#Irene Bolam

[astonishinglegends]

Ep 271: Amelia Earhart – Decoy for a Spy Plane?

"Not much more than a month ago, I was on the other shore of the Pacific, looking westward. This evening, I looked eastward over the Pacific. In those fast-moving days, which have intervened, the whole width of the world has passed behind us, except this broad ocean. I shall be glad when we have the hazards of its navigation behind us."  -- Amelia Earhart, a few days before her final flight

Description:

On July 3, 1975, the Ministry of Justice in Japan responded to an inquiry by Amelia Earhart researcher and investigator Major Joe Gervais. Gervais had sent a letter to the Department of Immigration and Naturalization in Tokyo, operating on the hunch that Earhart had been taken prisoner and held on Saipan during WWII but under an assumed identity. The Ministry of Justice responded, saying the woman in their custody was known to them as Irene Craigmile. This was not a name mentioned by Gervais to the Japanese authorities. So, who is Irene Craigmile? Craigmile and Earhart were acquaintances and pilots who looked similar, but photos show they are two separate people. This begs the question for the “Japanese Capture” theory of Earhart’s disappearance: who then went down with the plane that was apparently ditched near Buka Island in Papua New Guinea? Were these two women connected via some secret mission, and is the plane at Buka a version of Earhart’s Electra 10-E? These questions and evidence are just a few of the puzzle pieces of the enduring mystery of Earhart’s fateful last flight, meticulously stitched together by William “Bill” Pennington Snavely, Jr. in his latest book, Lost in Flight: Amelia Earhart, Giving Cover as a Decoy for a Spy Plane. In 2018, Bill was a guest on our show, where he outlined his research leading to a startling theory of Earhart’s plane possibly having crashed near the coast of Matsungan Island near Buka, eventually sinking to a depth of 109 feet. Two main aspects of Bill’s investigation that remain novel are that, unlike the other researchers, he calculated his flight tracking starting from the last known location and then traced backward and that his team is the only one with an aircraft to investigate whose characteristics match the Electra. Bill’s multiple expeditions to Buka have yielded intriguing evidence supporting his claim, evidence which has previously been kept under wraps due to nondisclosure agreements. However, as his research in the intervening years continued, a new hybrid theory emerged from his discoveries that may solve the disconnect between “Japanese Capture” and the wreckage at Buka. Could it be that a failed reconnaissance mission led to one of the greatest coverups in US history? Bill Snavely is now free to disclose the shocking findings he revealed in his book. Also joining us is longtime friend and fellow podcaster Chris Williamson, whose podcast Chasing Earhart and its companion book, Rabbit Hole: The Vanishing of Amelia Earhart & Fred Noonan, is the definitive interview collection. Prepare to suit up as we dive for the truth behind one of the world’s most famous and significant aviation enigmas.

Reference Links:

CLICK HERE to purchase Lost in Flight: Amelia Earhart, Giving Cover as a Decoy for a Spy Plane, by William “Bill” Pennington Snavely, Jr. from The Paragon Agency™ and SpecialBooks.com

CLICK HERE to purchase Bill Snavely’s previous book on Earhart and the Buka discovery, Tracking Amelia Earhart: Her Flight Path to the End

SpecialBooks.com from The Paragon Agency™

CLICK HERE to purchase Chris Williamson’s book Rabbit Hole: The Vanishing of Amelia Earhart & Fred Noonan

Irene Craigmile Bolam

1987 Marshall Islands postage stamp showing Earhart’s Electra from the “Amelia Earhart Controversy” website

Astonishing Legends episode 106: Earhart’s Plane Found?

Astonishing Legends Bonus Episode: EARHART'S PLANE? UPDATE WITH BILL SNAVELY

Astonishing Legends episode 90: Chasing Amelia Earhart with Chris Williamson

Astonishing Legends episode 4: Amelia Earhart Vanishes Part 1

Astonishing Legends episode 5: Amelia Earhart Vanishes Part 2

Buka Island

Jaluit Atoll

Imperial Japanese Naval ship the Koshu

“The Ground Loop Monster” from Trent Palmer’s YouTube channel

Ground Loop on Wikipedia

The Hawaiian island of Niʻihau

“Aircraft [Lockheed 10E Electra ZK-BUT painted as ZK-AFD]” entry on the New Zealand Museum of Transport and Technology website

Lockheed Electra stock photo images from the dreamstime.com website

Boxfish Robotics website

The MV Indies Trader surf exploration vessel, which took part in Quiksilver's Crossing from 1999-2005

Martin Daly, Australian Captain, and surfer

Location:

Matsungan Island, part of the Buka Island collection in eastern Papua New Guinea. Matsungan Island is where a young boy claimed to see an airplane ditch into the sea within 100 yards of the shoreline, with its left wing on fire and the occupants trying to use their radio before the plane sank. None of his fellow islanders believed him at the time, but in 1995, a local sponge diver named Teolo and his partner found the wreck of an aircraft resembling an Electra submerged in 109 feet of ocean water and a few hundred yards from the shore.

