Amelia Earhart, the son
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.
Available
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