One of the revelations that emerged from the documents was that a USCG vessel ’reported hearing [a] voice,’ days after the crash.
Newly declassified records revealed how U.S. agencies responded to reports that Amelia Earhart’s plane sent distress signals days after the 39-year-old and her navigator, Fred Noonan, vanished over the Pacific Ocean on July 2, 1937, during her attempt to become the first female pilot to circumnavigate the world.
The 4,624-page release, declassified by the Trump administration on Nov. 14, included 53 wide-ranging PDF files, including two that are titled, in part, “Relating to the last flight and disappearance of Amelia Earhart.”
Weather Conditions
The first document detailed Earhart’s final correspondence with the Itasca, a U.S. Coast Guard (USCG) vessel stationed at Howland Island—which lies approximately halfway between Hawaii and Australia—on the day she vanished.
According to a summary of transmissions heard by Itasca from Earhart, the pilot reported that conditions were “part cloudy,” she was running low on gas, and flying at 1,000 feet at 7:42 a.m.
At 8:43 a.m., the pilot’s last words to Itasca were in a garbled transmission that stated, “We are running North and South on the line 157-337 will repeat msg on 6210 KCS WAIT.”
The log then reported Itasca responding with “u ok” and “do not hr u,” according to the official radio log.
A response was not returned.
Itasca confirmed weather reports showing that, around the time Earhart disappeared, the wind never exceeded 6 miles per hour.
Search Efforts
The second document detailed the search efforts that followed the disappearance of the Kansas-born pilot’s Lockheed 10-E Electra, including a report that an operator heard her voice.
The USCG reported on July 4, 1937, that it received unconfirmed reports that “Earhart plane heard 16000 KCS period position on a reef southwest of Howland Island.”
Howland Island was supposed to be the flyer’s planned fueling stop during the trip.
The USCG suggested the information could “be authentic,” and on the back of the same dispatch document, a cursive note read “this very important” and included the words “Honolulu apparently getting Earhart signals.”
At 11:46 p.m. on July 4, “Howland reported hearing plane signals,” and the Baker Island station verified signals from Earhart’s plane.
One of the revelations comes on page 96, where an “Itasca operator reported hearing [a] voice,” days after the crash.
In the early morning hours on July 5, Itasca reported sending and receiving dashes back from what appeared to be her aircraft and added “Earhart Plane 281 North Howland apparently confirmed by radio compass.”
A British steamer heading west reported “apparent Earhart position 281 miles North Howland” as well.
Itasca “sighted flares” and proceeded toward them just after 10 p.m. on July 5.
Search teams covered over 2,000 square miles north and northwest of the Howland area in choppy water but came up empty.
Earhart’s husband, George Putnam, even asked Edgar Cayce, a renowned psychic at the time, to locate her by “mental telepathy,” a document in the newly released files stated.
“Cayce did so, but the area he indicated in which the plane supposedly landed was searched without result,” the document stated.
By Jacki Thrapp
