Amelia Earhart in the cockpit of her Lockheed Electra 10-E [Credit: Purdue University Libraries]
Key Takeaways:
88-year-old classified records concerning Amelia Earhart's 1937 disappearance have been declassified and are now available from the National Archives.
The files include a letter from Earhart to President Franklin Roosevelt, requesting U.S. Navy support for in-air refueling over Midway Island for her non-commercial, exploratory round-the-world flight.
The records detail Earhart's final radio transmissions, indicating low fuel and difficulty locating Howland Island, and the subsequent 16-day search that found no trace of the aircraft or its crew.
It has been 88 years since Amelia Earhart and Fred Noonan disappeared over the South Pacific. But until now the records of the search have remained classified.
Meg Godlewski has been an aviation journalist for more than 24 years and a CFI for more than 20 years. If she is not flying or teaching aviation, she is writing about it. Meg is a founding member of the Pilot Proficiency Center at EAA AirVenture and excels at the application of simulation technology to flatten the learning curve. Follow Meg on Twitter @2Lewski.