Related Books:

CLICK HERE to purchase “Lost in Flight: Amelia Earhart, Giving Cover as a Decoy for a Spy Plane” by William Pennington Snavely, Jr. from SpecialBooks.com

CLICK HERE to purchase Bill Snavely’s previous book on Earhart and the Buka discovery, Tracking Amelia Earhart: Her Flight Path to the End

Suggested Listening:

Woo Woo with Rachel Dratch

Comedian Rachel Dratch gets a little bit Woo Woo, discussing stories of the unexplained, the eerie, and other-worldly with her funny friends in her new comedy podcast, Woo Woo with Rachel Dratch. Along with her co-host Irene Bremis, Rachel invites guests to share stories they may only tell a trusted pal who will not judge. Psychics? Spirits? Astral Projection? Check, check, and check! Sure, you may think we live in a world where there’s a logical explanation for anything out of the ordinary, but after you spend some time with Rachel and her pals, you might have your doubts, and find that… you too are WOO WOO! Join Rachel, Irene, and friends in a comedy podcast that turns the mysterious into a lively conversation among kindred spirits. Search for Woo Woo with Rachel Dratch wherever you’re listening now!

Suggested Viewing:

CLICK HERE to watch the documentary Earhart’s Electra: Eyewitness Accounts of What Happened to Amelia Earhart’s Plane by Richard Martini

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CREDITS:

Episode 271: Amelia Earhart – Decoy for a Spy Plane? Produced by Scott Philbrook & Forrest Burgess; Audio Editing by Sarah Vorhees Wendel of VW Sound. Music and Sound Design by Allen Carrescia. Tess Pfeifle, Producer and Lead Researcher. Ed Voccola, Technical Producer. Research Support from The Astonishing Research Corps, or "A.R.C." for short. Copyright 2023 Astonishing Legends Productions, LLC. All Rights Reserved.

[ironychan]

TIL a woman named Irene Bolam spent the last twelve years of her life fending off conspiracy theorists who had somehow got it into their heads that she was secretly Amelia Earhart.

[myhauntedsalem]

Amelia Earhart  

On July 24th, 1897 a girl was born in a small town in Kansas, who would later become an American legend and aviation pioneer. Her name was Amelia Mary Earhart and during her short 39 years of life (that we are aware of), she was to set numerous aviation records, and was one of the first female pilots to achieve celebrity status all around the world. The charismatic, confident and independent Earhart became not only a national icon in the States, but was (and still is) regarded as a feminist icon, daring to tread in the exclusive “boys only” arena of aviation at the time, and spurring a whole new generation of women to believe in themselves and squash stereotypical perceptions of women.

In May 1923 she was the 16th woman to receive a pilots license by the then aviation authority, after setting a world record for female pilots 7 months earlier. She was selected to be the first female passenger on a trans-atlantic flight five years later, writing a book on her experience which would see her being called the “Queen of the Air.”

Earhart’s fame grew when she became the first woman to fly solo non-stop across the Atlantic in 1932, and during the early 30’s began contemplating a circumnavigation of the world flight - in March 1937 she attempted to start said record flight but due to the plane needing repairs the flight was postponed.

On June 1st, Earhart and her co-pilot/navigator Fred Noonan flew out from Miami and over the next month made several stops in South America, Africa, India and Asia before arriving in New Guinea on the 29th, having completed 22,000 miles (35,000 kms) of the journey.

On the 2nd of July they departed for a small piece of land named Howland Island, situated a little north of the Equator in the Pacific. However Earhart, Noonan and their aircraft were to vanish without a trace soon after. The US Coast Guard vessel assigned at Howland Island, to guide them via radio transmissions, received a final message indicating that the pilot could not locate the island, and that they were low on fuel, before all contact was lost.

A number of search efforts, beginning an hour after her last transmission, turned up nothing, even though search efforts lasted 3 weeks. Earhart was declared legally dead in early 1939, and the US Navy concluded that the Lockheed Electra plane ran out of gas and sank into the ocean near Howland Island – however, no wreckage was (or has ever been) found. The fact that a distress or mayday call was never made has fueled rumors over the years of some kind of conspiracy taking place, that the public have not been informed of the full “real” story.

So what did happen to Earhart and Noonan?

Over the years many have speculated about what their fate was and a number of theories have emerged. Many believe that the official crash and sink theory is wrong and that perhaps due to an error made by Noonan in his navigational calculations, they may have crash-landed on the wrong island or a nearby atoll, where they perhaps perished soon after due to injuries. Perhaps the Navy missed them in their search efforts?

A disturbing notion emerged that Earhart was a secret US spy who was working to gather evidence, during this flight of Japanese activity in the Pacific, and was to report back to the US Government when she returned. A WWII-era film named Flight for Freedom reinforced this myth, with the film ending with the Japanese becoming aware of the characters mission, forcing the heroine to ditch her plane off-course where nobody can find her. Did this scenario really happen?

