Most people like a good mystery. The
lost continent of Atlantis, the Bermuda Triangle, Bigfoot. And of
course, whatever happened to Amelia Earhart. And while some people
just ready about the mystery and enjoy not knowing. Other folks go
out looking for answers.
For Amelia Earhart the group out
looking is TIGHAR (The International Group for
Historic Aircraft Recovery). This is a
non-profit group that wants responsible aircraft archeology. Doesn't
it seem odd that aircraft have been around long enough for
archeology? And they have recently released a press release
indicating that a piece of Earhart's plane was found. Actually it was
found back in 1991 washed up on a beach of the island Nikumaroro. And
this island is not too far, at least as planes fly, from her
destination of Howland Island.
That piece of debris has been
determined to be an aluminum patch that had been used to replace a
window in Earhart's Lockheed Electra in Miami in June of 1937. The
patch with its size and rivet hole positions matches the object found
on the island. Given aircraft design, those patterns are almost like
a fingerprint.
In addition, there is a sonar anomaly
on the reef of Nikumaroro. About 600 feet below the surface. Which
the people at TIGHAR hope to investigate using underwater robots and
subs to see if it is the actual wreckage of the plane.
And if it is, that's even more
evidence that Earhart and her co-pilot Fred Noonan landed the plane,
but on the reef. Where it eventually washed out into the ocean off
the reef. Of course this makes the story sadder in some ways, since
she survived the crash, or landing, and is supposed to have attempted
to make radio contact for a few days afterwards. At least until the
plane slipped down into the ocean. So she and perhaps Noonan lived
out their lives never found on that island.
But to check out the possible plane
below the surface, TIGHAR needs money. Underwater robots aren't
cheap, and Nikumaroro is not on the beaten track, so they have to
have a lot of supplies.
I'm not sure how well their
fund-raising goes, but at lot of the time for these kind of
mysteries, there's more money to be made on it remaining a mystery,
than if it becomes solved. There's not too much money that can be
made from knowing what happened to Amelia. Or Bigfoot, or Atlantis
and ancient astronauts. But there is a fair amount of money that can
be made from selling books about the mystery. Or TV shows on the
“History” channel.
Do you think, if I wrote a book on
Bigfoot kidnapping Amelia Earhart back in time to Atlantis, to help
ancient astronauts could I get it in the non-fiction section at a
book store? Or has that already been done?
If you want to read the TIGHAR press
release or donate check out their web page at
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