Amelia Earhart

I love a good mystery! And I love it when a good mystery becomes a solved mystery - even if it is more than seventy years later. The story of Amelia Earhart and her mysterious disappearance has always fascinated me. In 1937 Amelia set off in her plane with her navigator to circle the world . She was an accomplished pilot and had been the first woman to fly solo across the Atlantic. As she set off on her journey, she kept radio contact. Somewhere over the central Pacific Ocean near Howland Island, radio contact ceased and Amelia Earhart disappeared. Although there was an extensive search for her, there was never a trace of her found. The official version of her disappearance was that she ran out of fuel and crashed at sea. Now there is evidence that she survived the crash and lived out her days as a castaway on the remote Nikumaroro Island, an island some 1800 miles south of Hawaii. In December 2010, researchers found three bone fragments they believe are from Earhart's body. It will take several months to find out if they are able to extract enough DNA material from the tiny bone fragments. This island was inhabited until 1938 - one year after Amelia disappeared. The British sent a team to start clearing land for a village and coconut plantation. In 1940, the team found bones and a campsite. The skeleton was sent to Fiji and the British lost track of it in 1941. Could this have been the body of Amelia Earhart? Hopefully, the pieces of bone found recently on the island (which has been deserted since 1963, following a drought) will solve the mystery. Enjoying a good mystery . . . it's a good thing!