Lost To Time – Amelia Earhart’s Lockheed Electra 10E Aircraft May Have Been Found In 2022

News of a possible sighting of the famed Amelia Earhart’s plane, using Google Maps, may have finally been located at long last. Earhart and navigator Fred Noonan were last heard from on July 2, 1937, on their way to Howland. Originally posted in March 2023 and now resurfaced, a man named Justin Myers, who was a pilot himself, took to the search after watching a documentary about a small triangular coral atoll called Nikumaroro.

Curiosity About The Lockheed Electra

In a post last updated Jan. 25, 2025, a blogger by the handle Ian D B shared a theory with multiple images attached that had been sent to him by Justin Myers, hoping to get people to look into the possible plane crash off the patch of land called Nikumaroro. This mass is mostly what appears to be land covered in coral and vegetation, and belongs to the Phoenix Islands group.

According to the post, Myers had watched a documentary that was talking about Nikumaroro Island, once named Gardner Island. It had been theorized that Earhart and Noonan may have crashed somewhere on the island, possibly low on fuel and lost. Myers had worked in aviation and flown himself, but never knew how the mystery of the lost Lockheed Electra happened.

Having been aware of Earhart, Myers was not deeply invested in the story of what happened, but he did have a fascination with vintage aircraft his whole life. That was how he ended up taking to Google Maps on a whim, cup of coffee in hand.

Curious Shapes Off The Coast

With his previous experience in aviation, he looked for what he thought would be a potential landing spot based on Earhart’s takeoff from New Guinea. Myers wasn’t seeking the plane, as he felt that would be absurd; it had been well over 80 years ago. What he did find, however, were markers that he captured that looked to be significant. Myers marked what he thought could be different parts of the Lockheed Electra, spread about the coast of the island, making sure to note the location and date as well.

While the objects appeared man-made, having dived in his earlier years, he had seen many corals and wrecks, which allowed him to determine that they were not made by nature. Myers went through Google Maps multiple times to see if he could find more and happened to find what appeared to be a half-exposed radial engine with growth around it. 

Throughout the post, he made notes and measurements, documenting everything as best he could with as many clear images from Google Maps as he could get, incorporating images of what it once looked like before. Toward the end, Myers admits that while it might not be Earhart’s Lockheed Electra, at the very least, it was absolutely a plane.

Possible Lockheed Electra Expedition

When Myers had found these images, he had reached out to the National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) in the US, with them responding that they had no jurisdiction, and to reach out to the Australian Transport Safety Bureau. A report was made to the investigation team in Brisbane. In the update made Jan 27, 2025, it was told to Ian D B and relayed to the blogpost, The International Group for Historic Aircraft Recovery (TIGHAR) had allegedly seen an aircraft wreck near the known wreck of SS Norwich City between 1940 and 1941.

While we have no definitive answers yet as to whether anyone has found Earhart and Noonan’s bodies or the famed Lockheed Electra, Purdue University, Purdue Research Foundation and the Archaeological Legacy Institute are working on getting everything together in order to go to Nikumaroro to confirm whether or not they can find the missing plane. As of now, they plan to begin sometime in 2026, once they have all the required permits and approvals from the Kiribati government.