Amelia Earhart statue vanishes from Newfoundland park, leaving town and mayor shocked

The stone platform and metal brace shown here on Thursday, April 24, 2025, in Harbour Grace, N.L., is all that remains of a life-size Amelia Earhart statue, which Mayor Don Coombs says was stolen from the site overnight. THE CANADIAN PRESS/HO-Don Coombs *MANDATORY CREDIT*

ST. JOHN’S — A Newfoundland mayor says his community is shocked and devastated after a life-size statue of pioneering American aviator Amelia Earhart disappeared from a municipal park overnight.

Don Coombs, mayor of Harbour Grace, N.L., says he got a call early this morning saying the cherished bronze statue commemorating Earhart’s successful 1932 transatlantic flight was gone.

Though he hasn’t seen it yet himself, he says his staff saw surveillance video indicating two people were dropped off in the park just after midnight and were picked up nearly three hours later in a red SUV.

Coombs says Earhart fans and flight enthusiasts from across the globe have been calling him to express their concern and condolences.

Earhart took off from Harbour Grace on May 20, 1932, and landed about 15 hours later in Northern Ireland, becoming the first woman to fly alone across the Atlantic Ocean.

The aviator vanished over the Pacific Ocean nearly five years later during an attempt to become the first female pilot to circumnavigate the globe.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published April 24, 2025.

The Canadian Press