Amelia Earhart is widely recognized for her mysterious disappearance. During her lifetime, she made many great achievements in her career as an aviator – often making history. One of her most notable accomplishments was that she was the first woman to fly over the Atlantic Ocean alone.
Earhart was born on July 24, 1897, in Atchison, Kansas. Her family moved around often during her childhood. In 1915, she graduated from high school in Chicago. During World War I, Earhart realized that she wanted to help injured soldiers. Thus, she chose to leave the finishing school she was attending and move to Toronto.
Later, Earhart returned to the United States and became a social worker in Boston. In 1920, she experienced her first-ever flight in California. On Jan. 3, 1921, she received her first flying lesson and bought her own plane just six months later, which she named “The Canary.” Earhart received her pilot’s license in 1923.
In 1928, Earhart set her first record as a female pilot, flying solo in “The Canary” up to a height of over 14,000 feet. Just four years later, she was selected to be the first woman to fly solo over the Atlantic Ocean. She was only the second person to ever do this. Earhart took flight out of Newfoundland, Canada, landing in Londonderry, Northern Ireland.
After this flight, the United States awarded Earhart with the military honor, the Distinguished Flying Cross, which was given for “heroism or extraordinary achievement while participating in aerial flight.” Earhart was the first woman to receive this honor. That same year, Earhart went on a 19-hour flight across the United States. Again, she flew solo during this trip and also flew non-stop. She was the first woman to do this as she took off from Los Angeles and finished her flight in Newark, New Jersey.
In 1929, Earhart became the first president of the organization the Ninety-Nines, which promoted women air pilots. She also received third place that year in the first All-Women Air Derby, a transcontinental race.
In 1935, Earhart was the first-ever person to fly solo from Hawaii into the continental United States. Her destination being Oakland, California, the path she took was very long and hazardous. This flight took her about 17 hours to complete. Earhart also flew solo from Los Angeles to Mexico City that year, being the first person to do this as well.
Earhart began her mission to fly around the world on June 1, 1937. She departed from Miami with her flight navigator, Fred Noonan. They made stops in South America, Africa, India, Southeast Asia and New Guinea, having traveled 22, 000 miles by June 29 that year. At this point, they only had 7,000 miles left of their trip.
Their next destination was set to be Howland Island, which had a very difficult path. The island was only one and a half miles long and just half a mile wide and would take them 2,556 miles to get there. They made as much room as possible on the plane in order to carry more fuel and U.S. ships were lit up near the destination. They also had a U.S. Coast Guard cutter, the Itasca, as a radio contact that was stationed by the island. Earhart and Noonan set off once again on July 2.
Earhart had trouble getting radio messages from the Itasca on the way to the island and it had trouble picking her up as well. As the end of the journey neared, a message from Earhart was heard saying, “We must be on you, but we cannot see you. Fuel is running low. Been unable to reach you by radio.” About an hour later, Earhart’s final message was picked up, which said, “We are running north and south.” This was the last time she was ever heard from.
Two weeks of intense searching were conducted to locate Earhart and Noonan. About $4 million was used to search 250,000 square miles of the sea. As time went on, however, no evidence was found. On July 19, 1937, it was decided that they had become lost at sea.
A lighthouse was built on Howland Island in honor of Earhart. Her memory is also noted in her Kansas hometown and in schools, airports and buildings across the United States. Scholarships bearing her name are also awarded to students. In 1937, letters and notes that Earhart sent to her husband were published in the book, “The Last Flight.” Other writings had been published by Earhart herself over years prior to this. To this day, it is still not certain what became of Amelia Earhart. There are many theories, but no clear evidence has been found to prove them. It is commonly suspected that Earhart and Noonan fell into the ocean after losing fuel.
Rebekah Davidson
Intern