In this undated file photo, Amelia Earhart stands next to a Lockheed Electra 10E, before her last flight in 1937 from Oakland, Calif., bound for Honolulu on the first leg of her record-setting attempt to circumnavigate the world westward along the Equator. AP FILE PHOTO
CHEYENNE, United States — Experts retained by an aircraft preservation group say underwater video shot in the South Pacific shows no evidence of the wreckage of the missing plane piloted by aviation pioneer Amelia Earhart.
Wyoming resident Timothy Mellon, son of the late philanthropist Paul Mellon, is pushing a federal lawsuit against the International Group for Historic Aircraft Recovery of Delaware and its executive director, Richard E. Gillespie.
Mellon claims the group found the wreckage of Earhart’s plane in 2010 but kept the discovery a secret so it could solicit money from him to continue the search.
Amelia Earhart was the first woman to fly solo across the Atlantic. She disappeared in 1937 while trying to fly around the world.
The group denies Mellon’s claims. It filed statements in court this week from expert witnesses who concluded the video doesn’t show any sort of aircraft wreckage.
U.S. District Judge Scott Skavdahl of Casper has set trial for August.
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