World
New Zealand museum releases 1938 aerial photos of island where Amelia Earhart may have crashed
October 16, 2026 at 01:58 PM
The Air Force Museum of New Zealand has released 47 images from a 1938 aerial survey as a US expedition searches Nikumaroro for Earhart's plane.
- The Air Force Museum of New Zealand released 47 high-resolution images from a 1938 aerial survey of Nikumaroro, then known as Gardner Island.
- A 17-member expedition led by Purdue University and the Archaeological Legacy Institute is scanning the island's lagoon to examine an object spotted in satellite imagery.
- Purdue University said severe weather hampered metal-detecting and that an update on the Taraia Object's identification is expected within two days.
- Ric Gillespie, Earhart's leading investigator, said the object is probably a fallen tree, not the wreckage of her Lockheed Electra.