In re-evaluating the conclusions in TIGHAR's 1999 paper Amelia Earhart's Bone and Shoes, Dr. Richard Jantz has asked us to get an accurate forensic measurement of Earhart's height.
The Smithsonian National Air & Space Museum has given permission for Jeff Glickman and me to do that on January 11, 2016. By comparing measurements we'll take of Earhart's transatlantic Vega 5B to historical photos of Earhart standing in front of that same aircraft, we should be able to get an accurate height.
Because museum personnel will need to partially disassemble the exhibit to accommodate us, we'll be taking those measurements early in the morning. Later in the morning, after the museum opens, Jeff and I will take a walk through the museum just for the fun of it. Anyone who cares to join us is more than welcome.
In addition to helping Dr. Jantz, knowing her height will help us answer many questions.
One of the oft-debated topics in evaluating evidence of Earhart's possible survival (for a while anyway) as a castaway on Gardner Island is the question of her shoe size. Earhart’s height, according to the information on her pilot’s license, was 5 feet 8 inches. U.S. Army data for predicting foot size by height (useful in knowing what size shoes to stock) indicates that the average foot size for an American woman 5 feet 8 inches tall is 257mm ± 9.03mm. In other words, if Earhart had “normal” size feet for her height they were between 248mm and 266mm in length. Her shoes, of course, would be somewhat longer.
A pair of dress shoes that Amelia reportedly purchased in Ireland in 1932 measure 254mm or 10 inches in length, roughly an American woman’s size 6 1/2. he shoes are quite narrow, AA or perhaps even AAA width. Amelia gave the shoes to her friend Helen Hutson Weber in November of 1932, according to Ms. Weber, “not for sentimental reasons but because they hurt her.”
TIGHAR found some shoe parts at the baby grave site on Aukeraime South in 1991. The implied length of that shoe was 277mm. How does that compare with Earhart's expected shoe size? See
Shoe Fetish, Part 1 and
http://tighar.org/Projects/Earhart/Archives/Research/Bulletins/31_ShoeFetish2/31_ShoeFetish2.htmlBased on the partial sole he found with the bones in 1940, Gallagher estimated the "woman's stout walking shoe or sandal" to have been a size 10. Perhaps one of our British Forum subscribers could tell us the length in mm of a current UK women's size 10, or better yet, find a 1930s vintage size women's shoe. See
http://tighar.org/Projects/Earhart/Archives/Research/Bulletins/48_ShoeFetish3/48_ShoeFetish3.htmlDr. Hoodless reported :
"By taking measurements of the length of the femur, tibia and the humerus I estimate that these bones belonged to a [male] skeleton of total height of 5 feet 5 1/2 inches approximately."
Would a man of that stature normally wear a size 10 shoe?