Amelia Earhart

The world's most famous female aviator disappeared in 1937, as she attempted to become the first woman to fly around the world. With her navigator, Fred Noonan, her Lockheed Electra was last heard from about 100 miles from the tiny Pacific atoll, Howland Island on July 2, 1937. President Roosevelt authorized an immediate search; no trace was ever found.

Over the years, the disappearance of Amelia Earhart has spawned almost as many conspiracy theories as the Lindbergh Kidnapping and the Kennedy Assasination.

Guided by her publicist and husband, George Putnam, she made headlines in the era when aviation gripped the public's imagination.

Amelia Earhart was born on July 24, 1897 in Atchison, Kansas. Her grandparents raised her during her early childhood. From the age of ten, she lived with her mother and father. Like Pappy Boyington, her early family circumstances were unsettled, marked by moves and alcoholism in the family. She was a tomboy - climbing trees, sledding in the snow, and hunting She saw her first airplane in 1908, at the Iowa State Fair, but her interest in aviation lay dormant for another ten years. She served as a nurse in World War One, and took her first ride in an airplane in 1920. After her flight with barnstormer Frank Hawks, she said "As soon as we left the ground, I knew I myself had to fly." Indeed, within a few days, she took her first flying lesson, in a Curtiss JN-4 Jenny. Six months later, she bought her own airplane, a yellow Kinner Airster, that she dubbed "The Canary." Like Gabby Gabreski, she was not a naturally gifted pilot, but she persevered, built up her flying time, and even broke the woman's altitude record in 1922.

She became the first woman to fly across the Atlantic on June 18-19, 1928. The flight was the brainchild of Amy Guest, a wealthy, aristocratic American expatriate living in London. Aware of the huge publicity that would accrue to the first woman to fly the Atlantic, the 55 year old Mrs. Guest had purchased a Fokker F7 trimotor from Commander Richard Byrd, to make the flight herself. Her family objected, and she relented, as long as the "right sort" of woman could make the flight. The "right sort" would take a good picture, be well-educated, and not be a publicity-seeking gold-digger. The Guest family hired George Putnam, a New York publicist who had promoted Lindbergh's book We, to look for a suitable women pilot. He selected the little-known Amelia Earhart, and introduced her as "Lady Lindy".

While the flight instantly made her world-famous, she was little more than a passenger in the Fokker tri-motor "Friendship." They took off from Trepassy, Newfoundland, and after a 20 hour and 40 minute flight, landed in Burry Port, Wales. When they went on to London, another huge mob welcomed them. The pilots, Wilmer Stutz and Louis Gordon, were all but forgotten in the media frenzy surrounding the first woman to fly across the Atlantic.

Putnam next organized a cross-country flight and a speaking tour for Amelia. While Putnam was married at the time, he was attracted to Amelia. He divorced his wife, and he and Amelia married in 1931.

She was a charter member and first president of the "Ninety Nines," an organization of women in aviation, so named for the original number of members.

On May 21, 1932, five years to the day after Lindbergh's flight, she took off in a Lockheed Vega, in an attempt to become the second person after Lindbergh (and first woman) to fly solo across the Atlantic. Starting from Harbour Grace, Newfoundland, her flight lasted almost 15 hours, when she touched down in a pasture near Londonderry, Northern Ireland. (The distance from Newfoundland to Ireland being considerably shorter than Lindbergh's route from Long Island to Paris, her flight time was correspondingly shorter than his 33 hours.) Her Vega 5B is on display at the Smithsonian NASM.

In 1937 Amelia Earhart attempted an around-the-world flight. Flying a custom-built Lockheed Model 10E Electra, equipped with extra-large gas tanks, she would follow a 'close to the Equator' route, thus going one better than Wiley Post's northern, mid-latitude route. In her first effort, in March of 1937, she flew west, but a crash in Hawaii abrubtly ended that trip.

Starting on May 21, from Oakland, California, in the repaired Lockheed Electra, she and her navigator, Fed Noonan, stayed over land as much as possible. Their route took them to Miami, then to Natal, Brazil, for the shortest possible hop over the Atlantic. They touched down in Senegal, West Africa; then eastward across the Sahara to Khartoum, following the Arabian peninsula to Karachi, (then part of India). From India they flew to Rangoon, Bangkok, and the Dutch East Indies. After a stop in Darwin, Australia, they continued eastward to Lae, New Guinea, arriving there on June 29.