Another scenario put forth is that the Japanese may have shot them down and captured both pilots, whether or not Earhart, or both her and Noonan were spies, and held as prisoners for years afterwards, perhaps even being executed. Inhabitants of an island named Saipan,which is roughly 1500 miles northwest of Howland Island, have claimed for years that in 1937 the local prison held “a white American woman who was captured on a plane and is a spy.” One man claims to have seen two graves he was told held the bodies of two American spies shot down over the Pacific. It has also been claimed that at some point US Marines supposedly found Earharts briefcase in a safe on Saipan, and photographs have emerged supposedly showing not only Earhart during her captivity, but wreckage of the plane which was claimed to have been destroyed by the Japanese army.

In 1970 a book was released called ‘Amelia Earhart Lives’ and made the claim that Earhart had in fact finished the flight, moved to New Jersey, changed her name and re-married. She was named as one Irene Craigmile Bolam, but research showed that the woman could not be the famous aviatrix and she subsequently filed a lawsuit against the author and publisher!

In 1990, US television show ‘Unsolved Mysteries’ interviewed a woman who claimed to have witnessed the two being executed. The photos and this persons claims have either been proven false or remain mysterious. Many other locals of the island have come forth over the years telling their re-collections of seeing or hearing of Earhart and Noonans’ presence.

Of course, it was also speculated that Earhart and Noonan were abducted by a UFO, or were found by the Nazis and held prisoners, maybe perhaps both were brainwashed into becoming double-agents, allied to watch American activity and after fulfilling their work, made new lives for themselves in another country?

Or perhaps Noonan killed Earhart, then himself, to fulfill some mysogynistic ideal to stop females advancing in a “man-orientated” world?

This mystery is sure to be one that will tantalize and stir the curiosity of generations to come. But what do you think?

[hethak-blog]

Theories on Amelia Earhart (Article)

Explore theories about Amelia Earhart’s final days—some more plausible than others.

Theory #1: Earhart ran out of fuel, crashed and perished in the Pacific Ocean.

This is one of the most generally accepted versions of the famous aviator’s disappearance. Many experts believe Amelia Earhart and navigator Fred Noonan got slightly off course en route to a refueling stop at Howland Island in the Pacific Ocean. Earhart radioed U.S. Coast Guard ships stationed in the area, reporting that neither she nor Noonan could spot the tiny island where they were supposed to land. According to the so-called “crash-and-sink” theory, the plane eventually ran out of gas and plunged into the ocean, killing both Earhart and Noonan. It then sank, leaving no sign of their whereabouts.

Theory #2: Earhart’s flight was an elaborate scheme to spy on the Japanese, who captured her after she crashed.

Did President Franklin D. Roosevelt enlist Earhart to spy on Japan? If so, the aviator did it in a very roundabout fashion. Earhart’s east-to-west route took her from California to South America, across Africa to India and across the northern tip of Australia en route to a refueling stop at Howland Island in the Pacific Ocean. According to the official account, at least, Earhart never got anywhere close to Japan. Besides, her flight was hardly a secret mission: Newspapers around the world tracked her progress on their front pages. The Earhart-as-spy theory emerged from a 1943 film about Earhart called “Flight for Freedom” and starring Rosalind Russell, but no evidence supports its veracity.

Theory #3: Earhart crash-landed, was captured by the Japanese military and died while being held prisoner on the island of Saipan.

In 2017, investigators announced the discovery of a photo, buried in the National Archives for nearly 80 years, that may depict Earhart and navigator Fred Noonan days after their disappearance. According to the team, led by former Executive Assistant Director of the FBI Shawn Henry, Earhart crash-landed in the Marshall Islands, was captured by the Japanese military and died while being held prisoner on the island of Saipan. Retired federal agent Les Kinney scoured the archives for records related to the Earhart case, uncovering a photo from the Office of Naval Intelligence (ONI) that shows a ship towing a barge with an airplane on the back; on a nearby dock are several people. Kinney believes the plane on the barge is the Electra, and that two of the people on the dock are Earhart and Noonan. The Marshall Islands/Saipan theory of Earhart’s fate isn’t a new one; it first surfaced back in the 1960s, and relies on accounts of Marshall Islanders who supposedly saw the Electra aircraft land and witnessed Earhart and Noonan in Japanese custody. In 2015, Kinney and another amateur Earhart sleuth, Dick Spink, found two metal fragments on Mili atoll in the Marshalls, which they believed came from Earhart’s plane.

Theory #4: Earhart survived a Pacific Ocean plane crash, was secretly repatriated to New Jersey and lived out her life under an assumed name.

A 1970 book put forth a creative solution to the Earhart mystery. The author claimed the famous pilot survived a Pacific Ocean plane crash and was taken prisoner by the Japanese. At the end of World War II, U.S. forces purportedly found her in Japan and secretly repatriated her to New Jersey. There, Earhart took the name Irene Bolam and became a banker. When the real Bolam got wind of the book’s claims, she vigorously denied being Earhart and sued the author and publisher for $1.5 million. (The lawsuit was later withdrawn, though Bolam may have settled out of court.) Numerous experts who investigated Bolam’s life and compared her photos to Earhart’s agree that Bolam, who died in 1982, was not the missing aviator.

Theory #5: Earhart was captured by the Japanese and became “Tokyo Rose.”

