Amelia Earhart
Amelia Earhart Facts:
- She was born in Atchison, Kansas.
- She learned to fly at the age of 24.
- She was the first woman to fly solo across the Atlantic Ocean.
- She set out to fly around the world in 1937.
Amelia Earhart was only 10 years old when she saw her first airplane. The year was 1908 and it had only been 5 years since Orville and Wilbur Wright flew the first airplane at Kitty Hawk. Airplanes were nothing like the large, luxurious ones we know today. In fact, Amelia was not very impressed, “It was a thing of rusty wire and wood and not at all interesting…”
She forgot all about it and dedicated herself to school. When she was 19 years old she became a nurses aid and served at a military hospital. At the end of World War I in 1918, Amelia enrolled in college to become a doctor. But fate had other plans for Amelia.
Amelia’s parents had recently moved to California and Amelia joined them. Her father took her to an “aerial meet” and Amelia became enraptured. The very next day, with helmet and goggles, she climbed aboard an open-cockpit biplane for a 10-minute flight over Los Angeles. Once back on the ground she exclaimed, “As soon as we left the ground I knew I myself had to fly!” Amelia didn’t want to be a passenger; she wanted to be the pilot!
Having heard of a woman pilot who gave flying lessons, Amelia immediately signed up. By 1922, Amelia was setting new records of daring. She became the first woman to fly at an altitude of 14,000 feet.
In 1927 Charles A. Lindbergh became the first aviator to make a solo, non-stop flight across the Atlantic Ocean. Guess who wanted to be the first aviatrix (woman pilot) to do the same? You guessed it! Not only did she do it, she did it in record time, 14 hours and 56 minutes! A little off course, Amelia landed in an open field in Northern Ireland. As she was clambering out of the plane she asked an approaching man “Where am I?” The man replied, “In Gallegher’s pasture…have you come far?” “From America”, she declared. Can you imagine the gentleman’s reaction to such an extraordinary answer?
For her next adventure, Amelia determined that she would be the first woman to fly around the world. She would also be the first to fly the longest possible distance by using the equator as her flight path. She and her navigator, Fred Noonan, departed Los Angeles, California on May 21, 1937 and headed east. On June 1, 1937 they started their official trip, departing from Miami, Florida.
With many stops along the way for rest, refueling and repairs, the two arrived at Lae, New Guinea on June 29th. They had flown 22,000 miles and had 7,000 more to go… all over the Pacific Ocean. After repairs were completed on various flight instruments, including the direction finder, Amelia and Fred departed on July 2nd. They had 1,000 gallons of fuel in the tanks or about 20 hours of flying time.
Nineteen hours into the flight, they sent a message saying gas was running low. Forty-five minutes later Amelia transmitted their position. Neither Amelia Earhart nor Fred Noonan was ever heard from again. It is now believed that they veered off course and ran out of fuel, disappearing just north of the equator, about halfway between Hawaii and Australia. However, no sign of them was ever found and a shroud of mystery still surrounds their disappearance.