Her next destination was Howland Island, 2200 miles away, the longest over-water leg of the trip. To aid in radio communications, the U.S. Coat Guard cutter Itasca was stationed off Howland Island. The Lockheed Electra took off from Lae at 0:00 Greenwich Mean Time. 8 hours later she called in to Lae for the last time. At 19:30, Itasca received the following:

"KHAQQ calling Itasca. We must be on you but cannot see you...gas is running low..."

"We are in a line position of 157'- 337. Will report on 6210 kilocycles. Wait, listen on 6210 kilocycles. We are running North and South."

Date	Departure	Arrival	Distance (nautical miles)	Notes
May 21	Oakland, California	Burbank, California	283	.
.	Burbank	Tucson, Arizona	393	.
.	Tucson	New Orleans, Louisiana	1,070	.
.	New Orleans	Miami, Florida	586	final servicing of plane
June 1	Miami	San Juan, Puerto Rico	908	June 3 photo taken at S.J.?
.	San Juan	Cumana, Venezuela	492	.
.	Cumana	Paramaribo, Suriname	610	.
.	Paramaribo	Fortaleza, Brazil	1,142	.
.	Fortaleza	Natal, Brazil	235	.
.	Natal, Brazil	St. Louis, Senegal	1,727	transatlantic leg, 13 hours, 12 min. flight time
.	St. Louis, Senegal	Dakar, Senegal	100	.
.	Dakar	Gao, Mali	1,016	.
.	Gao	N'Djamena, Chad	910	.
.	N'Djamena	El Fasher, Sudan	610	.
.	El Fasher	Khartoum, Sudan	437	.
.	Khartoum	Massawa, Ethiopia	400	.
.	Massawa	Assab, Ethiopia	241	.
.	Assab	Karachi, Pakistan	1,627	first flight from Africa to India
June 16-17	Karachi	Calcutta, India	1,178	.
.	Calcutta	Sittwe, Burma	291	.
.	Sittwe	Rangoon, Burma	268	.
.	Rangoon	Bangkok, Thailand	315	.
.	Bangkok	Singapore	780	.
.	Singapore	Bandung, Indonesia	541	delayed here by monsoon
June 27	Bandung	Surabaya, Indonesia	310	.
.	Surabaya	Kupang, Indonesia	668	.
.	Kupang	Darwin, Australia	445	.
June 28-29	Darwin	Lae, New Guinea	1,012	direction finder repaired, parachutes sent home
.	Lae	*Howland Island*	2,224	never arrived
.	*Howland Island*	*Honolulu, Hawaii*	1,648	.
.	*Honolulu*	*Oakland, California*	2,090	.
.		Total Miles	24,557	.

Ironically Amelia Earhart has become more famous for disappearing than for her many real aviation achievements. It sparked a whole cottage industry of conspiracy theorists and "researchers." There are two main themes to these ideas. One, her around-the-world flight was a cover for a spy mission, commissioned by President Roosevelt to determine what the Japanese were up to in the Pacific. Two, she and Fred Noonan weren't simply swallowed up by the vast Pacific Ocean, but were captured by the Japanese. Obviously these two main themes work well in combination.

America's famous aviatrix Amelia Mary Earhart was born on July 24, 1897 at her grandparents' home in Atchison, Kansas. Her grandfather, Alfred Otis was one of the leading citizens of Atchison. Amy Earhart, having suffered a miscarriage in an earlier pregnancy, returned to her parents home to await the birth of Amelia. Her father, Edwin Earhart remained with his law practice in Kansas City during this period. A sister, Muriel would be born 2 1/2 years later

Amelia (Millie) and her sister Muriel (Pidge) were to know privilege and wealth through their grandparents....attending private schools and enjoying many of the comforts of life. Alfred was never impressed with who he considered the "ne'er-do-well" son-in-law, Edwin.

Edwin Stanton Earhart failed to measure-up to the Otis standards of providing social status and large income for his family.

After failing in his private practice, Edwin took an executive job in 1905 with the Rock Island Line Railroad in Des Moines, Iowa. He and Amy moving to Des Moines, leaving the girls with their grandparents in Atchison. It was not till 1908 that the girls moved to Des Moines to be with their parents. Amelia was 10 years old when she saw her first airplane at the Iowa State Fair...

...She was much more interested in a peach basket paper hat purchased at the fair. It would be more than a decade before Amelia's interest in aviation would be awaken.

Edwin was promoted in 1909 and their living standards much improved. "This happy time," Muriel was to later write, "was unfortunately a prelude to a period which saw the loss of our material prosperity and the beginning of the disintegration of the family..."...Edwin had begun to drink. In her early teens, it became apparent to Amelia that her father was a drunkard...as well as to neighbors and friends around them.