Related to other World War II-era myths that place Earhart in various Pacific Theater locales, including Saipan and Guadalcanal, this story originated immediately after the end of the war. A rumor circulated that Earhart had spread Japanese propaganda over the radio as one of many women collectively referred to as “Tokyo Rose.” Her husband, George Putnam, actively investigated this lead at the time, listening to hours of recorded broadcasts, but he did not recognize his wife’s voice.

Theory #6: Earhart was captured by the Japanese and traveled to Emirau Island.

Emirau Island, off Papua New Guinea, seems an unlikely place to find Earhart because it’s far from the spot where her last radio transmissions occurred. Still, a U.S. Navy crew member in World War II told of being sent to the island and spotting a photo of Earhart tacked up in the hut of a local man. The photo showed Earhart standing with a Japanese military officer, a missionary and a young boy. The sailor alerted naval intelligence officers, who allegedly took the photo from the hut against the owner’s wishes. The photo has never been found. Since Emirau Island had been a haven for Europeans stranded after a shipwreck in 1940, it’s likely the photo contained a lookalike and not the real Amelia.

Written By: Elizabeth Hanes

Sources:

https://www.history.com/news/what-happened-to-amelia-9-tantalizing-theories-about-the-earhart-disappearance

[kansascityhappenings]

Kansas native Amelia Earhart broke aviation records and empowered generations of women pilots

Amelia Earhart was a trailblazing pilot and an OG girl-power icon who broke gender stereotypes along with aviation records.

ATCHISON, Kan. — Amelia Earhart was a trailblazing pilot and an OG girl-power icon who broke gender stereotypes along with aviation records.

In June 1937, after a botched attempt, she set out from Miami with an ambitious goal: to become the first woman to fly around the world. Alongside navigator Fred Noonan in her trusty Lockhead Electra, she made it more than two-thirds the way around the globe before embarking on a long flight over the Pacific.

Then, on July 2, she vanished from the skies forever.

Her disappearance — Earhart’s body was never found — became one of the greatest unsolved mysteries of the 20th century and turned her into a symbol for women’s empowerment.

So on Amelia Earhart Day, which honors her birth in Atchison, Kansas on July 24, 1897, here’s a look at the pioneering aviator’s brief life and fascinating legacy.

The devil works hard, but she worked harder

Earhart wasn’t impressed by the first plane she saw as a 10-year-old at the Kansas State Fair.

“It was a thing of rusty wire and wood and looked not at all interesting,” she said, according to the bio on her official website.

But after she took her first airplane ride in 1920, when she was 23, she was hooked.

The next year, she started taking flying lessons. It took her more than a year to master flying solo — she sometimes had trouble with landings — but she eventually earned her pilot’s license from the National Aeronautics Association.

Things took off from there, and Earhart soon was breaking the highest of glass ceilings.

She almost had a medical career

During the first World War, Earhart worked as a Red Cross nurse’s aide in Canada.

After the war she enrolled at Columbia University as a pre-med student.

That was, until the sweet beckoning of air travel lured her out of the classroom and into the clouds. By 1921, she had begun flying lessons with Neta Snook, a female flight instructor. Within months Earhart purchased her first airplane, which she nicknamed “Canary” for its sunny hue.

She broke lots of aviation records (or at least more than you and me)

Less than a year after receiving her license, Earhart became the first woman to breach 14,000 feet solo.

In 1932 she became the first woman — and the second pilot after Charles Lindbergh — to fly solo across the Atlantic Ocean. Despite poor weather and mechanical problems, she made it from Newfoundland to Ireland, making headlines worldwide.

Three years later she became the first person — man or woman — to fly solo from the Hawaiian islands to the US mainland.

She was all about girl power

As a girl Earhart was a tomboy who hunted rats with a .22 rifle. As a woman she fought for gender equality in the skies.

In 1929 she joined other women aviators in forming The Ninety-Nines, an organization for female pilots. The group took its name from the 99 women who became charter members and used scholarships, education and financial support to promote female aviators.

The Ninety Nines continue her legacy today, representing thousands of female pilots from 44 countries.

There are many theories about what happened to her

The US government holds that Earhart and Noonan crashed and sunk in the Pacific, perishing at the mercy of the sea.

But aviation and history buffs have many other theories:

Her flight plan on her last fateful trip was from New Guinea to Howland Island, a tiny island in the central Pacific. But some suggest the aviator died as a castaway on another small island 350 miles south of Howland. This theory is backed up by the 1940 discovery of a human skeleton on the island, although there are disputes about whether the bones belonged to a woman or a man.

Another prevailing theory is that she and Noonan were captured by the Japanese after landing in the Marshall Islands and died in captivity. The theory gained traction after an old grainy photo surfaced that appeared to show vague likenesses of Earhart and Noonan on a dock on Jaluit Atoll in the Marshall Islands. But many experts are skeptical.

