Says He Found Conflicting Evidence With About 30 Minutes Effort

The photograph that was purported to show Amelia Earhart and Fred Noonan in a recent documentary telecast on cable TV was actually taken at least two years before the pair set off on their attempt to circumnavigate the globe.

That's the assessment of Japanese military history blogger Kota Yamano, who says he was able to find the same photograph in a book in Japan's National Library after about 30 minutes of work.

The U.K. newspaper The Guardian reports that Yamano published the photograph on his blog in context. It was contained in a Japanese-language book on travel in the South Seas published in 1935, two years before the aviatrix and her navigator set off to try to circle the globe.

Yamano told The Guardian he was surprised that the documentary makers did so little work to corroborate the evidence. "I have never believed the theory that Earhart was captured by the Japanese military, so I decided to find out for myself. I was sure that the same photo must be on record in Japan.”

He says he found the photograph by searching “Jaluit atoll” beginning in 1930.

“The photo was the 10th item that came up,” he said. “I was really happy when I saw it. I find it strange that the documentary makers didn’t confirm the date of the photograph or the publication in which it originally appeared. That’s the first thing they should have done.”

(Image from file)

FMI: Yamano Blog