Amelia Earhart

Amelia Earhart is one of the most famous pilots in the world. She was the first woman to fly across the Atlantic Ocean and the first person to fly across the Pacific Ocean. She also set a number of records for speed and distance in flying. During a time when women were not always encouraged to take physical risks or pursue dangerous careers, Earhart’s life and accomplishments proved that women could be just as talented as men.

Early Life

Amelia Earhart was born on July 24, 1897, in Atchison, Kansas. She grew up living with her grandparents and her mother. Her mother didn’t believe in raising “nice little girls” and let both of her daughters wear pants at a time when this was considered very unusual. Earhart liked adventure and would often climb trees in her grandparents’ neighborhood. She was very fond of sledding, which she said felt like flying. When she was ten, Amelia’s parents moved to Des Moines, Iowa, for her father’s job with the Rock Island Railroad, while Amelia and her sister remained with their grandparents in Kansas. Over the course of her young life, Amelia and her family moved around a lot because her father had trouble finding and keeping jobs. Although Amelia loved reading, science, and sports, it was hard for her to make friends and do well in school.

In high school, Amelia dreamed of having a career. She kept a book filled with newspaper and magazine clippings about women who were successful in jobs that were usually reserved for men, such as lawyers, engineers, and movie directors. After high school, Amelia went to visit her sister in Toronto, Canada. While there, she saw soldiers returning home from World War I. Many of them were wounded. The sight inspired her to volunteer as a nurse’s aide with the Red Cross. Amelia began to study medicine at Columbia University, but quit a year later to be with her parents, who had relocated to California.

Learning to Fly

Amelia Earhart traced her interest in flying to an experience she had at an airshow in Canada. She was watching a flying exhibition when the plane took a dive and flew right past her. Amelia said “that little red airplane said something to me as it swished by.” In 1920, Earhart visited an airfield in Long Beach, California, with her father, who paid $10 for Amelia to take a flight with a pilot named Frank Hawks. The flight only lasted ten minutes but it made her determined to learn to fly. 

Over the next year, she worked a variety of jobs and saved enough money to start taking flying lessons. Earhart took flying very seriously. She read all of the books she could find about it and spent a lot of time practicing at the airfield. Despite her dedication, she was worried about what the more experienced aviators would think of her. She slept in her leather pilot’s jacket for three nights so that it would look more worn in, and she would look less like an amateur.

Six months later, Earhart bought a bright yellow plane she nicknamed “The Canary.” The next year she flew the Canary to an altitude of 14,000 feet, setting the world record for female pilots. In 1923, Earhart got her pilot’s license. She was only the 16th woman to be issued one by the Fédération Aéronautique Internationale, an international ministry of aviation.

In 1924, Earhart and her family fell on tough times financially — the money from her grandparents’ inheritance had run out. Earhart realized she couldn’t make money flying any time soon and decided to sell her plane. She worked as a teacher and social worker until 1927, when she re-entered the world of flying. Having settled in the Boston area, she became a member of the American Aeronautical Society's Boston chapter and invested some money in Dennison Airport, a small airport in Massachusetts. She flew the first official flight out of that airport. To support herself and stay connected to the aviation community, Earhart began to work selling airplanes and wrote in newspapers to promote flying.  

First Woman to Cross the Atlantic

After Charles Lindbergh became the first person to fly across the Atlantic Ocean in 1927, people started talking about a woman doing the same. In April 1928, several sponsors who were aware of Earhart’s growing reputation called to ask her if she would like to fly across the Atlantic. She agreed, but they thought it was too dangerous for a woman to fly alone. This venture was also complicated by the fact that Earhart had also not been trained to fly the type of plane they would be using. Ultimately, Earhart rode as a passenger with pilot Wilmer “Bill” Stultz and co-pilot/mechanic Louis E. “Slim” Gordon. When they landed in the United Kingdom, Earhart received an enthusiastic welcome. However, Earhart said she felt she “was just baggage, like a sack of potatoes” and hoped to one day complete the flight on her own. 

