The recently discovered photo which purportedly showed Amelia Earhart and her navigator Fred Noonan on a dock in the Marshall Islands is now in question, according to a new discovery by a Japanese blogger.
The History Channel discovered the photo in the National Archives and they suggested it contained evidence that Amelia Earhart and Fred Noonan did not die iin a crash landing in 1937 on the Marshall Islands, possibly solving one of America’s greatest mysteries of the 20th century.
The network recently aired a two-hour documentary, “Amelia Earhart: The Lost Evidence,” and used the image to suggest Earhart may have survived.
According to a Japanese military history blogger, Kota Yamano, the photo was actually taken two years before Earhart began her around the world flight and went missing in 1937.
Hi, in my research photo #EarhartLostEvidence was originally published in 1935 in Palau. The person is not Amelia. https://t.co/tYUf3mf3GX
— 山猫男爵 (@baron_yamaneko) July 10, 2017
The blogger says the photo was first published in 1935 in Palau and is in a Japanese travel book titled, “Naval Lifeline; the View of Our South Pacific: Photo Album of Southern Pacific Islands.” The book appears to have been scanned, and a digital image can be found in Japan’s National Diet Library.
Yamano told the Guardian he was skeptical of the theory that Earhart was captured by the Japanese military and that he conducted his own research, finding the photo in the travel book within an hour.
“The photo was the 10th item that came up,” Yamano said to the Guardian. “I was really happy when I saw it. I find it strange that the documentary makers didn’t confirm the date of the photograph or the publication in which it originally appeared. That’s the first thing they should have done,” he added.
In two tweets on Tuesday, the History Channel said they were investigating the matter and “will be transparent” in their findings.
Ultimately historical accuracy is most important to us and our viewers. (2/2)
— HISTORY (@HISTORY) July 11, 2017
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