In 1914 Amy and the girls left Edwin after he was fired from The Rock Island RR, and went to live with friends in Chicago. The family's social and financial security had been eroded ...from occupying a leading position in society they had become the subject of local gossip and pity. Amy, having some income from a trust fund, provided for the girls and later sent them to private intermediate schools in preparation for college.

After visiting her sister in 1917 at a college preparatory school in Canada, Amelia decided to train as a nurses aid in Toronto and served as a Voluntary Aid Detachment nurse at a military hospital until the Armistice in November 1918.

In the fall of 1919 Amelia enrolled as a pre-med student at Columbia University. Although doing well in her studies, in 1920 she decided to join her mother and father in California. The had recently reunited and were encouraging the sisters to join them.

Several months after her arrival in California Amelia and her father went to an "aerial meet" at Daugherty Field in Long Beach. She had become very interested in flying. The next day, given a helmet and goggles, she boarded the open-cockpit biplane for a 10 minute flight over Los Angeles.

Amelia had heard of a woman pilot who gave flying instructions and shortly afterwards began lessons with pioneer aviatrix Anita "Neta" Snook at Kinner Field near Long Beach. Amelia and Neta took to each other on sight, both having similar backgrounds. Neta had restored a "Canuck"...an old Canadian training plane.

In July Amelia purchased a prototype of the Kinner airplane...naming it "The Canary". She had several accidents during this period, but considering the unreliability of planes in the early days of aviation, some could be attributed to unreliable engines and slowness of the planes. Neta Snook had reservations about Amelia's skills as a pilot, a feeling that was later held by many of Amelia's contemporaries.

By October 1922, Amelia began participating in record breaking attempts and set a women's altitude record of 14,000 feet...broken a few weeks later by Ruth Nichols.

Amelia later sold her Kinner airplane and purchased a car...a Kissel that she nicknamed "the yellow peril". She drove her mother, Amy cross-country to Boston. Wherever they stopped people would gather...asking about the roads and other questions. Cross-continental travel by automobile was still very much a novelty...

In Autumn 1925, Amelia took a position at Denison House in Boston as a "novice" social worker and was later employed as a staff member. She joined the Boston Chapter of the National Aeronautic Association, and invested what little money she had in a company that would build an airport and market Kinner airplanes in Boston. During this time she took full advantage of the circumstances to promote flying...especially for women. She regularly became the subject of columns in newspapers. The Boston Globe called her "one of the best women pilots in the United States".

On April 27, 1926 her life was to change forever...a phone call from Captain H.H. Railey asked.."how would you like to be the first woman to fly across the Atlantic?"

A week later, Amelia met with George Putnam in New York. George was said to have been so impressed by her at the meeting that he decided Amelia should be the woman to make the flight. Amelia accepted the offer although she would only be a passenger on the flight.

On Sunday, June 3, 1928 after waiting several days for the weather to clear, the Friendship left for Halifax, Nova Scotia. Bad weather conditions again delayed the flight out of Halifax till June 18. Flying through dense fog for most of their journey, they landed at Burry Port in South Wales and not in Ireland as had been planned...with little fuel remaining.

Amelia was distressed that Stultz and Gordon were ignored by reporters. It was the woman they had come to see...or rather "the girl" as they insisted on calling her. Even President Coolidge had cabled his personal congratulations to Amelia.

On to London, then to the States...to a full calendar of tours...Amelia was in great demand on the lecture circuit and pictured frequently in the newspapers. Behind the scene, George Putnam kept Amelia's name in the forefront of everyone's mind and in the pages of newspapers across the country.

Amelia flew a solo flight from the Atlantic to the Pacific coast in September 1928 to attend the National Air Races. Returning to New York, she began a series of lecture tours organized by George to publicize her new book about the Atlantic flight, "20 hours, 40 minutes". Often George accompanied her on these trips.. They had become "close" and found many similar interests in life. This had become reason for some gossip in aviation circles, as George was married at the time.

Aviation was quite a new concept and the industry looked for ways of improving its image. Amelia was appointed Assistant to the General Traffic Manager at Transcontinental Air Transport (later known as TWA) with a special responsibility of attracting women passengers.

Amelia organized a cross-country air race for women pilots in 1929, the Los Angeles to Cleveland Women's Air Derby. Will Rogers coined the name "The Powder-Puff Derby"...a name that stuck!

The "Ninety-Nines", a now famous women pilots organization, was formed by Amelia Earhart in her hotel room in Cleveland during a meeting with other women pilots. Charter membership included 99 applicants. She was to serve as its first President.

