Amelia Earhart's plane 'HAS been found after 77 years'

Piece of aluminum found on remote Pacific island could only be from her aircraft, say experts

• An aluminum scrap is now believed to have likely been part of Amelia Earhart's plane when she tried to circumnavigate the equator in 1937
• Researchers think the scrap was used as a fill-in for a navigational window when Earhart stopped in Miami
• They found the scrap's elements were a fit with the patch, and also fit with a Lockheed Electra undergoing restoration 

An aluminum scrap first found twenty-three years ago is now believed to have likely been part of Amelia Earhart's plane.

The International Group for Historic Aircraft Recovery (TIGHAR) thinks the Artifact 2-2-V-1 scrap, found on Nikumaroro, or Gardner Island, was used as a fill-in for a navigational window when Earhart stopped in Miami, Discovery News reported. 

Scrap: This piece of aluminum was found on Gardner Island in 1991 and may be a piece of Amelia Earhart's Lockheed Electra plane

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Evidence: A photograph from The Miami Herald taken before Earhart went missing showed where the aluminum piece had been installed

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Pilot: Amelia Earhart is seen in her Lockheed Electra in this 1936 file photo 

TIGHAR executive director Ric Gillespie told the news outlet 'The Miami Patch was an expedient field repair. Its complex fingerprint of dimensions, proportions, materials and rivet patterns was as unique to Earhart’s Electra as a fingerprint is to an individual.'

The news outlet pointed out a photograph from the Miami Herald, which showed where the aluminum piece was set up before Earhart went missing in July 1937.

Discovery News reported that TIGHAR members found at Wichita Air Services that Artifact 2-2-V-1's elements were a fit with the patch, and that it also fit a Lockheed Electra currently undergoing restoration. 

'This is the first time an artifact found on Nikumaroro has been shown to have a direct link to Amelia Earhart,' Gillespie also said.

The scrap may indicate that Earhart and Fred Noonan, who navigated the plane, died on Nikumaroro, the website reported.

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Theory: If the piece belonged to Earhart's Lockheed Electra, it indicates that she and navigator Fred Noonan died on Nikumaroro

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Search: The International Group for Historic Aircraft Recovery (TIGHAR) is going back to Nikumaroro for further testing next year to find out what happened to Amelia Earhart's plane 

'The many fractures, tears, dents and gouges found on this battered sheet of aluminum may be important clues to the fate and resting place of the Electra,' Gillespie told the news outlet.

The landing gear for Earhart's plane may have ended up in the water off Nikumaroro, going off of forensic imaging that was used on an archival 1937 photograph showing something in the water, according to the website.

It has also been suggested through sonar imagery that the fuselage is also in the water near the coast - and another TIGHAR trip to Nikumaroro is planned to take place in June of next year to see if more information can be discovered, the website said.

Gillespie also said that 'Funding is being sought, in part, from individuals who will make a substantial contribution in return for a place on the expedition team.'