article: If true, it would solve one of aviation history's biggest mysteries. Earhart vanished during a 1937 flight over the Pacific - and her disappearance has been a breeding ground for speculation ever since. A photograph from the 1930s shows a figure that could be her, taken on the then-Japanese Marshall Islands. However, at least one prominent expert has poured cold water on the claim, saying he was "astounded" it had taken off. The new material - presented as evidence for an old theory - is a black-and-white photograph found in the vaults of the US National Archives. It shows a group of people standing on a dock. The label on the photograph says it was taken on Jaluit Atoll in the Marshall Islands, presumably by a US spy. The link might seem thin, though, to the legendary pilot who five years before her disappearance had risen to fame as the first woman to fly solo across the Atlantic. The claim is that one seated person with her back to the camera could be Earhart, while another figure on the far left in the photo is said to be Fred Noonan, her navigator on that last flight. On the very right of the picture is a blurry section which, it is claimed, shows Earhart's plane. Ric Gillespie, author of Finding Amelia and executive director of The International Group for Historic Aircraft Recovery (TIGHAR), is certainly unconvinced. He told the BBC: "This photograph has people convinced. I'm astounded by this. I mean, my God! Look at this photograph... Let's use our heads for a moment. It's undated. They think it's from 1937. Okay. If it's from July 1, 1937 then it can't be Amelia, because she hadn't taken off yet. "If it's from 1935 or 1938 it can't be her.... This photograph has to have been taken within a very narrow window - within a couple of days of when she disappeared." He notes that the photograph came from an Office of Naval Intelligence file, saying it was "very natural" the US would want a picture of this Japanese naval asset. "And what does the photo say that it shows? ... Jaluit Atoll - Jaluit Island. It doesn't say 'Amelia Earhart in Japanese custody'! "If this is a picture of Amelia Earhart in Japanese custody, where are the Japanese? There are no soldiers in this picture. Nobody in uniform," he observes. The photograph was released by the US-based History channel ahead of a documentary to run this weekend. If the goal was to drum up attention - and hence audience numbers - it appears to have paid off. A preview of the programme has two experts backing up the claim by looking at the torso measurements of the woman alleged to be Amelia Earhart in the photo, and teeth and hairline of the figure claimed to be Fred Noonan. A far stretch? After all, the heroine has her back to the camera and it's debatable how much of a hairline let alone teeth can really be made out reliably on a faded photograph from
summary: A newly-discovered photo suggests legendary US pilot Amelia Earhart might have died in Japanese custody - and not in a plane crash in the Pacific.