George's close relationship with Amelia had not gone unnoticed. Dorothy Putnam left her husband shortly after Amelia returned from Cleveland and a divorce was granted in Reno, Nevada in December 1929.

Amelia continued to work for the airline and was writing regular articles for Cosmopolitan and other publications, with speaking engagements in many cities across the country. In 1930 she broke several women's speed records in her Lockheed Vega aircraft. After turning down George's purposal of marriage several time, they finally married on February 7, 1931.

Amelia and George had talked casually about a solo flight across the Atlantic. She was now ready to make the flight as the pilot rather than a passenger, as was the case in the 1928 flight. At the time, several other women pilots were making preparations for such a flight and George knew that in order to keep Amelia's name in the forefront she would need to make the trip.

By early 1932 no other person had successfully flown solo across the Atlantic since Lindbergh. Amelia would not duplicate Lindbergh's course but would fly from Harbour Grace, Newfoundland with the British Isles as her destination.

On May 20, 1932, exactly 5 years after the Lindbergh flight, Amelia's modified Lockheed Vega began the journey. Since she did not drink coffee or tea, she would keep awake by using smelling salts on long trips. Amelia prided herself on traveling light...a thermos of soup and a can of tomato juice would sustain her.

Somewhat off-course, she landed in an open field near Londonderry in northern Ireland. On climbing from her plane a man approached. She asked:

She had broken several records on this flight...the first woman to fly the Atlantic solo and only person to fly it twice...the longest non-stop distance flown by a woman...and a record for crossing in the shortest time.

George joined Amelia in London, and after spending several weeks touring Europe they returned to New York to a tickertape parade. President Hoover presented Amelia with the Special Gold Medal from the National Geographic Society. Honors of all kinds continued to be heaped on Amelia and keys of various cities bestowed. Amelia was voted Outstanding Woman of the Year which she accepted on behalf of "all women". The French press ended an article about Amelia's accomplishment with..."can she bake a cake?" ...Amelia replied...

In the autumn of 1934, Amelia announced to George that her next venture would be a trans-Pacific flight from Hawaii to California...and then on to Washington D.C. Ten pilots had already lost their lives attempting this crossing. Amelia's flight would be the first in which a civilian plane would carry a two-way radio telephone.

She departed Wheeler Field on January 11, 1935 and landed in Oakland, California to a cheering crowd of thousands. President Roosevelt sent his congratulations..."You have scored again...(and) shown even the "doubting Thomases" that aviation is a science which cannot be limited to men only."

In the following months Amelia was on the road almost non-stop with her lecture tours. After meeting the Consul-General of Mexico at a reception, Amelia flew to Mexico City on a goodwill visit. Upon her return, she announced that she had accepted an appointment at Purdue University in Indiana. She would serve as a consultant in the department for the study of careers for women.

Later in 1935, Amelia began to formulate plans for an around-the-world flight. The Lockheed Electra 10E was chosen as the plane for the flight. The flight would be two major firsts...she would be the first woman, and she would travel the longest possible distance, circumnavigating the globe at its waist.

Fredrick Noonan, a former navigator on the PanAmerican Pacific Clipper, was chosen as the navigator because of his familiarity with the Pacific area. The first leg of the journey would be from Oakland to Hawaii on March 17, 1935.

As Amelia was taking off from Luke Field near Pearl Harbor she over compensated for a dropped right wing and the plane swung to the left out of control. The undercarriage collapsed and the aircraft slide along the runway on its belly. Fortunately there was no fire but a great deal of damage was done to the plane.

The Electra was shipped back to California for repairs as Amelia continued to make plans for another attempt at the around-the-world flight.

Amelia decided since the next attempt would be later in the year, that it would be safer to reverse the original flight plan and fly eastwards due to weather conditions in the Caribbean and Africa.

After delivery of the rebuilt Electra, Amelia departed from Los Angeles, California for Florida on May 21, 1937.

On June 1, 1937 Amelia and her navigator Fred Noonan departed Miami, Florida bound for California by traveling around the world. The first destination was San Juan, Puerto Rico...from there skirting the northeast edge of South America and then on to Africa and the Red Sea.

The flight to Karachi was another first...no one had previously flown non-stop from the Red Sea to India before. From Karachi the Electra flew to Calcutta on June 17... from there, on to Rangoon, Bangkok, Singapore and Bandoeng.

Monsoon weather prevented departure from Bandoeng for several days. Repairs were made on some of the "long distance" instruments which had given trouble previously. During this time Amelia had become ill with dysentery that lasted for several days.

