In the world of aerial aviation, names don’t come much bigger than Amelia Earhart. The first woman to fly solo across the Atlantic Ocean, Earhart disappeared over the central Pacific Ocean during her second attempt at flying around the world.

Unlike modern times, where everything gets filmed and uploaded on YouTube, footage from the 1930’s is somewhat harder to come by. This newly-discovered film is thus causing quite a stir. TIME reports:

The newfound film was recorded at an airfield in Oakland, Calif., and shows a happy and smiling Earhart as she poses for photos and climbs over her plane…

The footage also shows her husband George Putman, her navigator Fred Noonan, and personal photographer Albert Bresnik. The grainy 16 mm film is believed to have been shot by Bresnik’s brother John and had sat on a shelf in his house for more then 50 years until his death in 1992.

Bresnik’s son, also called John, unearthed the film when he was going through his father’s belongings.

Whilst it is difficult to confirm, researchers believe the footage is from 1937, shot just days before Earhart and Noonan took to the skies never to return.

[source:time]