Amelia Earhart, the daughter
of a lawyer, was born in Atchison, Kansas, on 24th July, 1897. Earhart
became interested in aviation when she saw her first aircraft at
the Iowa State Fair in 1907.
In 1917 Earhart moved
to Toronto and served as a Voluntary Aid Detachment nurse at a military
hospital until November 1918. After the war she became a medical
student at Columbia University. However, she did not finish the
course and in 1920 went to live with her parents in California.
Soon afterwards she was taken up in a biplane for a 10 minute flight
over Los Angeles.
Earhart was impressed
with the experience and began receiving flying lessons from Anita
Snook. A few months later she purchased a aircraft she called The
Canary. Snook did not rate Earhart as a great flyer and
she did have several accidents during this period. Earhart did not
lack self-confidence and in October, 1922, she set a women's altitude
record when she reached 14,000 feet.
In 1925, Earhart began
work as a social worker in Boston. She remained interested in aviation
and joined the National Aeronautic Association and helped to publicize
the idea of women pilots. This resulted in her being asked to accompany
Wilmer Stultz and Louis Gordon on a flight across the Atlantic.
On 18th June, 1928, the team left for Halifax, Nova Scotia. Flying
through dense fog for most of their journey, they landed at Burry
Port in South Wales.
Earhart published a book
on the flight, 20 hours, 40 minutes.
She also wrote regular articles on aviation for Cosmopolitan
and other magazines. She continued to fly and in 1930 broke several
women's speed records in her Lockheed Vega aircraft.
Earhart's next ambition
was to become the first woman to fly solo across the Atlantic. On
20th May, 1932, she flew her Lockheed Vega from Harbour Grace, Newfoundland,
to Londonderry, Northern Ireland. This flight broke several records.
As well as being the first woman to fly the Atlantic solo it was
also the longest non-stop distance flown by a woman. She also became
the first person to fly the Atlantic twice.
On her return to America
she received a tickertape parade in New York. President Herbert
Hoover also presented her with the Special Gold Medal from the National
Geographic Society.
Earhart followed this
achievement with a flight from Hawaii to California. Ten pilots
had already lost their lives attempting this crossing but Earhart
successfully completed the journey on 11th January, 1935.
Earhart now decided to
try fly around the world. The Lockheed Electra 10E was chosen as
the plane for the flight and Frederick Noonan agreed to become her
navigator. The first leg of the journey was from Oakland to Hawaii.
Unfortunately on March 17, 1935, Earhart had an accident while taking
off and her aircraft had to be sent back to California for repairs.
Earhart decided to begin
her second attempt from Los Angeles, California on May 21, 1937.
The first destination was San Juan, Puerto Rico. This was followed
by trip to South America before going on to Africa and the Red Sea.
Earhart then became the first woman to fly non-stop from the Red
Sea to India.
On 17th June Earhart
and Noonan left Karachi. After stopping off at Rangoon, Bangkok
and Singapore the Lockheed Electra 10E reached Bandoeng. They remained
there for ten days as some faulty equipment had to be repaired.
Earhart left Bandoeng
for Port Darwin, Australia on 27th June. They then moved on to New
Guinea. At this point they had flown 22,000 miles. With less than
7,000 miles to go, the couple left the island on 2nd July. They
never reached their destination and it is believed the plane went
down about 100 miles off the coast of Howland Island.
Amelia Earhart autobiography,
Last Flight, was published
posthumously in 1938.
