Nikumaroro Island: Earhart’s Final Resting Place?

After years of searching, has the final resting place of renowned pilot Amelia Earhart been found?  The legendary aviator more than likely died on Nikumaroro island, according to The International Group for Historic Aircraft Recovery (TIGHAR).

Nikumaroro island is a tropical island in the southwestern Pacific republic of Kiribati.

Earhart vanished over the Pacific Ocean on July 2, 1937 while attempting to to fly around the world. Her final resting place was never found.

Richard Gillespie, TIGHAR's executive director and author of the book "Finding Amelia," and his team have been scouring the Nikumaroro island in search of evidence of Earhart for years.

Nikumaroro lies approximately 300 miles to the southeast of Earhart's target destination, Howland Island.

TIGHAR has recovered several artifacts that indicate that Amelia  Earhart and Fred Noonan, her navigator, had to make a forced landing on the island.

Gillespie says that the duo became castaways and eventually died there.  Next summer, he's going to embark on a new $500,000 Nikumaroro expedition.

According to Gillespie, a British Colonial Service officer, Gerald Gallagher, found a partial skeleton of a castaway on Nikumaroro back in 1940.  Those bones have now been lost, however.

Also found were a woman's shoe, an empty bottle and a sextant box that seems to match the type used by Noonan.

Gillespie also says that many of the bones were likely carried away by giant coconut crabs.

Earhart never made it around the world, but she quickly morphed into a legend following her last radio transmission.

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• Search for Amelia Earhart: Was She Stranded? (abcnews.go.com)
• Jonathan Kim: ReThink Review: Amelia -- Yup, It's a Biopic (huffingtonpost.com)
• Amelia Earhart's Scarf Flying to Space (space.com)
• Earhart mystery could be solved with help of DNA lab (ctv.ca)

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Technorati Tags: Amelia Earhart, Finding Amelia, Fred Noonan, Gerald Gallagher, Kiribati, Nikumaroro, The International Group for Historic Aircraft Recovery, TIGHAR, Unexplained Phenomenon

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