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U.S. authorities have released sealed government records about the final travels of famed aviator Amelia Earhart, who disappeared nearly a century ago.
The new documents, released last week by the National Archives, total more than 4,600 pages and come after President Donald Trump ordered them released this fall.
This famous female pilot went missing over the South Pacific on July 2, 1937.
In a statement Friday, Nov. 14, Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard said the first batch of records includes some of Earhart’s final communications. Although experts did not immediately say the documents would change the public’s understanding of Earhart’s journey, they paint a more complete picture of her work.
Gabbard explained that the declassified files from the National Security Agency include Earhart’s “last known communications, weather and flight conditions at the time, potential search locations, and subsequent investigations and theories regarding her disappearance.”
These also include reports, maps and messages from the US Navy and US Coast Guard that “tracked her final flight and initial search in the days immediately following her disappearance.”
According to the document, Earhart’s last communication from the plane was at 8:43 a.m. on July 2, 1937, when she was on the line: “157 337 wl rept msg we wl rept…”
Other newspaper clippings and memos released include Japan’s diplomatic message to the United States expressing condolences over Earhart’s disappearance. They also point to some of the “misinformation surrounding Earhart’s circumnavigation of the world,” including suggestions that she died on the western Pacific island of Saipan.
Additionally, the document includes:
- Comments from a man who claims Earhart was buried in Spain
- Comments from a woman who claims Earhart is still alive and communicated telepathically
- The government telegraphed that Earhart had been captured by the Japanese and executed.
Described by the Smithsonian as “the most famous female pilot in the history of aviation,” Earhart was the first woman to fly solo, nonstop, across the Atlantic Ocean. She was theoretically on her way to completing the first flight around the world when she disappeared after running out of fuel.
According to the Smithsonian Institution, “Earhart’s disappearance has spawned a myriad of theories, including radio failure, poor communications, poor navigation and pilot skills, alternative landing sites, espionage missions and imprisonment, and even a quiet life on a rubber plantation in New Jersey or the Philippines.”
Additional documents about Earhart will be made available “on a rolling basis” on the National Archives website as they are declassified, Gabbard said in the release.
“Her Last Journey”
On Friday, September 26, President Trump ordered his administration to release “all government records about Amelia Earhart, her last travels, and everything else about her.”
“The release of Amelia Earhart’s files will shed light on the disappearance of a beloved American aviator who has been at the center of a public investigation for decades,” President Trump wrote on Truth Social.
Click here to view the documentation.
Contributor: Zach Anderson of USA TODAY
Natalie Neisa Alland is a senior reporter at USA TODAY. Contact her at nalund@usatoday.com and follow her at X @nataliealund.
