Haunting final telegram Amelia Earhart sent her husband as scientists 'finally discover' lost plane after 88 years

An expert in the disappearance of Amelia Earhart has revealed the final telegram the pilot sent her husband before she vanished alongside her navigator, Fred Noonan.

Almost 90 years ago, Earhart disappeared while flying across the Pacific Ocean in a Lockheed Electra.

The 41-year-old had embarked on a journey across the globe with Noonan, with the pair having already flown through the United States before going on to make numerous stops in South America, Africa, Asia and Australia.

At the end of June, the pair landed in Lae, New Guinea, and had just 7,000 miles (11,000 km) of their journey left to go.

With not enough fuel to get them to Hawaii, Earhart had planned on stopping at Howland Island - a tiny patch of land in the middle of the journey - to refuel.

The pair never made it to Howland and were never heard from again.

While there's no conclusive evidence of exactly what happened, many researchers have studied the days and hours leading up to their final flight.

Amelia Earhart is one of the most famous pilots of the 20th century (Bettmann/Getty Images)

One expert on the case, Chris Williamson, has spent the last two decades investigating what happened.

In a Reddit 'Ask Me Anything' Chris - who hosts the Chasing Earhart podcast - was asked about Noonan specifically and if he 'had a drinking problem'.

Over the years, there has been a great deal of speculation over whether Noonan had been heavily drinking and if that could have played a part in what happened.

Speaking about their abilities, Chris claimed: "I think Earhart was an excellent pilot. This ties into something that AE herself would have had strong internal opinions about.

"I think she flew to prove to everyone (even herself) that she belonged in her position. I think it was a source of conflict for her internally and she was well aware of people’s opinions.

"As far as Noonan, I’ll say this. He was THE GUY when it came to celestial navigation. Historically speaking, look at his numbers. Look at his record, and look at the opinions of a lot of the people he worked with. PanAm wouldn’t be PanAm without Noonan.

"Did he have a drinking problem? Yeah. Was he still better drunk than 99% of the navigators in the world at the time? Also, yeah."

When asked if - in his opinion - Noonan could have been drinking in the cockpit, Chris added: "Oh that’s an excellent question. The answer is, we don’t know.

"An interesting side note though. Originally, they were supposed to leave Lae New Guinea a day earlier but they elected to stay on one more day and push back the trip."

Chris explained that Earhart had sent her husband a telegram, explaining the delay was due to 'personal unfitness'."

While acknowledging this could have been sickness, Chris added: "The night before, Earhart sent a telegram to her husband, George Putnam, informing him of the delay, and she stated that the delay was due to 'personal unfitness.' So, drunk.

"My info goes off of the Putnam family and conversations I’ve had with them. But it’s possible she could have meant herself."

According to reports, the telegram read: "RADIO MISUNDERSTANDING AND PERSONNEL UNFITNESS PROBABLY WILL HOLD ONE DAY."

Despite the claims, there's no hard evidence that Noonan had been drinking.

There are a number of theories about what happened (Bettmann/Getty Image)

Many believe the most likely explanation was that they ran out of fuel and crashed into the Pacific Ocean.

Final radio transmissions back this up, with Earhart warning about poor weather conditions and the aircraft being low on fuel.

"We must be on you, but we cannot see you," Earhart told the nearby USS Itasca (via docsteach). "Fuel is running low. Been unable to reach you by radio. We are flying at 1,000 feet."

At 8:43 am Earhart added: "We are on the line 157-337, flying north and south," which indicated they were flying towards Howland Island.

Another theory is that the pair were taken prisoner by Japanese forces, while some believe Earhart survived the crash and lived the rest of her life on Nikumaroro Island.

Purdue University has recently confirmed they are launching a new investigation following satellite images taken in 2015, which appeared to show Earhart's missing plane on Nikumaroro.

A research team are heading out in November, with Steve Schultz, Purdue’s general counsel, telling NBC News: "We believe we owe it to Amelia and her legacy at Purdue to fulfil her wishes, if possible, to bring the Electra back to Purdue."