It was June 27 before Amelia and Noonan were able to leave Bandoeng for Port Darwin, Australia. At Darwin the direction finder was repaired, and the parachutes were packed and shipped home...they would be of no value over the Pacific.

Amelia reached Lae in New Guinea on June 29. At this point they had flown 22,000 miles and there were 7,000 more to go...all over the Pacific. Amelia cabled her last commissioned article to the Herald Tribune. Photos show her looking very tired and ill during her time at Lae.

The U.S. Coast Guard cutter Itasca had been standing off Howland Island for some days to act as a radio contact for Amelia. Radio communications in the area were very poor and the Itasca was overwhelmed with commercial radio traffic that the flight had generated.

Amelia left Lae at precisely 00:00 hours Greenwich Mean Time on July 2. It is believed that the Electra was loaded with 1,000 gallons of fuel, allowing for 20-21 hours of flying.

At 07:20 hours GMT Amelia provided a positon report placing the Electra on course at some 20 miles southwest of the Nukumanu Islands. The last weather report Amelia was known to have received was before take-off. The head wind speed had increased by 10-12 mph, but it is not known if she ever received the report.

At 08:00 GMT Amelia made her last radio contact with Lae. She reported being on course for Howland Island at 12,000 feet. There is no real evidence as to the precise track of the aircraft after Nukumanu. No one saw or heard the plane fly over.

Several short transmission were received by the Itasca with varying signal strengths but they were unable to get a fix on her location because they were too brief. At 19:30 GMT the following transmission was received from the Electra at maximum strength...

At 20:14 GMT the Itasca received the last voice transmission from Amelia giving positioning data. The Itasca continued to transmit on all frequencies until 21:30 hours GMT when they determined that Amelia must have ditched at sea and began to implement search procedures.

It has been determined that the plane went down some 35-100 miles off the coast of Howland Island. A life raft was stowed on board but no trace has ever been found the raft. Some experts felt that the empty fuel tanks could keep the plane afloat for a period of time.

President Roosevelt authorized a search of 9 naval ships and 66 aircraft at an estimated cost of over $4 million. On July 18 the search was abandoned by ships in the Howland area. George continued to seek help in the search, but by October he too abandoned all hope of finding them alive.

Amelia regularly sent letters to George at stops along her route. These were published in the book "Last Flight". On an endpiece of the book is a note from her to George...

AMELIA WHERE ARE YOU?
Over the years many unconfirmed sightings have been reported...and many theories abound. Among those theories:

Amelia was on a spy mission authorized by President Roosevelt and was captured

She purposely dove her plane into the Pacific

She was captured by the Japanese and forced to broadcast to American GI's as "Tokyo Rose" during World War II

She lived for years on an island in the South Pacific with a native fisherman

In 1961 it was thought that the bones of Amelia and Noonan had been found on Saipan but they turned out to be those of Saipan natives.

"After midnight the moon set and I was alone with the stars. I have often said that the lure of flying is the lure of beauty, and I need no other flight to convince me that the reason flyers fly, whether they know it or not, is the esthetic appeal of flying."

"Anticipation, I suppose, sometimes exceeds realization."

"Flying may not be all plain sailing, but the fun of it is worth the price."

"Not much more than a month ago I was on the other shore of the Pacific, looking westward. This evening, I looked eastward over the Pacific. In those fast-moving days which have intervened, the whole width of the world has passed behind us -except this broad ocean. I shall be glad when we have the hazards of its navigation behind us."
-- Amelia Earhart, several days before she left for Howland Island and disappeared

"...decide...whether or not the goal is worth the risks involved. If it is, stop worrying...."

"I lay no claim to advancing scientific data other than advancing flying knowledge. I can oly say that I do it because I want to."

"Worry retards reaction and makes clear-cut decisions impossible."

"The field was wet, the lane was wet and the spirits of my mechanic and helper were damp."

"The stars seemed near enough to touch and never before have I seen so many. I always believed the lure of flying is the lure of beauty, but I was sure of it that night."

"Better do a good deed near at home than go far away to burn incense."

"The most difficult thing is the decision to act, the rest is merely tenacity. The fears are paper tigers. You can do anything you decide to do. You can act to change and control your life; and the procedure, the process is its own reward."

"My ambition is to have this wonderful gift produce practical results for the future of commercial flying and for the women who may want to fly tomorrow's planes."

"One of my favorite phobias is that girls, especially those whose tastes aren't routine, often don't get a fair break... It has come down through the generations, an inheritance of age-old customs which produced the corollary that women are bred to timidity."

