Amelia Earhart's disappearance remains an enduring mystery, with theories ranging from an alien kidnapping to a crash landing on a remote island. Now Deep Sea Vision is claiming that it might have found the wreckage of her Lockheed 10-E Electra aircraft on the bottom of the ocean floor.
Over the weekend, the company funded by former Air Force intelligence official Tony Romeo released sonar images on social media of what it claimed to be Earthart's plane, which you can see below.
"On July 2, 1937, Amelia Earhart and navigator Fred Noonan took off from Papua New Guinea, nearing the end of their record-setting journey around the world never to be seen again. Until today. Deep Sea Vision found what appears to be Earhart’s Lockheed 10-E Electra," the post read.
Earhart initially disappeared in 1937 alongside navigator Fred Noon in the midst of an attempt to become the first female pilot to circle the globe. A celebrity in her day, Earhart set numerous records and was the first woman to make a non-stop solo transatlantic flight. Her mission and the mysterious nature of her disappearance has become a part of American folklore, earning nods in sci-fi works ranging from Star Trek to Starfield.
Romeo expressed excitement over the potential discovery of the wreck, telling the Wall Street Journal that he feels like a "10-year-old going on a treasure hunt." Deep Sea Vision initially set out in September to search for Earthart's plane using a Hugin submersible, with the sonar image being captured about 30 days into the trip. It was found less than 100 miles from Howland Island, where Earhart was originally scheduled to refuel, and some 16,500 feet under the ocean. The team didn't discover the image in the sub's data until much later, making it impactical to turn around, but do plan to return to the site of the image.
Social media users were quick to point out that the apparent silhouette doesn't bear much resemblance to Earhart's plane, with some noting that the image appears to feature more of a swept wing design. Others argued that the discrepancies could be due to broken wings from a surface impact.
If not Earhart's plane, Romeo speculates the images could be of another missing aircraft, or possibly a manmade object that fell off a shipping container.
For now, experts are said to be interested in the findings, with National Air and Space Museum curator Dorothy Cochrane telling WSJ that the image is in roughly the right location. Others say that visual confirmation of some sort is needed.
"Until you physically take a look at this, there's no way to say for sure what that is," underwater archaeologist Andrew Pietruszka told the WSJ.
Romeo says that Deep Sea Visions plans to use a robotic sub to try and get better images of the object. If it does turn out to be Earhart's plane, he plans to team with the Smithsonian and other investors to try and recover the wreckage.
"I don't think we're there yet," Romeo told Business Insider. "But I do think Americans want to see this in the Smithsonian; that's where it belongs. Not the bottom of the ocean."
Thumbnail image credit: Getty Images
Kat Bailey is IGN's News Director as well as co-host of Nintendo Voice Chat. Have a tip? Send her a DM at @the_katbot.
