The world was stunned when Amelia Earhart and her navigator Fred Noonan vanished while flying across the Pacific in 1937. The sudden and total disappearance of the two flyers and their airplane became one of the greatest news stories, and certainly the greatest aviation mystery of the twentieth century.

Amelia Earhart was “Queen of the Air” and one of the best-known women in the world. She had earned that honor by demonstrating through her flying skills that women were as capable as men, and by advocating that society should not restrict women from aspiring to fulfilling professional careers.

Frederick Noonan was chief navigator on the “China Clippers” of Pan American Airways. The “clipper crews” were role models and heroes of the mid 1930s and inspired thousands of young people to train for jobs in aviation. As one of the top aerial navigators, Noonan too was an icon of aviation.

When these two giants of aviation and their aircraft suddenly vanished the whole world became fascinated with the mystery. To this day, what happened to Amelia Earhart is considered the greatest aviation mystery of all time.

Many organizations and expeditions have been formed to pursue a diversity of theories of what happened to Amelia. So far, all have failed to produce either Amelia's Lockheed Electra or Amelia herself. The actual search pattern that was executed in the 1930s didn't even find a trace. However, most of these expeditions were formed before revealing evidence was ultimately discovered in Vancouver, Canada. Fortunately for Amelia, the research has now been completed and a proper search can be conducted. The fascination continues to this day and the Electra waits to be found.

Related media: Watch the 'Long' Search for Amelia Earhart (6min)