Solving the Riddle of Earhart's Disappearance

The disappearance of world famous aviator Amelia Earhart has confounded experts for generations. The female rights advocate and celebrity had been attempting to fly around the world in 1937 when she lost her way and ran out of fuel. She disappeared over the Pacific Ocean, but near-certainty of where she went down degraded to confusion, and she and her aircraft were never found.

Now, a team of researchers are claiming to have found a key piece of evidence that will help them find Earhart's Lockheed Electra aircraft and potentially the remains of the intrepid pilot herself. Such a discovery could finally set the history books rights, and put the mystery surrounding her disappearance to rest.

Investigators with The International Group for Historic Aircraft Recovery (TIGHAR) have been focusing their efforts to finding Earhart and her craft for years. A recent study conducted by the organization now suggests that an aluminum patch found on an uninhabited atoll in 1991 is very likely a unique plate of metal from the Electra that was used to patch the plane during Earhart's stay in Miami at the beginning of her second and last attempt to fly around the world.

"It's dimensions, proportions, and pattern of rivets were dictated by the hole to be covered and the structure of the aircraft. The patch was as unique to her particular aircraft as a fingerprint is to an individual," TIGHAR announced in a recent release. "The strong possibility that Artifact 2-2-V-1 is the 'Miami Patch' means that the many fractures, tears, dents and gouges evident on the metal may be important clues to the fate - and resting place - of the aircraft itself."

The team has announced that they now intend to use the natural wear the patch has experienced over the years to determine things like tidal direction and sun exposure. They now suspect that Earhart may have made an emergency landing on the atoll's reef, abandoned her Electra, and used the patch - forcibly ripped from the plane - to paddle to shore.

The organization now plans to "return to Nikumaroro to investigate the anomaly with Remote Operated Vehicle (ROV) technology," to put to rest the mystery of Earhart once and for all.