
                         Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: SUNDAY, March 15, 1992                   TAG: 9203150104
SECTION: NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL                    PAGE: A-2   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: Associated Press
DATELINE: HOUSTON                                LENGTH: Short

SEARCHERS SAY THEY FOUND PART OF EARHART PLANE

An aircraft-recovery group claims it has solved the mystery surrounding the disappearance of Amelia Earhart, who vanished in the Pacific 55 years ago, by finding part of her plane's fuselage, a newspaper reported Saturday.

A team found the fuselage remnants in a search of the jungle on the remote South Pacific atoll of Nikumaroro, The Houston Post said.

The fuselage segment and a size 9 shoe - Earhart's size - were discovered during an October expedition, said Richard Gillespie, executive director of TIGHAR, the International Group for Historic Aircraft Recovery.

Gillespie said they were sent to a National Transportation Safety Board expert for analysis, who verified them as Earhart's.

Nobody was at the agency's Washington office Saturday who could confirm the report.

Gillespie, who didn't further describe the remnant of the plane, said he'll present the findings Monday at a news conference in Washington.

"We will present proof that the Earhart mystery has been solved," he said. "It's been a long, difficult, expensive project."

Earhart and her navigator, Fred Noonan, disappeared in their two-engine Lockheed 10-E Electra July 2, 1937 during a bid to become the first aviators to circle the Earth.

They disappeared between New Guinea and Howland Island in the Central Pacific. They planned to use Howland as a way station en route to Honolulu and Oakland, Calif., thus completing the mission.

by CNB