Then there’s the theory ignited by the 1970 book “Amelia Earhart Lives,” by Joe Klaas, who argues the aviator never actually died in 1937 but served as a spy during World War II. After the war, Klaas wrote, Earhart returned secretly to the US, changed her name and lived quietly as a New Jersey housewife named Irene Bolam. Yes, you heard that right. The theory lost some of its allure when the real-life Bolam — herself a pilot — denied the claims, sued the book’s publisher and won.

from FOX 4 Kansas City WDAF-TV | News, Weather, Sports https://fox4kc.com/2019/07/24/kansas-native-amelia-earhart-broke-aviation-records-and-empowered-generations-of-women-pilots/

from Kansas City Happenings https://kansascityhappenings.wordpress.com/2019/07/24/kansas-native-amelia-earhart-broke-aviation-records-and-empowered-generations-of-women-pilots/

[baovietnamnet]

Ngày 11/1/1935, Amelia Earhart đã trở thành người đầu tiên thực hiện thành công chuyến bay một mình từ Hawaii tới Bắc Mỹ và giành giải thưởng 10.000USD.

Tuy nhiên, chỉ hai năm rưỡi sau, nữ phi công huyền thoại người Mỹ đã mất tích khó hiểu trong một chuyến đi nhằm tạo nên kỳ tích bay mới. Cho đến nay, nhiều người vẫn coi đây là bí ẩn lâu đời nhất lịch sử hàng không thế giới.

Amelia Earhart khi còn nhỏ. Ảnh: Alamy

Amelia Earhart sinh năm 1897 trong một gia đình khá giả ở Atchison, bang Kansas, Mỹ. Ngay từ nhỏ, Earhart đã tỏ ra là cô bé can đảm, có chí tiến thủ và ưa phiêu lưu mạo hiểm không kém cạnh nam giới.

Theo trang Ameliaearhart.com, Earhart không chỉ giỏi thể thao mà còn đạt kết quả xuất sắc trong học tập, đặc biệt là các môn khoa học tự nhiên. Bà theo học cùng lúc 6 trường phổ thông và tốt nghiệp đúng hạn, một kỳ tích hiếm người làm được.

Năm 1914, khi gia đình trở nên sa sút, Earhart đã cùng người thân chuyển đến sinh sống ở Chicago, bang Illinois, Mỹ. Lúc này, với tấm bằng tốt nghiệp phổ thông, cô gái trẻ bắt đầu tìm việc làm để trang trải cho bản thân và phụ giúp gia đình. Đáng nói, Earhart tỏ ra thích thú với những nghề thường bị coi là không dành cho phụ nữ lúc bấy giờ, chẳng hạn như luật sư, kỹ sư cơ khí hay đạo diễn.

Trước khi quyết định gắn bó cuộc đời với “những chú chim sắt”, Earhart từng làm y tá. Sau khi chứng kiến những binh sĩ bị thương trở về trong Thế chiến lần thứ nhất, bà quyết định học để trở thành y tá, chăm sóc thương, bệnh binh tại Bệnh viện quân y Spadina ở Toronto, Canada.

Ảnh: History.com

Mãi tới tháng 12/1920, Earhart mới tìm thấy niềm đam mê lớn nhất của cuộc đời mình. Khi cùng cha tới thăm một trường bay ở Long Beach, bang California, lần đầu tiên bà được trải nghiệm cảm giác tự do bay lượn trên bầu trời. Chuyến bay kéo dài chỉ 10 phút và mất phí 10USD đã khiến Earhart quyết tâm trở thành phi công.

Để có đủ tiền biến giấc mơ thành hiện thực, Earhart phải làm nhiều nghề, từ chụp ảnh dạo đến lái xe tải. Cuối cùng, cô gái trẻ dành dụm được 1.000USD để theo học khóa đào tạo phi công tại Trường Kinner Field ở Long Beach từ tháng 1/1921. Trong suốt thời gian học, Earhart sẵn sàng làm mọi công việc vặt để được theo chân giáo viên hướng dẫn học hỏi thêm ngoài giờ.

Ảnh: PBS

Bất chấp các lời dè bỉu, chế giễu của những học viên nam cùng trường, chỉ sau một năm, Earhart đã lái được một máy bay Kinner Airster cũ lên độ cao gần 4.300 mét, một kỷ lục thế giới đối với phi công nữ vào thời điểm đó. Ngày 15/5/1923, bà trở thành người phụ nữ thứ 16 ở Mỹ được cấp bằng phi công.

Năm 1928, Earhart tiếp tục lập kỷ lục mới khi trở người phụ nữ đầu tiên bay qua Đại Tây Dương, nhưng chỉ với vai trò như hành khách giúp tổ lái ghi chép lại lịch trình chuyến bay. Trả lời phỏng vấn sau khi máy bay hạ cánh, Earhart nói, bà cảm thấy mình chỉ như hành lý, nên quyết tâm một ngày nào đó sẽ tự lái phi cơ vượt biển.

Trong giai đoạn từ năm 1928 – 1930, Earhart làm biên tập viên chuyên mục hàng không cho tạp chí thời trang nổi tiếng Cosmopolitan. Với công việc viết lách, bà cũng tỏ ra xuất sắc khi cho ra đời nhiều bài viết và một số cuốn sách gây chú ý về những kinh nghiệm phi công của mình.