"Preparation, I have often said, is rightly two-thirds of any venture."

"The woman who can create her own job is the woman who will win fame and fortune." "It is far easier to start something than it is to finish it."

"Anticipation, I suppose, sometimes exceeds realization."

"Courage is the price that Life exacts for granting peace, The soul that knows it not, knows no release from little things."

"The more one does and sees and feels, the more one is able to do, and the more genuine may be one's appreciation of fundamental things like home, and love, and understanding companionship."

"The soul's dominion? Each time we make a choice, we pay with courage to behold restless day and count it fair."

"Women must try to do things as men have tried. When they fail, their failure must be but a challenge to others."

"[Women] must pay for everything.... They do get more glory than men for comparable feats. But, also, women get more notoriety when they crash."

"...now and then women should do for themselves what men have already done - occasionally what men have not done--thereby establishing themselves as persons, and perhaps encouraging other women toward greater independence of thought and action. Some such consideration was a contributing reason for my wanting to do what I so much wanted to do."

"In my life I had come to realize that when things were going very well indeed it was just the time to anticipate trouble. And, conversely, I learned from pleasant experience that at the most despairing crisis, when all looked sour beyond words, some delightful "break" was apt to lurk just around the corner."

"Never interrupt someone doing something you said couldn't be done."

"No kind action ever stops with itself. One kind action leads to another. Good example is followed. A single act of kindness throws out roots in all directions, and the roots spring up and make new trees. The greatest work that kindness does to others is that it makes them kind themselves."

"Adventure is worthwhile in itself."

"Never do things others can do and will do, if there are things others cannot do or will not do."

"The more one does and sees and feels, the more one is able to do, and the more genuine may be one's appreciation of fundamental things like home, and love, and understanding companionship."

"The most effective way to do it, is to do it."

"Being men and being engaged in a highly essential phase of the serious business of air transportation, they [airline mechanics] all naturally had preconceived notions about a woman pilot bent on a 'stunt' flight - not very favorable notions either. It was, undoubtedly, something of a shock to discover that the 'gal' with whom they had to deal not only was an exceptionally pleasant human being who 'knew her stuff,' but that she knew exactly what she wanted done, and had sense enough to let them alone while they did it. There was an almost audible clatter of chips falling off skeptical masculine shoulders."
          -- C.B. Allen, New York Herald Tribune

"Amelia is a grand person for such a trip. She is the only woman flyer I would care to make such an expedition with. Because in addition to being a fine companion and pilot, she can take hardship as well as a man-and work like one."
          -- Fred Noonan, Amelia's navigator for the around-the-world flight

"Amelia Earhart came perhaps before her time,...the smiling, confident, capable, yet compassionate human being, is one of which we can all be proud."
          -- Walter J. Boyne

When 10-year-old Amelia Mary Earhart saw her first plane at a state fair, she was not impressed. "It was a thing of rusty wire and wood and looked not at all interesting," she said. It wasn't until Earhart attended a stunt-flying exhibition, almost a decade later, that she became seriously interested in aviation. A pilot spotted Earhart and her friend, who were watching from an isolated clearing, and dove at them. "I am sure he said to himself, 'Watch me make them scamper,'" she said. Earhart, who felt a mixture of fear and pleasure, stood her ground. As the plane swooped by, something inside her awakened. "I did not understand it at the time," she said, "but I believe that little red airplane said something to me as it swished by." On December 28, 1920, pilot Frank Hawks gave her a ride that would forever change her life. "By the time I had got two or three hundred feet off the ground," she said, "I knew I had to fly."

Although Earhart's convictions were strong, challenging prejudicial and financial obstacles awaited her. But the former tomboy was no stranger to disapproval or doubt. Defying conventional feminine behavior, the young Earhart climbed trees, "belly-slammed" her sled to start it downhill and hunted rats with a .22 rifle. She also kept a scrapbook of newspaper clippings about successful women in predominantly male-oriented fields, including film direction and production, law, advertising, management, and mechanical engineering.

After graduating from Hyde Park High School in 1915, Earhart worked as a nurse's aide in a military hospital in Canada during WWI, attended college, and later became a social worker. Earhart took her first flying lesson on January 3, 1921, and in six months managed to save enough money to buy her first plane. The second-hand Kinner Airster was a two-seater biplane painted bright yellow. Earhart named the plane "Canary," and used it to set her first women's record by rising to an altitude of 14,000 feet.

