Purdue Foundation and Archaeological Legacy Institute Set November Search for Earhart's Electra
NIKUMARORO ISLAND, PHOENIX ISLANDS, REPUBLIC OF KIRIBATI, JUL 2 – The Purdue-led expedition aims to verify a satellite-identified anomaly as Earhart's Electra 10E, backed by $500,000 in funding and plans for a 2026 excavation if confirmed.
- Purdue University and Archaeological Legacy Institute will lead a November 2025 expedition to Nikumaroro to inspect the Taraia Object as Earhart's lost plane.
- This expedition follows decades of theories suggesting Earhart and navigator Fred Noonan crashed near Nikumaroro after vanishing in 1937 during their world flight.
- Previous efforts, including a 2017 team with forensic dogs, found artifacts and a scent of human remains but no definitive proof of Earhart's presence on the island.
- Richard Pettigrew said the Taraia Object’s size and location correspond with Earhart’s plane and radio signals, while Purdue’s Steven Schultz stressed 'smoking gun evidence' remains elusive.
- If confirmed, the expedition could solve a major 20th-century mystery and fulfill Earhart’s wish to return the Electra 10E to Purdue for aeronautical study.
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Fresh tracks on Nikumaroro Island raise hope; Purdue University to send an expedition there.
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Eighty-eight years ago this month, Amelia Earhart attempted to become the first woman to fly around the world when she vanished over the Pacific Ocean. Soon, a team of researchers will be launching an expedition to locate her long-lost plane.
New clues surface about Amelia Earhart’s stranded night in Fargo
In 2023, I wrote a story about a remarkable night in Fargo history: the time legendary aviator Amelia Earhart was stranded here during a winter storm, most likely between 1934 and 1936. Earhart had been a frequent visitor to the region during that period, helping Northwest Airways convince lawmakers that a 'Northern Transcontinental' route between Chicago and Seattle was feasible in winter. Bad weather on this particular trip forced Earhart, who…
A new expedition is being organized to find the plane of famous female pilot Amelia Earhart, which disappeared 88 years ago. Scientists believe that Earhart may have crashed on a remote island in the South Pacific, NBC reports.
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