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Amelia Earhart's world-record attempt to fly around the world in a two-engine plane is steeped in the elements of legend, from tragedy and adventure to a tale of castaways on a deserted island.
Now a shred of evidence that was almost missed could uncover the mystery of Earhart's disappearance, according to an organization that's been leading the search for her missing plane.
"Is this the Earhart Electra?" the International Group for Historic Aircraft Recovery (TIGHAR) wrote above a grainy sonar image posted to their website.
It could be, according to a new forensic analysis of the image.
The sonar image taken months after Earhart's disappearance in 1937, in the republic of Kiribati, shows an underwater object that is the right shape and size to match the wreckage of the aviator's Electra plane, according to the specialist who analyzed it.
Jeff Glickman told Discovery News the photo seemed to show a wheel, a fender and other components of what could be a plane.
But if it hadn't been for a member of TIGHAR's online forum, they might never have spotted the image, according to the organization. A man named Richard Conroy found the anomaly while reading a report, TIGHAR's account of the discovery says.
"Richie has no training in interpreting sonar images but that was probably his biggest advantage," it says.
After a forensic analysis of the photo, TIGHAR decided to launch a new exhibition to search for the wreckage, according to Discovery News.
Researchers believe that Amelia Earhart and navigator Fred Noonan landed on an uninhabited island and lived there as castaways until they died, according ANI.
The team is scheduled to leave on July 3.