13. Amelia Earhart and Fred Noonan’s vanishing has fascinated investigators ever since
Amelia Earhart was one of the most famous women in the world in the early 1930s, for her feats as an aviatrix and for her writing about her flying and women’s issues. Earhart was a consultant to presidents, a member of the faculty at Purdue University, and an early and vocal support of women’s rights and an Equal Rights Amendment. She set flying records for distance and speed, as well as participating in some of the early air races which became popular during the 1930s. Her friendship with Eleanor Roosevelt led to the First Lady obtaining a student’s flying permit, though the president and the Secret Service objected to her learning to fly and Eleanor was unable to pursue a flying career any further. Earhart’s 1937 round the world flight, accompanied by navigator Fred Noonan, was followed by the public in a manner similar to those of the astronauts thirty years later.
Earhart and Noonan vanished in the Pacific while on a leg of the flight which should have had them fly from their departure point, Lae Airfield in New Guinea, to Howland Island. Neither flyer was ever heard from again, though there were reported sightings and radio transmissions for many years following their disappearance. Rumors that they were captured by the Japanese and executed as spies arose, as did tales – unsubstantiated – that they were in fact dispatched by United States authorities to test Japanese security. The wreckage of the aircraft has been reported as being found by several investigators, then discounted. Heavy fighting in the region during the Second World War left the area littered with wreckage and false clues. To date, the fate of Amelia Earhart and Fred Noonan remains unknown, and the cause of their disappearance remains speculative.
