New Zealand museum releases 1938 aerial photos of Nikumaroro tied to Earhart search

The Air Force Museum of New Zealand has released online the full set of 47 images from a 1938 aerial survey of Nikumaroro in high-resolution digital form, giving new visibility to photographs connected to the search for Amelia Earhart. The Guardian

The photographs were taken on 1 December 1938 from an amphibious biplane, an aircraft able to land on water and land, during a New Zealand survey looking for suitable airbase locations. The negatives were found more than a decade ago by Matthew O’Sullivan, keeper of photographs at the museum in Christchurch.

Earhart and navigator Fred Noonan disappeared on 2 July 1937 during an attempt to fly around the world along the equator. Nikumaroro, formerly known as Gardner Island and part of Kiribati, is linked to a leading theory that Earhart ran out of fuel and was stranded there.

Nikumaroro is uninhabited. A 17-person expedition to the island was inspired by satellite images taken over several years showing a submerged object, according to earlier reporting. The Guardian

The expedition is aiming to find an object called the Taraia Object, which was first spotted sitting on the edge of a lagoon off Nikumaroro in satellite imagery. BBC The Amelia Earhart Hangar Museum is located in Atchison, Kansas, in the United States. Reuters