American aviator Amelia Earhart exits her aircraft at Derry, Ireland, after her solo transatlantic flight, in 1932. FPG/Hulton Archive/Getty Images
Newly declassified records revealed how U.S. agencies responded to reports that Amelia Earhart’s plane sent distress signals days after the 39-year-old and her navigator, Fred Noonan, vanished over the Pacific Ocean on July 2, 1937, during her attempt to become the first female pilot to circumnavigate the world.
The 4,624-page release, declassified by the Trump administration on Nov. 14, included 53 wide-ranging PDF files, including two that are titled, in part, “Relating to the last flight and disappearance of Amelia Earhart.”
Weather Conditions
The first document detailed Earhart’s final correspondence with the Itasca, a U.S. Coast Guard (USCG) vessel stationed at Howland Island—which lies approximately halfway between Hawaii and Australia—on the day she vanished.
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