In 1937, aviator Amelia Earhart vanished over the Pacific Ocean with navigator Fred Noonan while flying toward tiny Howland Island. A large search found no wreckage, and researchers still debate whether the plane crashed at sea or landed elsewhere.
Amelia Earhart: lost in the Pacific
On July 2, 1937, aviation pioneer Amelia Earhart disappeared over the central Pacific while attempting to fly around the world. Her disappearance made headlines worldwide and remains one of the best-known unsolved cases of the 20th century.
Earhart was already famous: in 1932 she became the first woman to fly solo across the Atlantic.
The final leg of the flight
Earhart and navigator Fred Noonan took off from Lae, New Guinea, in a twin-engine Lockheed Electra, bound for Howland Island, a speck of land about 2,500 miles away. The U.S. Coast Guard cutter Itasca, stationed near Howland, received her radio calls but the two sides were unable to establish two-way communication. One of her last messages reported: “We are on the line 157 337… We are running on line north and south.”
Researchers believe the plane was running low on fuel by the time of her final transmissions. After that, nothing more was heard from the aircraft that could be confirmed.
The search
The U.S. Navy and Coast Guard launched what was then one of the most extensive sea searches ever conducted, covering roughly 250,000 square miles of ocean with ships and aircraft. The search was reported to have cost about $4 million at the time. No trace of the plane or crew was found.
Private expeditions have continued to look for the Electra in the decades since.
The main theories
Researchers generally fall into a few camps: that the plane ran out of fuel and sank near Howland Island, that Earhart and Noonan landed on another island and later died there, or, less credibly, that they were captured or survived under new identities. None has been proven.
The International Group for Historic Aircraft Recovery (TIGHAR) has led several expeditions to Nikumaroro Island in the Phoenix Islands, where it says it has found possible clues. Those findings remain disputed.
Crash at sea
Many historians, along with the U.S. government’s conclusion at the time, favor the view that the Electra ran out of fuel and went down in the ocean somewhere near Howland Island. Some deep-sea search teams have used sonar to scan the seafloor in that area. In 2024, a company announced a sonar image it thought might show the Electra, but later said further imaging showed it was a natural rock formation.
For years after the disappearance, people reported seeing Earhart in various places. None of these sightings was confirmed.
The Nikumaroro theory
In 1940, British colonial officials found partial human bones on Nikumaroro, then called Gardner Island, along with some other items. A doctor who examined the bones at the time concluded they belonged to a man, and the bones themselves were later lost. In 2018, a study by anthropologist Richard Jantz reanalyzed the original measurements and argued they were more consistent with Earhart than with most people. Other researchers dispute that conclusion.
Artifacts recovered by TIGHAR on the island continue to be debated by supporters and skeptics.
Radio signals after the disappearance
In the days after Earhart vanished, radio operators across the Pacific and in the United States reported hearing distress calls. Some researchers believe at least some were genuine and came from the plane on land, which would have needed to run an engine to power its radio. Others consider them hoaxes or misheard transmissions.
Amateur radio listeners were among those who reported hearing the signals.
The Japanese capture theory
Another theory holds that Earhart and Noonan landed in the Marshall Islands or on Saipan, then under Japanese control, and were taken prisoner. Supporters cite accounts from island residents, but historians say there is no documentary evidence to confirm it. A photograph promoted in a 2017 television documentary as possible evidence was later found to have been published in a book in 1935, two years before the flight.
The new identity theory
A 1970 book claimed that Earhart survived and was living in New Jersey under the name Irene Bolam. Bolam denied the claim and sued the publisher. The theory has been widely rejected.
Earhart in popular culture
Earhart’s story has inspired many books, documentaries and films. The 2009 film “Amelia” starred Hilary Swank in the title role. She remains a symbol of courage and adventure in aviation.
Her legacy
Earhart’s achievements as a pilot and her advocacy for women in aviation have inspired generations of female pilots. She helped found the Ninety-Nines, an organization of women pilots, in 1929.
The search continues
Expeditions continue to search both the waters near Howland Island and the island of Nikumaroro. Unless the wreckage of the Electra is found and identified, the question of exactly what happened on July 2, 1937, is likely to remain open.
Source: National Geographic
