Finding Amelia

Catch up on your Earhart history before a new documentary airs Sunday

You’ve heard the news: An old photograph has surfaced that may help solve the mystery of Amelia Earhart’s disappearance.

The American aviator vanished over the Pacific in July 1937 on a flight around the world. Did she crash into the ocean, as the U.S. government concluded? Or did she crash-land in the Marshall Islands and get captured by the Japanese?

The recently discovered photo may prove she was captured alive, according to a two-hour special that airs Sunday on the History Channel. The photo, which was tucked away for decades in the National Archives, shows a woman who appears to be Earhart sitting on the dock with a group of other people. Nearby is a barge with an airplane on it that could be hers.

The History Channel documentary makers believe Earhart was taken to Saipan, where she died in Japanese custody. But of course, this is just one piece of an 80-yearold puzzle.

“Amelia Earhart: The Lost Evidence” airs at 8 p.m. Sunday. In the meantime, here are five ways to catch up on your Earhart history:

1. Old newsreels and

clips: Thanks to the internet, you can follow along with the horror story as it unfolded. Search YouTube for “Amelia Earhart newsreel” and watch the reports about Earhart’s flight, her disappearance and the search for her plane. And the Amelia Earhart Birthplace Museum, at ameliaearhartmuseum.org, offers a solid selection of newspaper stories from 1928 to 1937 about Earhart. 2. “The Sound of Wings”: There are plenty of biographies, but Earhart buffs like this one by Mary S. Lovell, which offers a deep look at Earhart’s life before that final flight — including her marriage to the publisher George Putnam. 3. “Amelia Lost: The Life and Disappearance of Amelia Earhart”: This book by Candace Fleming is designed for middleschoolers, but it’s a good read for anyone. The book points out that Earhart wasn’t perfect — her flights were

often dangerous and her public persona was self-aggrandizing. It also offers maps, photos and fascinating details — including the fact that her in-flight meal of choice was tomato soup.

4. “The Story”: In a 2013 episode of this public radio show, a woman named Betty Brown tells how as a 15-year-old listening to her dad’s shortwave radio, she picked up Earhart’s voice. “I heard her say, ‘This is Amelia Earhart ... Please help me, please hear me.’ ” For two hours the signal faded in and out, and Brown took notes as the aviator pleaded for help and eventually abandoned her plane. It’s absolutely haunting. To find the interview, search online for “The Clues Behind Amelia Earhart’s Last Radio Transmission.” 5. The International Group for Historic Aircraft Recovery: Want to get lost in a wormhole? Go to tighar. org where you can read about a project to test the theory that Earhart and her navigator crashed on Gardner Island, now called Nikumaroro, and died as castaways.

alyson.ward@chron.com twitter.com/alysonward

File Amelia Earhart strides past the Lockheed Electra she and her navigator, Fred Noonan, were attempting to fly around the world when they disappeared on July 2, 1937, somewhere over the Pacific.

Office of Naval Intelligence / U.S. National Archives via AP The woman seated with her back to the camera is perhaps aviator Amelia Earhart, gazing at what may be her crippled aircraft loaded on a barge.