In 1932, Earhart decided to try to cross the Atlantic Ocean again, this time on her own. She set off from Newfoundland, an island off the eastern coast of Canada. She intended to fly to Paris like Charles Lindbergh had done five years earlier. Because of the weather and mechanical problems, Earhart could not make it all the way to Paris. Instead, she landed in a pasture in Derry, Ireland. Still, Earhart won many awards for being the first woman to fly solo across the Atlantic, including the Distinguished Flying Cross from the U.S. Congress and the Cross of Knight of the Legion of Honor from the French Government. Earhart started to become famous across the United States.

Setting Records

Amelia Earhart continued flying and set seven speed and distance records for women. In 1935, she became the first person to make the transoceanic flight from Honolulu, Hawaii, to Oakland, California. She was also the first person to fly from Los Angeles to Mexico City and from Mexico City all the way to New York. She broke the record at the time for the longest non-stop flight. By 1935, Earhart started to consider a flight around the world.

Circumnavigating the World

Amelia Earhart was not the first person to fly around, or circumnavigate, the globe. But she planned on being the first person to do this by following the path of the equator — a route that was longer and harder than any flight that had come before. The university where she worked, Purdue University, helped her purchase a custom-built plane with an extra large fuel tank. She gathered Captain Harry Manning, Fred Noonan, and Paul Mantz to be her crew. They planned to take off from Oakland, California, and fly to Hawaii. From there, they would fly across the Pacific Ocean to Australia. Then they would cross India, Africa, and the Atlantic Ocean on a path to Florida and finally to California.  On their first attempt in March 1937, however, the plane was severely damaged in Hawaii and had to be sent back to the continental United States for repairs. The repairs took so long that by the time they were done the weather and wind patterns had changed. This meant that Earhart and her team had to reverse their plan and fly east.

On their second attempt in June 1937, only Earhart and Noonan would be flying this eastward route around the globe. They flew from Oakland to Florida and then took off from Miami, Florida. They flew 22,000 miles across South America, Africa, India, and Southeast Asia until they finally landed in Lea, New Guinea. They now had to cross another 7,000 miles over the Pacific Ocean. They planned to fly to Howland Island, a tiny island between Australia and Hawaii.  From there, they would make their way to Hawaii and California. Finding Howland Island would be difficult as it was only about 500 meters wide. Earhart and Noonan planned on communicating with members of the United States Coast Guard stationed on the island to help them navigate.

Disappearance

In what became one of the greatest mysteries of a generation, Earhart and Noonan disappeared on their journey between New Guinea and Howland Island. Evidence suggests that they had trouble communicating with the Coast Guard because radio signals were very poor. The weather also made it hard to use celestial navigation, and their maps and charts were off by about six miles. In radio communications, it appeared that Earhart and Noonan believed they were flying over Howland Island, but the Coast Guard could not find them and eventually lost contact. The Coast Guard began a search that lasted weeks and cost millions of dollars, but they were never found.

Many theories remain about what led to Earhart’s and Noonan’s disappearance. Based on historical evidence, two of these theories are considered by experts to be the most realistic. One credible theory is that they ran out of fuel off the coast of Howland Island and crashed into the Pacific Ocean. Researchers believe that the plane was not fully fueled and would not have made it to the island even in perfect conditions.

Another theory that has recently gained credibility is that they landed on nearby Gardner Island. Earhart and Noonan could have realized that they couldn’t make it to Howland Island and started searching for other islands to land on. This theory emerged in 1940 when construction workers found a skull on Garner Island. Scientists say the skull belonged to a white woman. Researchers have also found bits of clothing, pieces of aluminum, and plexiglass that seem to have come from the airplane, and a jar of freckle cream believed to have belonged to Earhart. 

Legacy

Amelia Earhart’s life remains a focus of mystery and admiration. Her daring pursuit of her goals inspired a generation of female aviators and has made her an enduring figure in popular culture.  Her disappearance is still the subject of research and speculation. Earhart is commemorated in numerous books about her life, especially as a role model for young girls, and has earned her place as one of the most intriguing figures of the 20th century.