Amelia Earhart's plane

[Venomstick121]

Do people on this site really think that we found her plane? If you look at pictures of the wreck that is "hers", you see the wings are swept back. Unlike her Lockheed Electra. So what do you guys think? Is it her plane?

 

[Snautzer01]

Look here: Amelia Earhart's plane possibly discovered

 

[tyrodtom]

To get where it is now the aircraft had to impact the sea.
There is no way to know if it was a controlled ditching, or high speed impact.
And it has been lost 80 years, no telling if it's been in that one spot all that time.
Ocean currents, unstable sea floor.

I have a feeling when they go back for a better look it's going to be embarrassing .

 

[special ed]

It has been "found" many times before, as well as in a book, so I doubt this one is it. The last one, as I remember, was an Electra landing gear upside down photoed but not recovered. The next Typhoon took it back down.

 

[PFVA63]

It has been "found" many times before, as well as in a book, so I doubt this one is it. The last one, as I remember, was an Electra landing gear upside down photoed but not recovered. The next Typhoon took it back down.

Amelia Earhart’s Long-Lost Plane Discovered On Auxiliary Runway At LaGuardia

NEW YORK—Calling the breakthrough a major step forward in the enigmatic case of the aviator’s disappearance, experts announced Tuesday they had discovered Amelia Earhart’s long-lost Lockheed 10-E Electra plane on an auxiliary runway at LaGuardia Airport. “Based on our analysis, it appears that...

www.theonion.com

 

[special ed]

A bit of humor trivia for this thread. Back when I worked, I was on a crowded elevator in a tall building which stopped to allow a man with several briefcases & boxes on. Just as we began to move, his pager ( I told you it was a long time ago) went off with "Howland Island calling, come in Amelia". This was repeated several times to the amusement of all aboard.

 

[Barrett]

The aviation research group TIGHAR has been a frequent joke in the vintage aircraft community for decades, from the 80s. Its fund-raising success from naive enthusiasts has yet to produce any results, but apparently the contributions keep coming.

Ref. the current news: the imagery seems to show a swept-wing shape which of course raises doubts about a Lockheed Electra.

 

[GregP]

Maybe it's one of the FAST Electras?

So fast, it needed swept wings.

I bet SOMEONE is curious enough to fund a better look at it.

 

[GrauGeist]

How well would a Model 10 take the impact of hitting the water?

 

[GregP]

I'm guessing with a bit of damage.

But, this long after the event, it could have been tossed about a bit by currents, etc., or even back when it first impacted the bottom. Hard to say.

Would be very cool if they DID identify it.

But, from past history .... somewhat doubtful. Still, the image looks closer to what they are looking for than any OTHER images I have seen. Sort of like saying, "your Dalmation looks like my Rhodesian Ridgeback."

 

[Peter Gunn]

The aviation research group TIGHAR has been a frequent joke in the vintage aircraft community for decades, from the 80s. Its fund-raising success from naive enthusiasts has yet to produce any results, but apparently the contributions keep coming.

Ref. the current news: the imagery seems to show a swept-wing shape which of course raises doubts about a Lockheed Electra.

Agree with you on TIGHAR, seems mostly a scam to me.

However, regarding the imagery on the sea floor, I agree that swept wings would rule out the Electra in its original configuration but perhaps after hitting the water and bouncing around at 16,000 feet below the surface the entire aircraft might be out of shape. Or maybe I'm just hoping for the best, the Earhart mystery has captivated me since I was a kid.

But at least I'm not dumb enough to have given any cash to TIGHAR so I got that going for me.

 

[Peter Gunn]

Do people on this site really think that we found her plane? If you look at pictures of the wreck that is "hers", you see the wings are swept back. Unlike her Lockheed Electra. So what do you guys think? Is it her plane?

As for it being her plane, to me it's in the right area for my "out of gas near Howland" theory, but with underwater current etc it really is too soon to tell either way. I wouldn't be surprised to hear that more than one plane ditched in the Pacific from the late 30's to the mid 40's.

 

[GregP]

I wouldn't be surprised if they had a hard time finding it again.

But, again, I hope they DO find it again and identify it, perhaps with an ROV, one way or the other.

 

[GrauGeist]

The sonar image, while grainy, does show what appears to be a twin tail structure, like the Model 10 had.

Not many swept-wing aircraft had this design feature.