The Story Of Amelia Earhart, The First Woman To Fly Solo Across The Atlantic Ocean

A photo of Amelia Earhart standing in front of the Lockheed Electra plane in which she would end up disappearing in July 1937.

Amelia Earhart is one of the most iconic figures in aviation history, celebrated for her courage, discipline, and curiosity. In this article, we will explore her story.

Amelia Earhart was born on July 24, 1897, in Atchison, Kansas. Her father worked as a lawyer for railroad operations, while her mother came from a wealthy and educated family. Amelia and her younger sister Muriel grew up moving often because their father’s job was unstable. Over the course of Amelia’s childhood, her family lived in Kansas, Iowa, Minnesota, and Illinois, which gave her a sense of independence and adaptability that later became important in her career as a pilot.

Even as a child, Amelia was innovative, building small ramps in the backyard and sliding down her “homemade roller coasters.” She was equally adventurous: climbing trees, collecting insects, and reading biographies of explorers were just some of her hobbies. She admired women who went against societal expectations and worked non-traditional roles, such as doctors, scientists, and writers, and hoped to one day follow in their footsteps. During World War I, Amelia left school to volunteer as a nurse’s aide in Toronto, where she cared for wounded soldiers from the front lines. The experience exposed her to the technology and machinery used in wartime medicine.

It was only after attending an air show near Los Angeles in 1920 that Amelia became interested in aviation. At that California air show, she paid ten dollars for a brief flight with pilot Frank Hawks, a well-known stunt flyer. Looking back on the event, she later said, “As soon as I left the ground, I knew I had to fly.” Within months, she began taking lessons from Neta Snook, one of the few female flight instructors in the United States back then. Earhart saved money from clerical jobs and bought a small, yellow Kinner Airster biplane, which she named The Canary. On October 22, 1922, she flew to an altitude of 14,000 feet, setting a world record for female pilots. The following year, she earned her pilot’s license from the Fédération Aéronautique Internationale. At that time, only a handful of women worldwide held such a license. 

In 1928, publisher George Palmer Putnam invited Earhart to join in on a transatlantic flight designed to garner public attention. Earhart’s official role was being a passenger and log keeper, as she did not operate the aircraft. However, she became the first woman to cross the Atlantic by air, and the event made her an international celebrity. Reporters compared her to Charles Lindbergh, who had completed a solo transatlantic flight the year before. They called her “Lady Lindy” because her slim face and short hair resembled his. Earhart handled the attention carefully, knowing fame could help her achieve independence and fund future projects. She signed book contracts, delivered lectures, and wrote articles that encouraged women to pursue aviation.

By 1932, Earhart was determined to cross the Atlantic Ocean on her own. She prepared meticulously, studying weather charts and previous flight paths. She set off from Harbour Grace, Newfoundland, on May 20, 1932, embarking on a flight that lasted about 14 hours and 56 minutes. Severe turbulence, strong headwinds, and mechanical problems tested her endurance, but she finally saw the coast of Ireland. This flight made her the first person since Lindbergh to complete a solo transatlantic crossing. She received the Distinguished Flying Cross from the U.S. Congress, which made her the first woman in history to earn it. 

Between 1933 and 1936, Earhart continued to set records and explore new routes, and she eventually became, in January 1935, the first person to fly solo from Honolulu, Hawaii, to Oakland, California. The trip covered about 2,400 miles over the Pacific Ocean and took nearly 18 hours. She later flew from Los Angeles to Mexico City and then from Mexico City to Newark, New Jersey. These flights demonstrated the reliability of long-distance aircraft and more technologically advanced navigation tools. Her preferred aircraft during this period was the Lockheed Electra 10E, a twin-engine monoplane with a range of about 4,000 kilometers and a maximum speed of 190 miles per hour. Earhart worked closely with engineers to modify her plane for endurance and fuel capacity, hoping to use it for her most ambitious project yet: a flight around the world.

A map showing the flight route taken by Amelia Earhart and her navigator on their flight around the world, as well as their last known location before they disappeared.

In March 1937, Earhart and Fred Noonan, her navigator, planned a route that would cover about 29,000 miles and follow, for the most part, an equatorial path. The first attempt ended when a tire blew out during takeoff in Hawaii, causing damage to the plane. After doing some repairs, they tried again in June, departing from Oakland, California, and traveling eastward through the city of Miami in Florida and the continents of South America, Africa, and Asia. By early July, they had completed nearly three-quarters of the journey. On July 2, 1937, they left Lae, New Guinea, for Howland Island, a tiny island in the Pacific. The distance was about 2,556 miles, and the navigation required precision. The United States Coast Guard waited near Howland to assist by radio. However, atmospheric interference made communication unreliable, and cloud cover made celestial navigation even more difficult.

Earhart and Noonan were never heard from again. Extensive search efforts by the U.S. Navy covered thousands of square miles of ocean but found no wreckage. This disappearance became one of the greatest mysteries in aviation history.

Although her final flight ended tragically, Amelia Earhart’s legacy in aviation, education, and gender equality is undeniable. She influenced public attitudes toward female pilots and demonstrated the importance of preparation and discipline. Her advocacy for women’s participation in technical fields laid the groundwork for later social movements that encouraged women to break into the workforce as scientists and engineers. The organization she helped create, The Ninety-Nines, continues to support women in aviation even to this day.