Warbird Information Exchange

Could Earhart Mystery Be Solved By A Zipper?
Tue, 19 Feb '08

Group Says Brass Pull May Be Missing Link
Last year marked the 70th anniversary of the disappearance of Amelia Earhart. While more than one group was raising money to attempt a definitive answer to where she disappeared, the mystery remained unsolved.



Now, the Delaware-based International Group for Historic Aircraft Recovery has asked the Crawford County Historical Society in Meadville, PA for help in dating the manufacture of a small brass zipper pull made by Talon, a hookless fastener company that operated in Meadville from 1913 through the late 1980s.

Members of the group found the pull in 2007 on Nikumaroro, a coral atoll in the western Pacific Ocean. The island sits along the flight path from New Guinea to Howland Island, where Earhart's Lockheed Electra disappeared on July 2, 1937.

"This is exciting stuff," said TIGHAR executive director Ric Gillespie. "Now we have this site on the island that is producing artifacts that speak of an American woman in her 30s, and the only one missing out there is her. So, this is solid stuff."

Anne Stewart of the historical society told the Associated Press she's skeptical the pull could have belonged to Earhart... in part because Colonel Lewis Walker, who brought the company which became Talon to Meadville, would have taken advantage of the opportunity for promotion, and apparently didn't.

"I would say that it is quite possible that Amelia Earhart was wearing a suit with a zipper on it. I'm just not willing to say that the one they found was one of them," Stewart said.

So, we can't be sure the zipper will help solve the mystery, but we can be fairly certain it will produce a truckload of horrible puns. And perhaps, someday... it will bring closure, to all of us who fly.

We're really sorry about that.

FMI: www.ameliaearhart.com, www.tighar.org, www.crawfordhistorical.org/

Case closed, maybe now they can use their giant crabs to find Jimmy Hoffa's shoe lace...

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Share your story: Rutgers Oral History Archive http://oralhistory.rutgers.edu/

Go ahead and laugh, but let the evidence speak for itself. Executive Director Gillespie has assembled artifacts giving overwhelming evidence of a 30-something American woman, including:



















a) a Wonderbra





b) Revlon Home Hair Coloring Kit





c) and a completely intact Air Supply remix CD






So put THAT in your pipe and smoke it before you slag off on TIGHAR again.

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It was a good idea, it just didn't work.

i'll give them a zipper.........

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tom d. friedman - hey!!! those fokkers were messerschmitts!! * without ammunition, the usaf would be just another flying club!!! * better to have piece of mind than piece of tail!!

They are also testing a dried up booger they found on the zipper to see if it matches her DNA. After that they will see if they can sort out the Swamp Ghost mess.

Zippitydoodaa

and that "Unknown" at Punchbowl from Saipan has not been investigated...or has it? lol

Cheers,
David

"Always with the negative vibes, Moriarty."
You guys need to wait until they get some real info before you bash 'em. Until then...just
ZIP IT!

I'm sorry...I couldn't stop myself.

Mudge the contrite

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Land of the free because of the brave

Boy, she really has a lot of people fooled into thinking she's missing...I saw her a few years back, she ran a shoeshine stand at a truck stop in El Paso, Tx. She even had a guy with long side burns and a deep south accent that was constantly eating Twinkies, working for her..

Kenny Rogers?

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It has always surprised me with this claim, that there is not anything more substantial of the aircraft found to support the claim, either in the way of corroded debris locatred in the sea, while aluminium may be well gone there should be remains of steel from engine cores / undercarriage/prop hubs etc or parts washed up into the beach, as the wreck broke up, and preserved from fully corroding?

So far a small strip of aluminium, that might be from a Lockheed, seems to be the only aircraft part found?

In addition assuming the two occupants survived for a while you would wonder why various items from the aircraft werent salvaged to provide shelter and comforts? and they werent reported by locals and others when the body was found?.

Surely Amelia is not the only female, or westerner to be lost in the pacific with a zipper? even one from this manufacturer?

I remain sceptical of this projects theory based on the evidence so far.

Regards

Mark Pilkington

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20th Century - The Age of Manned Flight
"from Wrights to Armstrong in 66 years -WOW!"

Is there a way to prove that the zipper came to be on the island by virtue of being transported there by the person wearing it in their clothing, vs having washed up as a piece of flotsam?

Are zippers date-coded somehow, and if so would this still be visible on the item in question after somany years in a corrosive environment?

Is there documentation showing that AE had zippered clothing with her that is consistent with the item found when she disappeared?

Interesting discovery, but there does seem to be a few questions that need further explanation.

greg v.

So they found a womans zipper. Wooo. Don't suppose that anybody might have been on that island since 1931?

And how the hell do you figure out its a woman in her 30's from a zipper? Somebody's been watching too much CSI.

Wasn't there talk some time ago about a British Army officer in WW2 in the jungle coming across a small twin with markings and repairs that matched Amelia's plane?

I'd be going for a look at that rather than looking at some crustaceans that have found a zip.

Ric

I do not understand the general terse attitude toward this group of dedicated archeologist. They have devoted such great resources in order to investigate and recover wrecks around the world underwater and on terra firma that they have gained the trust and confidence of our Federal Government through the Naval Historical Center! Those of you not aware of the tremendous scientific proof and research done by the Naval Historical Center has given us the piece of mind to know that the Earhart Electra is in fact preserved in the aqueous, saline solution for all future generations. Individuals new to the forum may not be aware that the two have set out to recover the two TBD's, also in the South Pacific. (I don't know why they have not released photos of the recovered planes, as it would be a relatively simple retrieval for a bonafide civilian salvage operation?)

I still wish them well. But I no longer hold my breath.

Pirate Lex
http://www.BrewsterCorsair.com

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An ego is no match for gravity.

The wonderbra ad alone was worth opening this thread.

TIGHAR or NHC?

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It was a good idea, it just didn't work.