[caption id="attachment_68109" align="aligncenter" width="600" caption="Amelia Earhart."]
Her final resting place might never be known, but film footage of the legendary aviator Amelia Earhart, which had been missing for decades, has resurfaced in Belfast, archivists have revealed.
Earhart enthusiast John Thompson - who has been lobbying for the return of a plane once flown by Earhart and named "Old Bessie" to Derry, this to mark the 80th anniversary of her solo transatlantic flight next year - says the footage is a "priceless" find.
And he has begun negotiations with the owners to borrow the reels for an exhibition in 2012 which will also serve as a major showcase for Derry's year as the first UK City of Culture in 2013.
"The film footage, which dates from 1932, shows Old Bessie being dismantled before it was shipped back to America in boxes," Thompson explained.
"It's a hugely exciting find. It's the only footage of its kind I'm aware of, and features all sorts of recognizable characters around the plane. I'm, sure many people from the Derry area will be able to identify family members in the groups."
Thompson, who is chair of the city's Friends of Earhart Society, hopes the footage will provide the impetus to create a full Earhart archive in Derry, which could become a major draw for U.S. visitors in 2013.
"We are still actively pursuing the notion of Old Bessie returning here," he said. "But in the interim, we are preparing a broader exhibition and a tourism trail. I would appeal for anyone with any artifacts or memorabilia pertaining to Earhart to contact us with a view to loaning it for display purposes.
"We have made connections with Titanic Tours in Belfast with a view to organizing a three-pronged tour targeting American visitors, which would encompass Titanic, the Giant's Causeway and Earhart."
Earhart touched down in Old Bessie at Ballyarnett, Derry in May 1932, just 15 hours after leaving Newfoundland on the first ever transatlantic crossing to be completed by a solo pilot.
Earhart fans in Ireland are proposing that the aviatrix's Lockheed Vega 5b plane should return "home" next year to both mark the eightieth anniversary of the flight and to salute Derry’s big year in 2013. The journey would again be made in boxes with the plane being assembled once it has reached its Irish destination.
The plane is currently on display at the Washington Smithsonian, and City of Culture representatives are contacting the institution to see if directors would be amenable to letting the plane make the trip back across the Atlantic.
Thompson, who was an adviser to the 2009 film "Amelia," said with regard to the possible return: "Her landing here is an event we need to be celebrating and commemorating. In Ireland, we sometimes tend to overlook the huge significance of our aviation heritage.
"But in the U.S. the interest in Earhart is phenomenal. Could you imagine such a wonderful artifact returning here? It would attract massive international focus. We tend to overlook the huge significance of our aviation heritage. In the U.S. the interest in Earhart is phenomenal. Derry/ Londonderry is hugely important in terms of world aviation and next year we're going to be re-minded of our status in spadefuls."
Thompson said that the tourism draw of Bessie would be enormous.
"Belfast is making an industry out of the Titanic. And yet in terms of connecting the world, and bringing the two sides of the Atlantic together, this event is just as significant," he said.
