Scientists have identified 70-year-old skeleton of the most famous pilots in the world.
The remains, discovered in 1940 on a desert island-Atoll Nickumaroro, most likely owned by aviation pioneer Amelia Earhart.
To determine the identity of the skeleton allowed a new anthropological examination, which showed that the remains could belong to woman the same height and ethnicity as Earhart.
As you know, in 1937 the world’s first woman to fly across the Atlantic, Amelia Earhart, tried to set a new record to circumnavigate the globe by plane Lockheed 10 Electra. She went missing July 2, 1937.
From 1937 to 1939, continued the search for the pilots. In 1940 was discovered the skeleton, which at that time was considered male.
According to the researchers of the International group for historic aircraft recovery (TIGHAR) Atoll Nickumaroro just littered with artifacts that may have belonged to Earhart and her Navigator Fred nunno. In particular, there were found the remains of flight jackets, mirror, fragments of aluminum sheets and cosmetic cream from freckles.
Professor of anthropology from the University of Tennessee Richard Jantz found that the forearm found on the island skeleton was longer than usual, which was typical for white women born around the same time as Earhart, that is in 1897. Unfortunately, the skeleton was not preserved up to the present time, so experts have to work only with old photos and the results of examinations.
“We certainly have not proved that the man who died on a desert island, was Amelia Earhart but this is a significant amount of data, which tips the scales in this direction”, – experts underline.
Amelia Earhart in may 1932 made the first successful solo flight across the Atlantic after the success of Charles Lindbergh in 1927. After that, Earhart became the most famous female pilot in the world. In 2009, the pilot came the biopic “Amelia” with Hilary swank in the title role.