One afternoon in April 1928, a phone call came for Earhart at work. "I'm too busy to answer just now," she said. After hearing that it was important, Earhart relented though at first she thought it was a prank. It wasn't until the caller supplied excellent references that she realized the man was serious. "Would you like to fly the Atlantic?" he asked, to which Earhart promptly replied, "Yes!" After an interview in New York with the project coordinators, including book publisher and publicist George P. Putnam, she was asked to join pilot Wilmer "Bill" Stultz and co-pilot/mechanic Louis E. "Slim" Gordon. The team left Trepassey harbor, Newfoundland, in a Fokker F7 named Friendship on June 17, 1928, and arrived at Burry Port, Wales, approximately 21 hours later. Their landmark flight made headlines worldwide, and when the crew returned to the United States they were greeted with a ticker-tape parade in New York and a reception held by President Calvin Coolidge at the White House.

From then on, Earhart's life revolved around flying. She placed third at the Cleveland Women's Air Derby, later nicknamed the "Powder Puff Derby" by Will Rogers. As fate would have it, her life also began to include George Putnam. The two developed a friendship during preparation for the Atlantic crossing and were married February 7, 1931. Intent on retaining her independence, she referred to the marriage as a "partnership" with "dual control."

Together they worked on secret plans for Earhart to make a solo flight across the Atlantic. On May 20, 1932, she started the trek from Harbor Grace, Newfoundland, to Paris. Strong north winds, icy conditions and mechanical problems plagued the flight and forced her to land in a pasture near Londonderry, Ireland. "After scaring most of the cows in the neighborhood," she said, "I pulled up in a farmer's back yard." As word of her flight spread, the media surrounded her, both overseas and in the United States. President Herbert Hoover presented Earhart with a gold medal from the National Geographic Society. Congress awarded her the Distinguished Flying Cross-the first ever given to a woman. At the ceremony, Vice President Charles Curtis praised her courage, saying she displayed "heroic courage and skill as a navigator at the risk of her life." Earhart felt the flight proved that men and women were equal in "jobs requiring intelligence, coordination, speed, coolness and willpower."

In the years that followed, Earhart continued to break records. On January 11, 1935, she became the first person to fly solo across the Pacific from Honolulu to Oakland, California. Chilled during the 2,408-mile flight, she unpacked a thermos of hot chocolate. "Indeed," she said, "that was the most interesting cup of chocolate I have ever had, sitting up eight thousand feet over the middle of the Pacific Ocean, quite alone." Later that year she was the first to solo from Mexico City to Newark. A large crowd "overflowed the field," and rushed Earhart's plane. "I was rescued from my plane by husky policemen," she said, "one of whom in the ensuing melee took possession of my right arm and another of my left leg." The officers headed for a police car, but chose different routes. "The arm-holder started to go one way, while he who clasped my leg set out in the opposite direction. The result provided the victim with a fleeting taste of the tortures of the rack. But, at that," she said good-naturedly, "It was fine to be home again."

In 1937, as Earhart neared her 40th birthday, she was ready for a monumental, and final, challenge. She wanted to be the first woman to fly around the world. Despite a botched attempt in March that severely damaged her plane, a determined Earhart had the twin engine Lockheed Electra rebuilt. "I have a feeling that there is just about one more good flight left in my system, and I hope this trip is it," she said. On June 1st, Earhart and her navigator Fred Noonan departed from Miami and began the 29,000-mile journey. By June 29, when they landed in Lae, New Guinea, all but 7,000 miles had been completed. Frequently inaccurate maps had made navigation difficult for Noonan, and their next hop--to Howland Island--was by far the most challenging. Located 2,556 miles from Lae in the mid-Pacific, Howland Island is a mile and a half long and a half mile wide. Every unessential item was removed from the plane to make room for additional fuel, which gave Earhart approximately 274 extra miles. The U.S. Coast Guard cutter Itasca, their radio contact, was stationed just offshore. Three other U.S. ships, ordered to burn every light on board, were positioned along the flight route as markers. "Howland is such a small spot in the Pacific that every aid to locating it must be available," Earhart said.

At 12:30 p.m. on July 2, the pair took off. Despite favorable weather reports, they flew into overcast skies and intermittent rain showers. This made Noonan's premier method of tracking, celestial navigation, impossible. As dawn neared, Earhart called chief radioman Leo G. Bellarts and asked for Itasca's location. She failed to report at the next scheduled time, and afterward her radio transmissions, irregular through most of the flight, were faint or interrupted with static. At 7:42 A.M. the Itasca picked up the message, "We must be on you, but we cannot see you. Fuel is running low. Been unable to reach you by radio. We are flying at 1,000 feet." The ship tried to reply, but the plane seemed not to hear. At 8:45 Earhart reported, "We are running north and south." Nothing further was heard from Earhart.

