Amelia Earhart: The History Channel’s New Theory On The Ill-Fated Pilot Debunked

The History Channel created a new special about the ill-fated pilot Amelia Earhart, presenting an all new theory and offering evidence that the first female pilot to fly around the world had been captured by the Japanese military.

Amelia Earhart was last seen on July 2, 1937 and has never been seen since that fateful flight. However, according to a photo found of Earhart in Japan, some historians believed that the new photo, which was discovered in government archives, showed that she actually survived the crash and landed in Japan.

But Kota Yamano, a Japanese military blogger, totally debunked the entire History Channel theory within just 30 mintues.

Dorothy Cochrane, curator of the Aeronautics Department at the Smithsonian National Air and Space Museum, was already unconvinced that the “new photo evidence” for the special Amelia Earhart: The Lost Evidence proved anything at all, and Yamano was able to confirm her hunch.

Yamano searched for the photo in Japan’s National Diet Library and found the photo in just a few minutes. The National Diet Library has the photo dated in 1935. The photo was first published in a travelogue in the Pacific island of Palau in a photo book entitled Motoaki Nishin.

Yamano also doubts that the woman in the photo is Amelia Earhart.

This, unfortunately, puts a dent in the theory that Amelia Earhart was taken prisoner by the Japanese.

Yamano, like any historian, admits that mistakes can be made when it comes to when photographs are dated, but he also said that by 1937, there would be no civilians on the dock due to the war with China. As such, the picture cannot have been taken after her disappearance.

The History Channel has caught wind of Yamano’s claims and is planning to address them. They stated that historical accuracy is of “utmost importance” to them and therefore they will be continuing to look into Yamano’s claims.

Amelia Earhart disappeared in her Lockheed Model 10-E Electra in the summer of 1937 somewhere across the Pacific. The mystery of her disappearance has never completely been solved, and people remain fascinated with her to this very day. The current theory is that she ran out of gas and crashed somewhere in the Pacific Ocean.

[Featured Image by Getty Images]