Earhart was born on July 24, 1897 in Atchison, Kansas to Amy Otis and Edwin Stanton Earhart. After graduating from Hyde Park High School in June of 1916, she went to Toronto, Canada and became a Red Cross volunteer for wounded veterans of World War I. Her first introduction to the world of aviation came when she was tending to the wounded men of the Royal Flying Corps.
In 1918, she took a course in automobile repair and a year later she moved to New York City to study medicine at Columbia University, but left after a year. She went to Los Angeles to live with her parents.
Amelia Earhart the Pilot
It was in Southern California that Earhart took her first flying lesson. The air shows and demonstrations at the local airports attracted her attention. She soon began taking flying lessons from pioneer women’s pilot, Neta Snook.
She made her first solo flight in June of 1921 in a Kinner Airster. The next year, she bought a three-cylinder Kinner Canary and set a women’s altitude record of 14,000 feet.
In 1922, she sold her plane when her parents divorced and went to Massachusetts. She worked for a time teaching English to immigrants and as a social worker.
Amelia Earhart Crosses the Atlantic
It wasn’t until 1928 that publisher George P. Putnam selected Earhart and fellow pilot Wilmer Stutz, along with mechanic Lou Gordon to cross the Atlantic. The plane, a Fokker tri-motor, was named Friendship.
Friendship left Boston on June 3, 1828 for Halifax, Nova Scotia, and then Trepassy, Newfoundland. After a delay for bad weather, Friendship left Trepassy on June 17 and landed in Burry Point, Wales the next day.
It was after this flight that propelled Earhart into the public spotlight. Putnam published her account of the flight, Twenty Hours Forty Minutes (1928). She began to use her fame to promote the fledgling aviation industry, mostly the cause of women in flying; she became a role model for young women of the era.
Amelia Earhart’s Notable Achievements
Earhart set many aviation records during her lifetime. She was the first woman to fly solo across the Atlantic. When she flew alone from Harbor Grace, Newfoundland to Culmore, Ireland, on May 21-22 1932, she was awarded the Distinguished Flying Cross from Congress and award from the French Legion of Honor.
She was the first person to fly solo from Hawaii to California and the first to fly nonstop from Mexico City to Newark, New Jersey.
Amelia Earhart’s Final Flight
After being given a Lockheed Electa by Purdue University, she began planning a trip around the world. On June 1, 1937, she took off from Miami, Florida with her navigator, Fred Noonan.
The pair crossed the Atlantic, Africa and southern Asia, arriving in Lae, New Guinea after nearly a month. Earhart took off on July 2 bound for the tiny Howland Island in the middle of the Pacific ocean but never arrived.
The Coast Guard cutter Itasca heard a radio message from Earhart that she was lost and low on fuel. No trace of the pilot or plane was ever found.
Source:
Mergen, Bernard. “Amelia Earhart.” Explorers. Vol 1 Salem Press, Inc. Pasadena, CA, 1998
