg explained the belief that Amelia landed on Gardner Island comes from radio transmissions for three days after her disappearance. He said a young Georgia girl was monitoring her father's short-wave radio at the time and journaled Earhart's transmissions for three days when they abruptly halted. During the transmissions, Earhart described Noonan's injuries from the crash and provided the coordinates for their location. Quigg said TIGHAR researchers believe after three days on the island, the Electra was swept over the edge of the atoll into the deep ocean.

TIGHAR Executive Director Ric Gillespie authored "Finding Amelia" about the search for the missing aviators. It can be viewed (and purchased) at the official Web site, www.tighar.org. The mystery of what happened to the airplane and flying duo will hopefully be solved, at least in part using scientific methods, by the time the researchers leave the island in August. Visit the Web site for a complete account of the group's three previous expeditions, plus a daily update of their current activities on the island.