According to media reports, the U.S. government is gearing up to resume the search for Amelia Earhart, lost on the return leg of her around-the-world flight some 75 years ago. Her disappearance, along with her navigator, Fred Noonan, has been one of the great mysteries of the 20th Century. Was she secretly conducting a spy flight for the U.S. government over Japanese positions? Did she and Noonan survive? Were they shot down by the Japanese?
One of the more outlandish theories, besides the whole abducted-by-aliens thing, had Amelia being captured by the Japanese and forced to make propaganda broadcasts as the infamous Tokyo Rose (Never mind the fact that Iva Toguri D'Aquino was Tokyo Rose) and was recaptured by the Americans at war's end and placed in a sanatorium in New Jersey where she spent the rest of her days.
The new search will focus on and around the remote island of Nikumaroro, in what is now the Pacific nation of Kiribati. Searchers have found what may be fragments of aircraft debris and leather from a shoe Amelia may have worn. Most interesting is that an old photograph that some claim may show part of the lost Lockheed Electra's landing gear.
My connection with Amelia Earhart - besides my admiring her as a pioneer in many regards - is the fact that she was a major character in both Elvis Saves JFK! and War Plan Crimson, A Novel of Alternate History. Both books are available for just $0.99 and $2.99, respectively. Of course, they're also both free to preview. And both books are also available through such fine on-line retailers such as Barnes & Noble and Apple's iTunes Store.
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