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Modern Mysteries

Amelia Earhart's distress calls revealed

By T.K. Randall
July 27, 2018 · Comment icon 10 comments

Did Amelia Earhart die as a castaway on a remote Pacific island ? Image Credit: Harris and Ewing
The famed aviator is thought to have sent several dozen distress calls while stranded on a remote Pacific island.
When Amelia Earhart disappeared over the Pacific Ocean during an attempt to circumnavigate the globe in her Lockheed Model 10 Electra in 1937, the question of what happened to her would go on to become one of the most enduring mysteries of the modern age.

In recent years however, clues have been found suggesting that Earhart's plane may have gone down somewhere in the remote Pacific atoll of Nikumaroro and that the aviator and her navigator Fred Noonan may have even survived for several days on a small island while awaiting rescue.

Now Richard Gillespie, executive director of The International Group for Historic Aircraft Recovery, is set to publish a new report detailing an analysis of radio distress signals picked up during the time Earhart and Noonan would have been waiting for help to arrive.

The messages, which were picked up by both government agencies and individual radio operators, paint a harrowing picture of the aviator's desperate attempts to signal for assistance.
The last message, which was received by Thelma Lovelace of St. Johns, New Brunswick, Canada approximately five days after the crash, stated:

"Can you read me? Can you read me? This is Amelia Earhart... Please come in. We have taken in water, my navigator is badly hurt... we are in need of medical care and must have help."

"We can't hold on much longer."

Earlier this year, it was revealed that human bones discovered on a remote island in the region back in 1940 may have been those of Earthart herself.

If the remains of her plane could be found as well, it would solve the mystery once and for all.

Source: USA Today | Comments (10)




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Recent comments on this story
Comment icon #1 Posted by Not A Rockstar 6 years ago
I have always felt they could have found them, just did not really try as hard as they could have, or did not know how.
Comment icon #2 Posted by Myles 6 years ago
Why did it take this long for me to hear of this?       http://www.foxnews.com/science/2018/07/26/dozens-heard-amelia-earhart-radio-for-help-after-crashing-into-pacific-report.html Dozens of people from around the world heard Amelia Earhart and her navigator Fred Noonan radio for help after crashing into the Pacific Ocean and becoming stranded on a remote island, according to researchers. The International Group for Historic Aircraft Recovery (TIGHAR) theorizes that Earhart and Noonan were able to employ their two-way radio in the downed Lockheed Electra to send pleas for help in their fina... [More]
Comment icon #3 Posted by Ozfactor 6 years ago
If dozens heard these distress messages why are we only hearing about it now ? DNA testing would solve this ?
Comment icon #4 Posted by cyclopes500 6 years ago
Was the mode of radio transmission she used morse code or voice? A voice in English civilian people would understand. As for morse I'm not so sure. If I remember rightly morse uses a narrow bandwidth and a morse message also travels further for the same amount of wattage.    
Comment icon #5 Posted by LucidElement 6 years ago
Boy Amelia really screwed the pooch on this one. Instead of her saying, "Can you read me? Can you read me?". She should have given some sort of idea of her location or surrounding area. Good one Amelia, now we still cant find you! We might be able to read you, but we sure as hell cant find you!
Comment icon #6 Posted by UFOwatcher 6 years ago
I'm not sure if I'm buying into this. She was transmitting in the blind not sure if anyone could hear her. Typically you would cram all the (Location) information you could into the short limited transmissions. A housewife heard her while scanning the home radio? Those old radios often did cover some shortwave bands but would take a powerful signal because of the small home (usually internal) antenna. I would dismiss the housewife account.
Comment icon #7 Posted by TripGun 6 years ago
A woman's adventure outside of the kitchen.
Comment icon #8 Posted by Seti42 6 years ago
I don't think the 'powers that be' at the time really wanted Earhart found. Sexism? Probably. Other reasons? Maybe...I doubt we'll ever know the full story. That's why it's a popular mystery and conspiracy theory magnet.
Comment icon #9 Posted by Berwen 6 years ago
Something just doesn't sound right to me. Why is this just coming to light now and not when it happened. This would have been too big to keep hushed up in 1937. I suspect some ulterior motive here.
Comment icon #10 Posted by Hammerclaw 6 years ago
They were talking about radio transmissions when I was a kid. It's just TIGHAR, repackaging old news and banging the gong for more donations. 


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