Amelia Earhart Theory

What Happened to Amelia Earhart?

On July 2nd 1937, Amelia Earhart disappeared into the ocean along with Fred Noonan. Amelia Earhart was the first woman to fly solo across the Atlantic Ocean. She set many records and wanted to set more by flying around the world. Unfortunately, as she was attempting to do this, she disappeared into the Pacific Ocean. There are many theories that explain the disappearance of Amelia Earhart, but three valid points best help explain the mystery.

One theory to the disappearance of Amelia Earhart is that her plane did not have enough fuel to fly another 600­-800 miles to Marshall Island and eventually crashed and sank. This theory was proposed by Elgen M. Long who claims to have solved the mystery. According to Long, while flying, Earhart experienced strong headwinds and storms that caused her to use more fuel. He says, “Earhart’s first intelligible message to Lae, at 2:18 p.m. local time, was when she reported, “HEIGHT 7000 FEET SPEED 140 KNOTS.” The increased winds had made them recalculate their optimum speed.” (Campbell) This may be true because when increasing altitudes and fighting back storms, the plane has to increase its speed which uses up the fuel. The aftermath of using too much fuel caused the engine of her plane, Electra, to “cough” and sent the plane crashing into the ocean, killing both Amelia Earhart and

Fred Noonan. Moreover, Elgen Long claimed Earhart knew they were running out of fuel so she contacted the Itaska, a picket ship, but was unable to hear them guide her. Despite this, Earhart sensed that her plane was about to crash, so she made an effort to make an emergency landing. “She was 100 miles from Howland Island but her radio direction finder was malfunctioning. She sent her last message giving her position as she plunged into the water.” (Brainard) This can also be convincing because the picket ship and the plane may not have been close together to be able to communicate clearly. This lack of communication and guidance impacted Amelia Earhart’s ability to react to the situation quickly. In summary, Elgen Long’s theory, “ Crash and Sank” declared that Earhart died as she ran out fuel, crashed in the ocean. This theory held true with its reasonability but with lack of much evidence, the theory soon got overshadowed.
Another theory by Rollin C. Reineck is that Amelia Earhart survived the crash-land at Marshall Island, got captured by the Japanese, secretly repatriated, and lived under a new name, “Irene Bolam”. When Earhart radioed she was headed North, the message was intercepted by the Japanese who took her hostage. (Roach and Than) Reineck claims that Earhart acted as a spy for the US government and ditched her plane on purpose. According to him, “the scheme would have allowed the U.S. government to rescue Earhart in the Marshall Islands and at the same time perform pre war reconnaissance on the Japanese.”(Roach and Than) This is not very convincing because there is no proof that supports any of Reineck’s statements. There is no proof of a plane at Marshall Islands and the government claimed they did not send Earhart as a spy. However, his idea of “pre war reconnaissance on the Japanese” may be convincing because Earhart disappeared right before World War II occurred. Japan may have thought that Earhart was a spy who reported all military strategies to the US military and government. Furthermore, Reineck’s friend, who thought that Irene Bolam significantly resembled Amelia Earhart, led Reineck to believe they were the same person.“Expert analysis has determined that several photographs of Irene Bolam, her handwriting, and other forensic evidence indicate her connection to Amelia Earhart.”(Roach) He claims that after rescuing Amelia Earhart, the government forced her to change her name for national security reasons. This does not make sense because there can be many doppelgangers or look-alikes of people who are not related at all. Reineck’s allegation that Earhart and Bolam are the same person made Bolam file a lawsuit against him. In conclusion, Reineck’s statement of Amelia being hostage in Japan, changing her name and living a new life is not very convincing.
The final theory is that Amelia Earhart and Fred Noonan landed and eventually died on Gardner Island. This theory introduced by the TIGHAR organization supplies the most evidence. TIGHAR claims that Earhart and Noonan safely made it to Gardner Island after knowing they were running out of fuel. They tried to make distress calls using the aircraft’s radio but no one could hear them. They eventually died on the island due to lack of food and water. “Earhart and Noonan lived for a time as castaways on the waterless atoll, relying on rain squalls for drinking water. They caught and cooked small fish, seabirds, turtles and clams. Amelia died at a makeshift campsite on the island’s southeast end. Noonan’s fate is unknown.” (TIGHAR) Earhart and Noonan could have lived if the U.S government had heard the distress calls. This theory is very reasonable because of the evidence that supports it and also of the science that follows each statement. The researchers that introduced found a metal fragment that looked like it could have belonged to the aircraft, a sextant, and a man’s and woman’s shoe. “The Navy fliers saw no airplane but they did see “signs of recent habitation.” (TIGHAR) They thought that none of the islands in the area were inhabitable so they moved on. These pieces of evidence proves that Amelia Earhart could have possibly died at this island. To make sure the evidence matched Earhart and Noonan, the researchers did tests and found that the evidences matched Earhart and Noonan and what they were likely to be carrying. The TIGHAR theory is the most plausible theory as it is more closer to the reality of what happened to Amelia Earhart and Fred Noonan.
In conclusion, there were many theories that supported Earhart and Noonan’s disappearance but only three seemed to be most explained.

The three main theories provided to analyze the mysterious disappearance of Amelia Earhart and Fred Noonan are the “Crash and Sank” theory, changing the name and living a new life theory, and the Gardner Island theory. The most plausible explanation supported by multiple evidences is that Amelia Earhart and Fred Noonan arrived safely at Gardner Island but later died of thirst and hunger. However, no theory is convincing enough to answer the question: What really happened to Amelia

Earhart?