Ảnh: Word Press

Ngày 21/5/1932, chính xác là 5 năm sau khi Charles Lindbergh trở thành người đầu tiên một mình bay qua Đại Tây Dương, Earhart đã trở thành nữ phi công đầu tiên trên thế giới lặp lại được kỳ tích đó bằng chuyến bay kéo dài 15 tiếng đồng hồ từ Newfoundland và Labrador, cực đông Canada tới Londonderry, Ireland. Nhờ chuyến đi này, bà được Quốc hội Mỹ trao tặng huân chương tưởng thưởng.

Vụ mất tích bí ẩn của nữ phi công huyền thoại

Tổng thống Herbert Hoover cũng ca ngợi Earhart là “người phụ nữ tiên phong, tấm gương cho mọi thế hệ người Mỹ học tập và ngưỡng mộ vì ý chí quyết tâm, cá tính mạnh mẽ và tinh thần sẵn lòng hợp tác”.

Nữ phi công quả cảm tiếp tục gặt hái các thành công mới và được trao tặng nhiều huân, huy chương cho các thành tích bay cá nhân. Ngày 11/1/1935, Earhart đã trở thành người đầu tiên thực hiện thành công chuyến bay một mình từ Hawaii tới Bắc Mỹ và giành giải thưởng 10.000USD.

Bà Earhart đứng trước chiếc máy bay Lockheed Electra-10E. Ảnh: Smithsonian Institution

Bà tiếp tục đặt mục tiêu táo bạo hơn là bay vòng quanh thế giới theo đường xích đạo bằng một chiếc Lockheed Electra-10E cánh đơn, hai động cơ. Bà mời được 3 người cùng tham gia kế hoạch là hoa tiêu thứ nhất Harry Manning, hoa tiêu thứ hai dày dạn kinh nghiệm về hàng hải lẫn hàng không Frederick Noonan và phi công Paul Mantz làm cố vấn kỹ thuật.

Theo kế hoạch ban đầu, hành trình bay vòng quanh thế giới sẽ bao gồm các chặng bay từ Oakland, bang California về hướng tây sang Hawaii, rồi qua châu Úc, châu Á, châu Phi, bang Florida, Mỹ và cuối cùng là trở về California. Mọi việc khởi đầu suôn sẻ khi Earhart và ba bạn đồng hành kết thúc 16 giờ bay, đáp xuống đảo Oahu thuộc Hawaii vào ngày 18/3/1937. Song, chiếc Electra sau đó gặp trục trặc, buộc Earhart phải cho đưa về Florida để sửa chữa.

Bà Earhart và hoa tiêu Noonan. Ảnh: Alamy

Gần 3 tháng sau, Earhart khôi phục kế hoạch bay, nhưng lần này đổi hành trình theo chiều ngược lại. Ngày 1/6/1937, bà cùng hoa tiêu Noonan rời Miami và bay theo hướng đông. Vượt hơn 35.400km với nhiều điểm dừng chân trong 21 ngày, bộ đôi đã đến thành phố Lae của Papua New Guinea. Địa điểm cũng ghi dấu việc Earhart chỉ còn cách đích đến cuối cùng 11.200km.

Không ai ngờ chuyến bay cất cánh ngày 2/7/1937 từ th��nh phố Lae sang hòn đảo nhỏ bé Howland giữa Thái Bình Dương lại là chặng hành trình cuối cùng của nữ phi công huyền thoại.

Theo tờ Atchison Daily Globe, vào ngày định mệnh, do phải vượt qua quãng đường dài khoảng 4.100km nên Earhart và Noonan phải tháo gỡ nhiều thiết bị liên lạc và định hướng trên máy bay để lấy chỗ chứa thêm nhiên liệu. Chiếc Electra phát tín hiệu cuối cùng lúc 8h45, ở vị trí được cho là cách đảo Howland khoảng 160km.

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Việc máy bay cùng nữ phi công lừng danh và bạn đồng hành biến mất không tăm tích đã gây rúng động toàn nước Mỹ. Nhà chức trách đã cho xúc tiến một chiến dịch tìm kiếm quy mô lớn chưa từng thấy. Suốt 2 tuần sau đó, Hải quân Mỹ đã lùng sục khắp một vùng biển rộng lớn tới 650.000km2 nhưng không tìm thấy bất kỳ manh mối nào. Ngày 19/7/1937, Mỹ kết thúc chiến dịch tìm kiếm tiêu tốn tới 4 triệu USD. Sau hơn một năm rưỡi điều tra, ngày 5/1/1939, tòa án Mỹ chính thức tuyên bố Earhart và Noonan đã chết.

Do cuộc điều tra chính thức không tìm ra được nguyên nhân dẫn đến vụ mất tích bí ẩn của bà Earhart và hoa tiêu đi cùng, nên trong dư luận đã xuất hiện nhiều đồn đoán và giả thuyết nhằm lí giải sự cố. Theo một số nhà nghiên cứu, họ có thể đã bị quân Nhật bắt giam làm tù binh trên đảo Saipan cho đến tận khi qua đời.

