Amelia Earhart Evidence Lost

[SpitfireGuy]

Let's get real here for a moment. The photo is an interesting slice of life from the Marshalls in the late twenties or early thirties. The ship has been noted as likely beign an old German steamer seized during WW1 and from the looks of the ships and boats int he harbor I would bank on Twenties. That would track with a 1935 published travel log. The person in quesstion has his/her back to us and thus I am not buying facial recognition identification at least on her. Also facial recognition on photos from the 30's which we were relatively lo res compared to what is used for this same method today seems dicey at best. The guards on the peer could very well have just been guarding the peer. Jaluit was an Imperial Japanese holding and it would not be uncommon to have guards on any such peer in a colonial port in ANY empire. It is a surprisingly calm photo for people under guard. 

 

Also can we step back from the photo for a minute and consider the geopolitics of the time. This was 1937 and Japan was no yet looking to expand their empire. Pearl Harbor is still 4 years away and the IJN and IJA are still dependent on the US for 70% of their oil. Relations had already been strained earlier that year when the USS Panay was sunk by the Japanese at Nankinig. The kidnap of Earhart on her highly publicized round the world flight would not have been wise or prudent especially as there was likely little she would have seen of significance in the Marshalls at this time even she had overflown or crashed landed there. Truk and Tinian were not yet what they would be by late 1940 and 1941 and Jaluit would likely have been relatively sleepy. To me all of this makes Earhart's "capture" in the context of 1937 very very unlikely. 

 

Zach

[HistnScale]

I have one question here.  If the geopolitics were as benign as is being suggested, why did the Imperial Japanese government refuse the U.S. Navy overflight permission to search for Earhart?  It would seem the Japanese would have had every reason to co-operate with a search and rescue effort instead of blocking it.

[habu2]

Japanese army soldier O. H. Lee killed them both with one shot, claimed it was a magic bullet.  Lee himself was killed soon after so the world will never know the truth. 

 

I know this is true because I read it on the internet.