BG_Roaring20's

Amelia Earhart 1897-1937?
[|Amelia Earhart Website]

Throughout Earhart's early life, she was involved with many different jobs and two different sessions at Columbia University. In 1920, she went to Los Angeles and within a year of her first flight as a passenger, she was in the air on her first solo flight! In only about 8 years she became the first woman IN THE WORLD to participate in a flight over the Atlantic. (This is a picture of Earhart preparing for her first Transatlantic flight.) One of the only reasons that Wilmer Stultz and his sponsor/ boss choose Earhart as the one of the people to accompany him in his trip across the ocean was because she had a star-like appearance. There were at the time better qualified woman aviators to choose from but he thought that her lady like appearance and the fact that she seemed to be a common American would allow the American people relate to her, allowing her to obtain more fame and attention. As it turned out, Earhart had no role in flying the plane or using any of the instruments in the flight. (Above: Earhart's humble appearance and background only add to her eventual fame.)

Earhart enjoyed the fame from being the first woman to fly across the Atlantic, so she decided to attempt to set some records by herself. Her first record setter was a flight across North America and back, then in 1932, Earhart decided to fly across the Atlantic alone from Newfoundland to Ireland. the flight almost ended in disaster because of the icy conditions and bad weather. She received a Distinguished Flying Cross and a Legion of Honor from the French. She also set records for flying from California to Hawaii. (Above: Earhart with president Hoover after Trans-Atlantic flight) Earhart decided that her next challenge should be far greater and involving much more distance that her previous records. She decided to fly across the world with many stops on many continents. Her first attempt failed when her tire blew out on takeoff so a year later she took off from Miami to South America, India, and Southeast Asia. Her flight made world news and was a major success until she reached Lae,New Guinea. After takeoff, her destination was a rendezvous with the American Coast Guard Ship Itasca. Bad weather and radio failures resulted with a break in communication from land to air. Earhart was never seen again and was pronounced dead two years later, although no significant wreckage or bodies were found. (Above: this picture is of Earhart's last takeoff)

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