Wally Earhart, em họ của bà Earhart, lại tin chiếc Electra bị rơi xuống Thái Bình Dương, nhưng hai người trên máy bay đã được một tàu cá Nhật cứu sống. Cả hai sau đó được đưa tới đảo Saipan, ông Noonan bị sát hại, còn bà Earhart chết vì bệnh tật ở đây. Theo ông Wally, Chính phủ Mỹ che giấu vụ việc vì Earhart là một điệp viên do thám các căn cứ quân sự Nhật ở Thái Bình Dương cho chính quyền Tổng thống Franklin Roosevelt.

Một bức ảnh được tin là chụp bà Earhart và ông Noonan trên bến tàu ở đảo Jaluit Atoll thuộc quần đảo Marshall nằm dưới sự quản lý của người Nhật năm 1937. Ảnh: CNN

Trong cuốn sách “Amelia Earhart: Beyond the Grave”, nhà nghiên cứu W.C. Jameson đề cập đến khả năng Earhart được Nhật trao trả về Mỹ năm 1945 và bà tiếp tục sống đến năm 1982 với tên gọi mới là Irene Craigmile Bolam.

Năm 2018, chuyên gia Ric Gillespie, thuộc Nhóm Phát hiện máy bay lịch sử quốc tế (IGHAD) có trụ sở tại Mỹ, cũng gây chú ý khi công bố nghiên cứu về các cuộc gọi cấp cứu của máy bay Lockheed Electra và một bộ xương được tìm thấy ở bãi biển trên đảo Nikumaroro thuộc nước Kiribati năm 1940.

Ông Gillespie và các cộng sự cho rằng, Earhart đã phải sống những ngày cuối đời mắc kẹt trên đảo sau khi rơi máy bay. Song, chính quyền Anh đã bác bỏ giả thuyết này, sau khi một bác sĩ kết luận rằng các xương thu được là của đàn ông do sở hữu kích thước lớn hơn mức trung bình.

Tất cả các giả thuyết cùng những bằng chứng công bố không thuyết phục được số đông, khiến vụ mất tích của nữ phi công Earhart vẫn là một trong những bí ẩn lớn nhất mọi thời đại.

Tuấn Anh

Nguồn bài viết

The post Nữ phi công huyền thoại mất tích bí ẩn appeared first on Tin tức - Đọc báo tin tức online, tin nhanh 24h.

[coffeenews9-blog]

Conspiracy Theories of Amelia Earhart Disappearance

# THEORY 1: OPEN-OCEAN CRASH NEAR DESTINATION

The official U.S. position is that Earhart and Noonan ran out of fuel on the way to Howland Island and crashed in the Pacific Ocean. The U.S. Coast Guard cutter Itasca was at Howland to assist Earhart in this pre-radar era by providing radio bearings and a smoke plume, but owing to radio problems, communication was sporadic and broken. According to the Itasca's radio logs, Earhart indicated she must be near the island but couldn't see it and was running low on gas. The Electra never made it to the island.

About 15 years ago Nauticos—a Hanover, Maryland, company that performs deep-ocean searches and other ocean-research services led an effort to locate Earhart's plane where they believe it crashed: in the Pacific Ocean in the vicinity of Howland Island. Nauticos president David Jourdan said in 2003 that, by studying factors such as Earhart's broken-up radio transmissions and what is known about the Electra's fuel supply, he and his colleagues had narrowed down an area of the ocean that they believe will eventually yield the plane's grave. ...

# THEORY 2: NIKUMARORO CASTAWAY

The International Group for Historic Aircraft Recovery (TIGHAR) is investigating the hypothesis that Earhart and Noonan landed their Lockheed Electra 10E on Nikumaroro Island, a speck of land 350 nautical miles southwest of Howland, when they couldn’t find Howland. The researchers base their hypothesis on Earhart’s last radio transmissions. At 8:43 a.m. on July 2, Earhart radioed the Itasca: "KHAQQ [the Electra's call letters] to Itasca. We are on the line 157 337." The Itasca received the transmission but couldn't get any bearings on the signal.

The “line 157 337” indicates that the plane was flying on a northwest to southeast navigational line that bisected Howland Island. If Earhart and Noonan missed Howland, they would fly either northwest or southeast on the line to find it. To the northwest of Howland lies open ocean for thousands of miles; to the southwest is Nikumaroro. The line-of-position radio message was the last confirmed transmission from Earhart, but radio operators received 121 messages over the next 10 days. Of those, at least 57 could have been from the Electra. Wireless stations took direction bearings on six of them. ...

# THEORY 3: THE MARSHALL ISLANDS CONSPIRACY

A third theory is that Earhart and Noonan, unable—or perhaps not intending—to find Howland, headed north to the Japanese-controlled Marshall Islands (map), where they were taken hostage by the Japanese, possibly as U.S. spies. Some believe both pilots were eventually killed, while others believe Earhart and maybe Noonan returned to the U.S. under assumed names. According to one theory, Earhart took the name Irene Craigmile, then married Guy Bolam and became Irene Bolam, who died in New Jersey in 1982.

