Amelia Earhart captured by Japanese, didn't crash in the sea

[_AmyJo]

"A newly discovered photograph suggests legendary aviator Amelia Earhart, who vanished 80 years ago on a round-the-world flight, survived a crash-landing in the Marshall Islands.

The photo, found in a long-forgotten file in the National Archives, shows a woman who resembles Earhart and a man who appears to be her navigator, Fred Noonan, on a dock. The discovery is featured in a new History channel special, "Amelia Earhart: The Lost Evidence," that airs Sunday.

Independent analysts told History the photo appears legitimate and undoctored. Shawn Henry, former executive assistant director for the FBI and an NBC News analyst, has studied the photo and feels confident it shows the famed pilot and her navigator.

"When you pull out, and when you see the analysis that's been done, I think it leaves no doubt to the viewers that that's Amelia Earhart and Fred Noonan," Henry told NBC News.

Earhart was last heard from on July 2, 1937, as she attempted to become the first woman pilot to circumnavigate the globe. She was declared dead two years later after the U.S. concluded she had crashed somewhere in the Pacific Ocean, and her remains were never found.

But investigators believe they have found evidence Earhart and Noonan were blown off course but survived the ordeal. The investigative team behind the History special believes the photo may have been taken by someone who was spying for the U.S. on Japanese military activity in the Pacific.

Les Kinney, a retired government investigator who has spent 15 years looking for Earhart clues, said the photo "clearly indicates that Earhart was captured by the Japanese."

Japanese authorities told NBC News they have no record of Earhart being in their custody.

The photo, marked "Jaluit Atoll" and believed to have been taken in 1937, shows a short-haired woman — potentially Earhart — on a dock with her back to the camera. (She's wearing pants, something for which Earhart was known.) She sits near a standing man who looks like Noonan — down to the hairline.

"The hairline is the most distinctive characteristic," said Ken Gibson, a facial recognition expert who studied the image. "It's a very sharp receding hairline. The nose is very prominent."

Gibson added: "It's my feeling that this is very convincing evidence that this is probably Noonan."

The photo shows a Japanese ship, Koshu, towing a barge with something that appears to be 38-feet-long — the same length as Earhart's plane.

For decades, locals have claimed they saw Earhart's plane crash before she and Noonan were taken away. Native schoolkids insisted they saw Earhart in captivity. The story was even documented in postage stamps issued in the 1980s.

"We believe that the Koshu took her to Saipan [in the Mariana Islands], and that she died there under the custody of the Japanese," said Gary Tarpinian, the executive producer of the History special.

"We don't know how she died," Tarpinian said. "We don't know when."

It is not clear if the U.S. government knew who was in the photo. If it was taken by a spy, the U.S. may not have wanted to compromise that person by revealing the image."

Well damn, just damn. Even Agatha Christie couldn't have made this up.

http://www.wgrz.com/news/nation-world/n ... /454336435

[_The CCC]

I think it is going to take a lot more evidence than what was presented.

[_subgenius]

I think it is going to take a lot more evidence than what was presented.

The evidence also points to the possibility that in the wake of a smoldering brand recognition the fund raising flames likely needed a bit of fanning

http://ameliaearhart.com/licensing/
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Amelia_Rose_Earhart
https://tighar.org/
https://www.zonta.org/Global-Impact/Edu ... Fellowship

[_The CCC]

No funding = no research.

[_AmyJo]

There's a 2 hour documentary on this subject on the History Channel Sunday night.

I plan to be watching it.

As for evidence, it's the *only* known evidence there is, with a plausible explanation as to what really happened.

People in Saipan recall Amelia being taken prisoner in 1937. They had her featured on a postage stamp in the 1980's. She and Noonan were accused of being spies by the Japanese following their crash plane landing. Both purportedly died in captivity.

"The photo, which Kinney believes must have been taken before 1943, shows a ship towing a barge with an airplane on the back with several people on a nearby dock. Two independent analyses by Doug Carner and Kent Gibson said the photo appears to be legitimate, according to People. Carner determined it had not been altered, and Gibson, who specializes in facial recognition, said it’s likely the individuals are Earhart and Noonan. They both recognized the ship in the photo as Koshu Maru, a Japanese military vessel said to have captured the duo after their crash.

This Japanese military theory has been in discussion since the 1960s, and is backed by witnesses who apparently saw their aircraft land and saw the two in Japanese custody."

http://variety.com/2017/tv/news/amelia- ... 202487563/

[_subgenius]

No funding = no research.

no funding + no research = so what?

the relevance to what happened to Amelia is at level zero which is just below the interest and relevance of the topic to most un-retired people.

[_The CCC]

So said the idiots who doubted Columbus.

[_AmyJo]

No funding = no research.

no funding + no research = so what?

the relevance to what happened to Amelia is at level zero which is just below the interest and relevance of the topic to most un-retired people.

The research was done by retired volunteer FBI and Treasury investigators. They didn't get paid for their work, other than the intrinsic value of what they uncovered.

[_AmyJo]

No funding = no research.

no funding + no research = so what?

the relevance to what happened to Amelia is at level zero which is just below the interest and relevance of the topic to most un-retired people.

Disagree because there are lots of people intrigued and interested in what became of Amelia Earhart and her downed plane.

This may be the mea culpa to putting closure on her fate.

[_Jersey Girl]

Thanks for this very interesting heads up, AmyJo! I'll try to watch the program on Sunday. Pretty intriguing if you ask me!