FORENSIC experts believe they may have made a major breakthrough in the cold case investigation of 1930s aviator Amelia Earhart.
Kenan Ünlü, director of the Radiation Science and Engineering Center at Penn State, believes he has unearthed hidden clues on a key piece of evidence that could solve the mystery of the pioneering pilot’s disappearance.
BettmannNew evidence might shed light on the fate of aviation pioneer Amelia Earhart[/caption]
Getty – ContributorHistorians have spent years determining what happened to the American pilot after her plane vanished over the south Pacific in 1937[/caption]
TIGHARAnd this piece of metal, discovered in 1991, could hold the answer[/caption]
Aged 39, Earhart had been attempting to fly around the world when she vanished with navigator Fred Noonan on July 2, 1937, during a flight from Papua New Guinea to Howland Island.
She was declared dead two years later and for decades it assumed she died in the smash, with her remains being lost to the deep waters.
But in 2018, it was revealed Earhart did crash on a remote Pacific island where scientists claimed to have found her skeleton.
And now they believe an aluminium panel, which washed up on a remote island close to where Earhart’s plane went missing, could shine further light on her final days.
According to scientific analysis shared with Mail Online, the panel, found in 1991, was once etched with various letters and numbers that experts say could be related to a manufacturing code.
They add the panel could have added to the aircraft when repairs were made during the pilot’s historic world tour attempt.
“We found what looks like stamped or painted marks that could be from the original manufacturer,” Ünlü told the outlet.
“D24 and 335, or maybe 385. We don’t know what they mean, but they are the first new information from this panel that has been examined by various experts with different scientific techniques for over 30 years.”
Sources close to the investigation say the 19 x 23 inch panel – that washed up on Nikumaror – is thought to be an exact match of the one attached to the fuselage of Earhart’s famous Lockheed Model 10-E Electra.
Richard ‘Ric’ Gillespie, who found the panel in 1991 and leads The International Group for Historic Aircraft Recovery (TIGHAR), is hoping forensics can determine whether the new find can determine the fate of Earhart’s plane once for all.
He told the Mail: “Whether this information provides more evidence or disproves that the panel belonged to Earhart’s plane, I’ll be glad to know.
“Further research may explain the numbers and help move Artifact 2-2-V-1 closer, or farther, from being a relic of NR16020.”
Amelia Earhart was flying from Papua New Guinea to Howland Island when she disappeared
Since their last find in 2018, The International Group for Historic Aircraft Recovery has been investigating the theory that Earhart landed on Nikumaroro – now part of Kiribati.
It came after other artefacts were also been found on the island – including American products, some for women, which were all made in the 1930s.
Before her disappearance, Earhart had made history by setting many early aviation records at a time when there were hardly any female pilots.
She was an accomplished flyer who in 1932 became the first woman to make a solo flight across the Atlantic.
Her adventures brought her global fame and later recognition as she was posthumously inducted into the National Aviation Hall of Fame in 1968 and the National Women’s Hall of Fame in 1973.
GettyThe aviator’s plane was last seen on radar on July 2, 1937 after running into trouble having missed the island[/caption]
Credit: Pen News/TIGHARFragments were picked up that match a bottle of women’s skin softener on sale in the late 1930s[/caption]
This knife was also found on the island and was the same as one listed in the plane’s inventoryCredit: Pen News/TIGHAR
