The Story Of “Lady Lindy” Amelia Earhart – N American Aviation Pioneer And Author

“Lady Lindy” Amelia Earhart once said “Women, like men, should try to do the impossible. And when they fail, their failure should be a challenge to others”. “Born on July 24, 1897 in Atchison, Kansas,” Amelia Earhart, throughout her entire life, did what men and women believed to be the impossible at that time. Though Amelia’s parents struggled to stay in the same place for very long due to employment issues, she spent most of her childhood living with her mother’s parents. In the year 1915, Amelia’s mother, Amy, separated from Amelia’s father again and sent Amelia and her sister, Muriel, to stay with some friends in Chicago. While in Chicago, “Amelia attended Hyde Park High School, where she excelled in chemistry”. After she graduated, she went to visit her sister in Toronto, Canada where she witnessed wounded soldiers returning from World War I. After seeing the soldiers, Amelia volunteered as a nurse’s aid for the Red Cross where she met wounded pilots and began spending a lot of time watching the Royal Flying Corps. In 1920, Amelia took her first flight and stated, “As soon as we left the ground, I knew I myself had to fly” (Pioneers of Flight). After working several different jobs, she saved up “… enough money to take flying lessons from pioneer female aviator Anita "Neta" Snook”. Taking on the full lifestyle of an aviator, Amelia not only cut her hair to look like the other pilots but also “… slept in her new leather jacket for three nights to give it a more ‘worn’ look”.

In 1921, Amelia “purchased a second-hand Kinner Airster biplane painted bright yellow…” nicknaming “… it ‘The Canary’…”. “On October 22, 1922…,” Amelia broke “… the world altitude record for female pilots” by flying “… her plane to 14,000 feet…” and on May 15, 1923, she became the sixteenth woman to be given a pilot’s license by The Federation Aeronautique”. “On February 7, 1931…,” Amelia married well known publisher, George Putnam, “… in his mother's home in Connecticut”. Even though “none of the early official airmail pilots were women …” Amelia carried philatelic mail that her husband sold to collectors which helped fund her adventures. With five-hundred logged hours in the air, “… one of her greatest aviation accomplishments were…” being chosen to be the first woman to fly “… across the Atlantic on May 20–21, 1932,” earning her “… the Distinguished Flying Cross by Vice-President Charles Curtis on July 29, 1932”. “Despite…” all of Amelia’s “… achievements in flight, Earhart is best remembered today for her last flight”. “On May 21, 1937, Amelia Earhart and navigator Fred Noonan began a round-the-world flight, beginning in Oakland, California, and traveling east in a twin-engine Lockheed Electra” even though the original plan was to fly west to Hawaii on March 17, 1937, but due to complication the plans were pushed to May (Pioneers of Flight). Amelia left from “Miami on June 1…,” and stated, “I have a feeling that there is just one more flight in my system”. She then “reached Lae, New Guinea, on June 29, having flown 21 of 30 days and covered 22,000 miles”. The pilot then left “Lae on July 2, 1937, at 12:30 PM, heading east toward…” their final destination before completing their trip around the world, Howland Island.

“On the morning of July 3, 1937, at 7:20 AM, Amelia reported her position…,” and “at 7:42 AM, the Itasca picked up…” a message from Earhart saying, “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 replied but” it appeared that Amelia never received their message and the last transmission from Amelia was at 8:43 AM and was not heard from afterwards. “Following a massive sea and air search, on July 18, 1937…,” Amelia Earhart and Fred Noonan “… were declared lost at sea”.