Lae

Earhart disappeared on July the second of 1937 while attempting to become the first female pilot to circumnavigate the globe by air.

Earhart and her navigator, Fred Noonan, vanished during one of the final stretches of their trip after they had departed Lae, New Guinea for Howland Island.

Earhart, one of the world's most famous people at the time, was only thirty-nine years old.

In a statement, expedition leader Ric Peattigrew called the prospect of examining the object gratifying.

Now, it was July second, nineteen thirty-seven.

Amelia and Fred took off from Lae, New Guinea, heavy with fuel and flying directly into the rising sun.

Their destination, Howland Island.

Now, listen to me closely here because you need to understand the sheer terrifying madness of this plan.

The most difficult leg of the journey lay ahead.

On the morning of the 2nd of July, 1937, Amelia and her navigator, Fred Noonan, took off from Lae in Papua New Guinea.

Their next stop was Howland Island, a barren dot in the middle of the Pacific Ocean, just two and a half miles long.

Precise navigation and expert piloting would be needed to find it.

Now, it was July 2nd, 1937.

Amelia and Fred took off from Lae, New Guinea, heavy with fuel and flying directly into the rising sun.

Their destination, Howland Island.

Now, listen to me closely here, because you need to understand the sheer, terrifying madness of this plan.

The crew is two, Amelia Earhart, pilot in command, Fred Noonan, navigator.

Their destination is Howland Island, a coral formation barely a mile and a half long, sitting just north of the equator, roughly twenty-five hundred miles east-southeast from where they took off in Lae, New Guinea.

There are no visual waypoints out there, no navaids, no radar.

Noonan is working a bubble sextant, shooting stars in the dark, advancing position lines, updating his dead reckoning as the hours accumulate behind them.

Now, it was July second, nineteen thirty-seven.

Amelia and Fred took off from Lae, New Guinea, heavy with fuel and flying directly into the rising sun.

Their destination, Howland Island.

Now, listen to me closely here because you need to understand the sheer terrifying madness of this plan.