The International Group for Historic Aircraft Recovery (TIGHAR) is an American nonprofit organization based in

Pennsylvania Pennsylvania (; ( Pennsylvania Dutch: )), officially the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, is a state spanning the Mid-Atlantic, Northeastern, Appalachian, and Great Lakes regions of the United States. It borders Delaware to its southeast, ...

. It was founded by Richard Gillespie in 1985. According to TIGHAR's Federal Tax Exemption Form 990 for Non Profits, the organization's mission is to "promote responsible aviation archaeological and historic preservation".

Amelia Earhart

TIGHAR has long been involved with the search for

Amelia Earhart Amelia Mary Earhart ( , born July 24, 1897; disappeared July 2, 1937; declared dead January 5, 1939) was an American aviation pioneer and writer. Earhart was the first female aviator to fly solo across the Atlantic Ocean. She set many oth ...

and advocates the theory that Earhart successfully landed on Gardner Island, now known as

Nikumaroro Nikumaroro, previously known as Kemins Island or Gardner Island, is a part of the Phoenix Islands, Kiribati, in the western Pacific Ocean. It is a remote, elongated, triangular coral atoll with profuse vegetation and a large central marine lagoo ...

. In 2012, TIGHAR was searching for clues around the Kiribati Islands using

sonar Sonar (sound navigation and ranging or sonic navigation and ranging) is a technique that uses sound propagation (usually underwater, as in submarine navigation) to navigation, navigate, measure distances (ranging), communicate with or detect o ...

equipment with the help of the

State Department The United States Department of State (DOS), or State Department, is an United States federal executive departments, executive department of the Federal government of the United States, U.S. federal government responsible for the country's fore ...

and undersea explorer

Robert Ballard Robert Duane Ballard (born June 30, 1942) is an American retired Navy officer and a professor of oceanography at the University of Rhode Island who is most noted for his work in underwater archaeology: maritime archaeology and archaeology of ...

. Ballard led a 2019 expedition to locate Earhart's Electra or evidence that it landed on Nikumaroro as supposed by the Gardner/Nikumaroro hypothesis. After days of searching the deep cliffs supporting the island and the nearby ocean using state of the art equipment and technology, Ballard did not find any evidence of the plane or any associated wreckage of it. Allison Fundis, Ballard's Chief Operating Officer of the expedition, stated, “We felt like if her plane was there, we would have found it pretty early in the expedition.” Although Ballard maintains that the plane or significant portions still exist and will eventually be found, TIGHAR argues that the Electra has been "broken up" by the surf and other harsh environmental elements.

Glenn Miller

In January 2019, it was reported that TIGHAR would investigate

Glenn Miller Alton Glen Miller (March 1, 1904 – December 15, 1944) was an American big band founder, owner, conductor, composer, arranger, trombone player and recording artist before and during World War II, when he was an officer in the United States Arm ...

's disappearance. Per a BBC report, TIGHAR's interest in Glenn Miller was inspired by a fisherman's claims that he caught a plane wreck in his nets, then released it. Although TIGHAR has failed to independently corroborate the claims to date, and have not seen or verified the wreck, they maintain that there is a possibility that the reported debris could be associated with Glenn Miller. "These things often start with stories", says TIGHAR Executive Director Ric Gillespie.

References

External links

*{{Official website, http://tighar.org/, name=The International Group for Historic Aircraft Recovery
Panel discussion on the disappearance of Amelia Earhart with members of TIGHAR, March 12, 2014
Non-profit organizations based in Delaware Amelia Earhart 1985 establishments in Delaware