MUFONET-BBS GROUP - MUTUAL UFO NETWORK ARCHAEOLOGY NEWS

MUFONET-BBS GROUP - MUTUAL UFO NETWORK ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ ARCHAEOLOGY NEWS - WIRE ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ ÚÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄż ł=START= XMT: 14:53 Mon Mar 16 EXP: 15:00 Mon Mar 23 ł ł ł łAMELIA EARHART LANDED SAFELY ON ISLAND BEFORE DYING OF ł łTHIRST, RESEARCHERS SAY ł ł ł łWASHINGTON (MARCH 16) UPI - Amelia Earhart landed safely on ł ła remote, uninhabited Pacific Island in 1937 and survived ł łfor about a week before she and her navigator died of ł łthirst, investigators concluded Monday. ł ł ł łRichard Gillespie of TIGHAR, the International Group for ł łHistoric Aircraft Recovery, displayed fragments from an ł łairplane wreck, a shoe, and a bottle cap found last year on ł łNikumaroro Island to support the organization's theory aboutł łEarhart's disappearance. ł ł ł ł''For 55 years her fate has been a mystery,'' said Gillespieł łat a news conference. ''Today that mystery has been ł łsolved.'' ł ł ł łEarhart was famous during the 1930s for setting airplane ł łspeed and altitude records. She was the first woman to crossł łthe Atlantic in an airplane. She and her navigator, Fred ł łNoonan, disappeared in the South Pacific on July 2, 1937, ł łwhile attempting to fly around the world. No trace of the ł łaviators or the aircraft was ever found despite a search by ł łthe U.S. Navy. ł ł ł łGillespie said that scientific and historic analysis showed ł łconclusively that a piece of aluminum from an aircraft bellył łand an antenna wire were from Earhart's twin-engine Lockheedł łElectra. The woman's shoe was the same size and appearance ł łas shoes worn by Earhart. ł ł ł łThe bottle cap was manufactured in the 1930s, he said, and ł łmatched a medicine bottle known to have been carried by the ł łwoman aviator. ł ł ł łEarhart's plane vanished shortly before it was scheduled to ł łland on Howland Island, about 350 miles from Nikumaroro ł łIsland, which is 2,000 southwest of the Hawaiian Islands. ł ł ł łOver the years, investigators have proposed a number of ł łtheories about the disappearance. One idea was that Earhart ł łran out of gasoline and the plane crashed into the ocean. ł łAnother said that Earhart was forced down on a Japanese-heldł łisland, where she was secretly executed as a spy. ł ł ł łGillespie's theory is that Earhart was unable to find ł łHowland Island. As her fuel ran low, she flew a ''line of ł łposition'' toward the rising sun, which would have taken herł łdirectly over Nikumaroro Island, then known as Gardner ł łIsland. ł ł ł łEarhart landed easily on the flat coral reef where there ł łwere plenty of fish, crabs and other food, but no fresh ł łwater, Gillespie said. Temperatures on the island often ł łreach 120 degrees Fahrenheit. He estimated that without ł łwater, the two aviators could have survived for only a week.ł ł ł łAnalysis showed that the recovered metal shard from the ł łplane's belly had been torn off by an ocean wave. Gillespie ł łsaid that after landing, the plane was washed out to sea by ł ła storm. ł ł ł łTIGHAR submitted the plane parts, which had been dug out of ł łthe sand by a recent storm, to the National Safety ł łTransportation Board for scientific analysis. The NSTB ł łconfirmed that the parts had come from an airplane ł łmanufactured before World War II, but took no stand as to ł łwhether the fragments were actually from the Earhart plane. ł ł ł łGillespie character ''She was findable, but the Navy didn't ł łfind her,'' he said. ł ł ł łTIGHAR plans to return to the island next year to conduct anł łunderwater search for the remainder of the plane. ł ł ł łGillespie conceded that not all investigators are convinced ł łthat the new evidence has solved the mystery, but that he ł łremained confident. ''All of the evidence points to this ł łsolution,'' he said. ł ł ł ł=END= ł