![]() ![]() Scholars and aviation enthusiasts have proposed many theories about what happened to Amelia Earhart. On July 19, 1937, Earhart and Noonan were declared lost at sea. Roosevelt authorized a massive two-week search for the pair, but they were never found. Coast Guard cutter Itasca, anchored off the coast of Howland Island, and disappeared en route. She and Noonan lost radio contact with the U.S. It was the last time Earhart was seen alive. ![]() What Happened to Amelia Earhart?Įarhart and Noonan departed Lae for tiny Howland Island-their next refueling stop-on July 2. They had 7,000 more miles to go before reaching Oakland. When they reached Lae, they already had flown 22,000 miles. The pair reached Lae, New Guinea, on June 29. They flew to Miami, then down to South America, across the Atlantic to Africa, then east to India and Southeast Asia. She flew a twin-engine Lockheed 10E Electra and was accompanied on the flight by navigator Fred Noonan. It was her second attempt to become the first pilot ever to circumnavigate the globe. On June 1, 1937, Amelia Earhart took off from Oakland, California, on an eastbound flight around the world. She became the first president of the organization of licensed pilots, which still exists today and represents women flyers from 44 countries. In 1929, after placing third in the All-Women’s Air Derby-the first transcontinental air race for women-Earhart helped to form the Ninety-Nines, an international organization for the advancement of female pilots. The Ninety-NinesĮarhart consistently worked to promote opportunities for women in aviation. ![]() She also became the first person to fly solo from Hawaii to the United States mainland in 1935. She started in Los Angeles and landed 19 hours later in Newark, New Jersey. Later that year, Earhart made the first solo, nonstop flight across the United States by a woman. Upon returning to the United States, Congress awarded her the Distinguished Flying Cross-a military decoration awarded for “heroism or extraordinary achievement while participating in an aerial flight.” She was the first woman to receive the honor. She left Newfoundland, Canada, on May 20 in a red Lockheed Vega 5B and arrived a day later, landing in a cow field near Londonderry, Northern Ireland. In 1932, Earhart became the first woman (and second person after Charles Lindbergh) to fly solo across the Atlantic Ocean. Two days later, she participated in her first flight exhibition at the Sierra Airdrome in Pasadena, California. She nicknamed the yellow airplane “the Canary.”Įarhart passed her flight test in December 1921, earning a National Aeronautics Association license. Later that year, she purchased her first airplane, a secondhand Kinner Airster. To help pay for those lessons, Earhart worked as a filing clerk at the Los Angeles Telephone Company. ![]() In January 1921, she started flying lessons with female flight instructor Neta Snook. Earhart took her first airplane ride in California in December 1920 with famed World War I pilot Frank Hawks-and was forever hooked. Earhart began to spend time watching pilots in the Royal Flying Corps train at a local airfield while in Toronto.Īfter the war, she returned to the United States and enrolled at Columbia University in New York as a pre-med student. Earhart played basketball, took an auto repair course and briefly attended college.ĭuring World War I, she served as a Red Cross nurse’s aid in Toronto, Canada. She defied traditional gender roles from a young age. WATCH: Women's History Documentaries on HISTORY VaultĪmelia Mary Earhart was born in Atchison, Kansas on July 24, 1897. Her disappearance remains one of the greatest unsolved mysteries of the twentieth century. Her plane wreckage was never found, and she was officially declared lost at sea. During a flight to circumnavigate the globe, Earhart disappeared somewhere over the Pacific in July 1937. She became the first woman to fly solo across the Atlantic Ocean, and the first person ever to fly solo from Hawaii to the U.S. Amelia Earhart was an American aviator who set many flying records and championed the advancement of women in aviation. ![]()
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