"If she couldn't find Howland, Plan B was to cut off communications and head for the Marshall Islands and ditch her airplane there," Rollin C. Reineck, a retired U.S. Air Force colonel who lives in Kailua, Hawaii, claimed in 2003. Reineck’s book Amelia Earhart Survived describes a scenario in which Earhart ditched her plane in the Marshall Islands and returned to the U.S. under an assumed name for national security reasons. ...

#ameliaearhart #amelia #ameliaisland #earhart #ameliaearhartdeath #ameliaearhartfound #ameliaearhartplane #whathappenedtoameliaearhart #ameliaearhartplanefound #ameliaearhartfacts #ameliaheart #howdidameliaearhartdie #ameliaearhartdisappearance #firstwomanpilot #factsaboutameliaearhart #whoisameliaearhart #ameliamaryearhart #earhartamelia #wheredidameliaearhartdie #ameliaearhartsplane #ameliahart #whowasameliaearhart #firstwomantofly

https://youtu.be/pEFlX6ojfcc

[myhauntedsalem]

Amelia Earhart

On July 24, 1897 a girl was born in a small town in Kansas, who would later become an American legend and aviation pioneer. Her name was Amelia Mary Earhart and during her short 39 years of life, she was to set numerous aviation records, and was one of the first female pilots to achieve celebrity status all around the world. The charismatic, confident and independent Earhart became not only a national icon in the States, but was regarded as a feminist icon. 

Daring to tread in the exclusive boys only arena of aviation at the time, and spurring a whole new generation of women to believe in themselves and squash stereotypical perceptions of women.

In May 1923 she was the 16th woman to receive a pilots license by the then aviation authority, after setting a world record for female pilots 7 months earlier. 

She was selected to be the first female passenger on a trans-atlantic flight five years later, writing a book on her experience which would see her being called the Queen of the Air.

Earhart’s fame grew when she became the first woman to fly solo non-stop across the Atlantic in 1932, and during the early 30’s began contemplating a circumnavigation of the world flight. In March 1937 she attempted to start but due to the plane needing repairs the flight was postponed.

On June 1st, Earhart and her co-pilot/navigator Fred Noonan flew out from Miami and over the next month made several stops in South America, Africa, India and Asia before arriving in New Guinea on the 29th, having completed 22,000 miles of the journey.

On the 2nd of July they departed for a small piece of land named Howland Island, situated a little north of the Equator in the Pacific. However Earhart, Noonan and their aircraft were to vanish without a trace soon after. The US Coast Guard vessel assigned at Howland Island, to guide them via radio transmissions, received a final message indicating that the pilot could not locate the island, and that they were low on fuel, before all contact was lost.

A number of search efforts, beginning an hour after her last transmission, turned up nothing, even though search efforts lasted 3 weeks. Earhart was declared legally dead in early 1939, and the US Navy concluded that the Lockheed Electra plane ran out of gas and sank into the ocean near Howland Island. 

However, no wreckage was ever found. The fact that a distress or mayday call was never made has fueled rumors over the years of some kind of conspiracy taking place, that the public have not been informed of the full real story.

Over the years many have speculated about what their fate was and a number of theories have emerged. Many believe that the official crash and sink theory is wrong and that perhaps due to an error made by Noonan in his navigational calculations, they may have crash-landed on the wrong island or a nearby atoll, where they perhaps perished soon after due to injuries. Perhaps the Navy missed them in their search efforts?

A disturbing notion emerged that Earhart was a secret US spy who was working to gather evidence, during this flight of Japanese activity in the Pacific, and was to report back to the US Government when she returned. A WWII-era film named Flight for Freedom reinforced this myth, with the film ending with the Japanese becoming aware of the characters mission, forcing the heroine to ditch her plane off-course where nobody can find her. Did this scenario really happen?

Another scenario put forth is that the Japanese may have shot them down and captured both pilots and held as prisoners for years afterwards, perhaps even being executed. Inhabitants of an island named Saipan, which is roughly 1500 miles northwest of Howland Island, have claimed for years that in 1937 the local prison held a white American woman who was captured on a plane and is a spy.

One man claims to have seen two graves he was told held the bodies of two American spies shot down over the Pacific. It has also been claimed that at some point US Marines supposedly found Earharts briefcase in a safe on Saipan, and photographs have emerged supposedly showing not only Earhart during her captivity, but wreckage of the plane which was claimed to have been destroyed by the Japanese army.

In 1970 a book was released called Amelia Earhart Lives and made the claim that Earhart had in fact finished the flight, moved to New Jersey, changed her name and re-married. She was named as one Irene Craigmile Bolam, but research showed that the woman could not be the famous aviatrix and she subsequently filed a lawsuit against the author and publisher!

In 1990, US television show, Unsolved Mysteries, interviewed a woman who claimed to have witnessed the two being executed. The photos and this persons claims have either been proven false or remain mysterious. Many other locals of the island have come forth over the years telling their re-collections of seeing or hearing of Earhart and Noonans’ presence.

Of course, it was also speculated that Earhart and Noonan were abducted by a UFO, or were found by the Nazis and held prisoners, maybe perhaps both were brainwashed into becoming double-agents, allied to watch American activity and after fulfilling their work, made new lives for themselves in another country?

So what did happen to Earhart and Noonan?