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Jail Where Amelia Earhart Said Held to Be Probed
abcnews.go.com ^ | 3 29 05 | ap

Posted on 03/29/2005 7:38:13 AM PST by freepatriot32

SAIPAN, Northern Mariana Islands Mar 29, 2005 — Researchers want to excavate an old Japanese jail where aviator Amelia Earhart and her navigator were rumored to have been detained before they vanished in 1937.

The Historic Preservation Office of the Northern Mariana Islands has applied for a grant with the National Park Service to fund the excavation, hoping to solve the 67-year-old mystery of what became of Earhart and her navigator, Fred Noonan.

The Northern Mariana Islands, about 3,800 miles southwest of Hawaii, were administered by Japan from 1914 to 1944 and are now a U.S. commonwealth.

"In the past, there had been rumors that Amelia Earhart's plane was shot down and she was held captive by her Japanese captors on suspicion that she was a spy," said Epiphanio Cabrera, director of the preservation office. He said the aviator was supposedly "burned and buried at the back of the jail."

Earhart was 39 and already had set numerous flying records when she began her final flight May 20, 1937, from Oakland, Calif.

She made it as far as New Guinea. On July 2, she took off from there for tiny Howland Island on a 2,556-mile flight.

Earhart and Noonan never reached the atoll. In one of her last radio messages to the U.S. Coast Guard cutter Itasca, she said her fuel was running low. No trace of her, Noonan or their Lockheed Electra plane was ever found.

The project looking for signs of Earhart's presence on the prison grounds is expected to begin by September, and could "close the gap" regarding various claims on Earhart's disappearance, Cabrera said.

A year after she and Noonan vanished, a French consul sent a telegram to the U.S. State Department claiming Earhart was a prisoner of the Japanese on Saipan. Some locals insist she died in captivity and was buried on the island.


TOPICS: Culture/Society; Foreign Affairs; News/Current Events
KEYWORDS: amelia; aviation; be; earhart; held; islands; jail; japanese; mariana; occupation; probed; said; saipan; to; where
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1 posted on 03/29/2005 7:38:15 AM PST by freepatriot32
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To: Aeronaut

ping


2 posted on 03/29/2005 7:39:57 AM PST by freepatriot32 (If you want to change goverment support the libertarian party www.lp.org)
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To: freepatriot32

"Some locals insist she died in captivity and was buried on the island."

Some locals understand tourist dollars.


3 posted on 03/29/2005 7:42:23 AM PST by Buck W. (Yesterday's Intelligentsia are today's Irrelevantsia.)
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To: freepatriot32

Is this the Amelia Earhardt theory du jour?


4 posted on 03/29/2005 7:45:50 AM PST by conservative cat
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To: freepatriot32

I thought I saw a program saying a piece of the plane was found in a lagoon .. Howland or somesuch place ?


5 posted on 03/29/2005 7:57:43 AM PST by 1066AD
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To: 1066AD

i vagely rember hearoing something like that years ago they said they founda wing or somethnig i cant rember where they said they found it though


6 posted on 03/29/2005 8:03:56 AM PST by freepatriot32 (If you want to change goverment support the libertarian party www.lp.org)
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To: freepatriot32
This was covered by Robert Stack's great voice in UNSOLVED MYSTERIES. I'm not sure if this is just grassy knoller stuff or a real possibility.
7 posted on 03/29/2005 9:08:17 AM PST by Monterrosa-24 (Technology advances. Human nature is dependably stagnant.)
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To: freepatriot32

I think the fishes got her.


8 posted on 03/29/2005 9:09:41 AM PST by BikerNYC
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To: freepatriot32

I thought the Japanese imprisoned Jimmy Hoffa. Oh well...


9 posted on 03/29/2005 9:14:34 AM PST by Brofholdonow
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To: BikerNYC

Never hire an alcoholic as your navigator...


10 posted on 03/29/2005 9:46:41 AM PST by donozark (ATTENTION MICHAEL MOORE:Please go to the courtesy desk. The forklift you requested is ready!)
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To: freepatriot32

Oh fer cryin outloud, everyone knows space aliens kidnapped her, mixed gorilla DNA in with hers and Janet Reno was born!

Where's the mystery??


11 posted on 03/29/2005 9:52:09 AM PST by JoeSixPack1
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To: Buck W.
Said locals have to now be in their middle to late 80's I would suspect. If they were children, then it is nursery rhymes.
12 posted on 03/29/2005 10:38:55 AM PST by RetiredArmy (Ted Kennedy is a democrat. Democrats are the enemy. Destroy your enemies.)
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To: donozark

Never hire a pilot on gender alone.


13 posted on 03/29/2005 11:10:34 AM PST by MCRD
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To: freepatriot32

I think she ran out of fuel before she ran out of ocean.


14 posted on 03/29/2005 11:38:58 AM PST by Slings and Arrows (They'll take away my old CRT monitor when they pry it from under my warm, snoozing cat.)
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To: freepatriot32; Tijeras_Slim; FireTrack; Pukin Dog; citabria; B Knotts; kilowhskey; cyphergirl; ...

15 posted on 03/29/2005 11:46:17 AM PST by Aeronaut (I fly because it releases my mind from the tyranny of petty things - Saint-Exupery)
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To: Slings and Arrows

That's always been my understanding...


16 posted on 03/29/2005 1:25:28 PM PST by SweetPilotofCanuckistan
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To: JoeSixPack1
you've cleared it up for me...

how reno was spawned that is! (har, har)

17 posted on 03/29/2005 1:34:58 PM PST by NoClones
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To: Aeronaut

Aeronaut, thank you (as usual) for my Aviation Ping. I read the articles most times, and am sorry that I haven't been contributing lately. Please keep pinging me, Aeronaut. Thank you again.


18 posted on 03/29/2005 2:13:22 PM PST by Miss Behave (Beloved daughter of Miss Creant, super sister of danged Miss Ology, and proud mother of Miss Hap.)
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To: freepatriot32; BikerNYC; B4Ranch; shaggy eel

<< Jail Where Amelia Earhart Said Held to Be Probed >>

Who they reckon held her?

And why to be probed?

<< Never hire an alcoholic as your navigator... >>

Better yet, never go flying without a pilot!

Too bad Ms Earhart and Mr Noonan didn't heed that warning before they set out on their attempt to beat the aviation truism that there are old pilots and there are bold pilots but very very few of us old bold pilots.

BUMPping


19 posted on 03/29/2005 4:32:43 PM PST by Brian Allen (I fly and can therefore be envious of no man -- Per Ardua ad Astra!)
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To: Brian Allen

,,, she's lucky she got clear of PNG. Even now people could end up as "spare ribs - all U can eat Tuesday, 10 kina."


20 posted on 03/29/2005 6:37:51 PM PST by shaggy eel
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