A rescue attempt commenced immediately and became the most extensive air and sea search in naval history thus far. On July 19, after spending $4 million and scouring 250,000 square miles of ocean, the United States government reluctantly called off the operation. In 1938, a lighthouse was constructed on Howland Island in her memory. Today, though many theories exist, there is no proof of her fate. There is no doubt, however, that the world will always remember Amelia Earhart for her courage, vision, and groundbreaking achievements, both in aviation and for women. In a letter to her husband, written in case a dangerous flight proved to be her last, this brave spirit was evident. "Please know I am quite aware of the hazards," she said. "I want to do it because I want to do it. Women must try to do things as men have tried. When they fail, their failure must be but a challenge to others."

Pioneering Woman Aviator, Lost on Flight over the Pacific

"It was a thing of rusty wire and wood and not at all interesting..."

...She was much more interested in a peach basket paper hat purchased at the fair. It would be more than a decade before Amelia's interest in aviation would be awaken.

"There for the first time I realized what the World War meant. Instead of new uniforms and brass bands, I saw only the result of four years' desperate struggle; men without arms and legs, men who were paralyzed and men who were blind..."

In the fall of 1919 Amelia enrolled as a pre-med student at Columbia University. Although doing well in her studies, in 1920 she decided to join her mother and father in California. The had recently reunited and were encouraging the sisters to join them.

Several months after her arrival in California Amelia and her father went to an "aerial meet" at Daugherty Field in Long Beach. She had become very interested in flying. The next day, given a helmet and goggles, she boarded the open-cockpit biplane for a 10 minute flight over Los Angeles.

"As soon as we left the ground I knew I myself had to fly!"

"The fact that my roadster was a cheerful canary color may have caused some of the excitement. It had been modest enough in California, but was a little outspoken for Boston, I found."

H.H. Railey had been asked by George Palmer Putnam, a New York publisher, to find the woman to make a trans-atlantic flight. No woman had so far flown across the Atlantic. Railey, having been struck by Amelia's strong resemblance to Charles Lindbergh, coined the name "Lady Lindy".

Since she had no experience of multi-engine or instrument flying. Wilmer Stultz and Louis Gordon would pilot the tri-motor Fokker named the "Friendship" with Amelia having the official title of "commander" of the flight.

Amelia was distressed that Stultz and Gordon were ignored by reporters. It was the woman they had come to see...or rather "the girl" as they insisted on calling her. Even President Coolidge had cabled his personal congratulations to Amelia.

"...I was interested in aviation, so was he. We both loved the outdoors, books, sports...We came to depend on each other, yet it was only friendship between us, or so - at least I - thought at first. At least I didn't admit even to myself that I was in love..."

"Would you mind if I flew the Atlantic?"

"Where am I?"...the man replied "in Gallegher's pasture...have you come far?"..."from America", she replied.

She had broken several records on this flight...the first woman to fly the Atlantic solo and only person to fly it twice...the longest non-stop distance flown by a woman...and a record for crossing in the shortest time.

"So I accept these awards on behalf of the cake bakers and all of those other women who can do some things quite as important, if not more important, than flying, as well as in the name of women flying today."

Amelia decided since the next attempt would be later in the year, that it would be safer to reverse the original flight plan and fly eastwards due to weather conditions in the Caribbean and Africa.

"I have a feeling that there is just about one more good flight left in my system and I hope this trip is it. Anyway when I have finished this job, I mean to give up long-distance "stunt" flying."

On June 1, 1937 Amelia and her navigator Fred Noonan departed Miami, Florida bound for California by traveling around the world. The first destination was San Juan, Puerto Rico...from there skirting the northeast edge of South America and then on to Africa and the Red Sea.

It was June 27 before Amelia and Noonan were able to leave Bandoeng for Port Darwin, Australia. At Darwin the direction finder was repaired, and the parachutes were packed and shipped home...they would be of no value over the Pacific.

"KHAQQ calling Itasca. We must be on you but cannot see you...gas is running low..."

At 20:14 GMT the Itasca received the last voice transmission from Amelia giving positioning data. The Itasca continued to transmit on all frequencies until 21:30 hours GMT when they determined that Amelia must have ditched at sea and began to implement search procedures.

"Please know I am quite aware of the hazards...I want to do it because I want to do it. Women must try to do things as men have tried. When they fail their failure must be but a challenge to others."