Amelia Earhart embarked on the first female solo flight across the Pacific Ocean in 1935. In 1937, she began the first attempted circumnavigation of the equator by airplane but disappeared over the central Pacific Ocean near Howland Island on July 2nd along with her navigator, Fred Noonan, after taking off from Lae, New Guinea. Despite extensive search efforts, neither Earhart nor her plane were ever found. The circumstances of her disappearance remain mysterious and have led to ongoing speculation.
2. The distance from Lae to Howlandwas about equal to a transcontinental
flight across the U.S. A great naval, air and land searchfailed to locate
Amelia, Noonan, orthe aircraft, andit was assumed theywere lost at
sea.To this day, their fate is the subject ofunending speculation. There
are different theories on her disappearance and her case stillremain
as a mysterious one inthe field of aviation.
OnJuly 2, aftercompletingnearly two-thirdsofherhistoric
flight -- over22,000miles--Amelia vanishedalongwith
hernavigatorFrederickNoonan.They tookofffrom Lae,
New Guinea, boundfortiny HowlandIslandinthe vast
PacificOcean.
In June1937, Amelia embarked upon
the first around-the- world flight at
the equator.
Also in 1935, Amelia joinedthe facultyofPurdueUniversity
asa female careerconsultant.It wasthepurchaseofa
LockheedElectra, throughPurdue University, thatenabled
Amelia to fulfillherdream --circumnavigatingthe globe by
air.
3. In1935, Amelia became the first personto fly from Hawaii
to the Americanmainland.By doingso, Ameliabecamenot
only the first personto solo anywhere inthePacific, but
also the first personto solo boththe AtlanticandPacific
Oceans.
Following her parent'sdivorce,Amelia moved back east where
she was employed asa social worker in Denison House, in
Boston, Massachusetts. It wasthere she wasselected to be the
first female passenger on a transatlanticflight,in 1928,by her
future husband,the publisher,George Palmer Putnam.Amelia
made great stridesin opening the new field of aviation to
women.
Learning to fly in California, she took up aviation as a
hobby, taking odd jobs to pay forher flying lessons. In
1922,with the financial help of her sister,Muriel, and
her mother, Amy Otis Earhart,she purchased her first
airplane, a Kinner Airster.
The following year, Amelia
enrolled as a premedical student
at Columbia University in New
York.
4. Takinga coursein RedCrossFirstAid, Amelia
enlistingasa nurse'saideatSpadinaMilitary
HospitalinToronto,Canada,tendingto
woundedsoldiersduringWorldWarI.
Two yearslater,aftervisiting
her sister,Muriel, in Toronto,
Canada,Ameliafeltcompelled
to leaveschool.
At age of 19, Amelia attended
OgontzSchool near
Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.
Amelia Earhartwas born
on July 24,1897 in
Atchison, Kansas.