More mystery is surrounding a photo that claimed to be an image of Amelia Earhart and her copilot Fred Noonan that claimed to have been taken after she disappeared on her around-the-world flight attempt.
A Japanese blogger said that the photo that had many re-examining the female pilot's disappearance was taken two years before her fateful flight, and it is not Earhart sitting on the dock, NBC News reported.
The History channel is looking into the blogger's claims that the image was published in a Japanese travel book about the Pacific Islands in 1935 after the cable channel ran a two-hour special over the weekend. "Amelia Earhart: The Lost Evidence" said the photo was hidden in the National Archives and was mislabeled.
"We will be transparent in our findings. Ultimately, historical accuracy is most important to us and our viewers," History officials said in a statement to NBC News.
Shawn Henry, the investigator who worked for the History channel project, said that he will continue his investigation into the photo and Earhart's disappearance.
But he stands by the theory that Earhart and Noonan were in the Marshall Islands, NBC News reported.
“I think the evidence that we’ve collected thus far in totality says that Noonan and Earhart landed in the Marshall Islands. I think that that’s true.”
Investigators working with the History channel believe that she was taken to Saipan by the Japanese and died on the island. The Japanese government said it has no documents confirming that she was in their custody, NBC News reported.
So what has been confirmed about Earhart's flight and subsequent disappearance? According to her official biography, she and her co-pilot took off on July 2, 1937, at 10 a.m. from Lae, New Guinea, in her Lockheed Electra. They were on their way to Howland Island, 2,556 miles away.
According to AmeliaEarhart.com, the pair encountered overcast skies and rain showers, despite weather forecasts that predicted clear weather. The U.S. Coast Guard cutter Itasca was following Earhart and Noonan's flight path. Communications between the pilot and Itasca were broken up by static. At one point the Itasca received a message from Earhart, "We must be on you, but we cannot see you. Fuel is running low. Been unable to reach you by radio. We are flying at 1,000 feet." Her last transmission to the Itasca was "We are running north and south." That was received by the ship at 8:45 a.m. July 3.
No official sign of what happened to Earhart and Noonan after that transmission has ever been released.
