Words: Violet
Amelia Mary Earhart was an American aviation pioneer and author. Earhart was the first female aviator to fly solo across the Atlantic Ocean.
Her interest in aviation came in late 1920, when she visited an airfield with her father. She rode on a plane for the first time and it was this moment that sparked her obsession with aviation, deciding at that moment that she wanted to fly her own. She worked as a truck driver and at a local telephone company to earn the $1000 for her flying lessons from Anita ‘Neta’ Snook. Six months later, she bought a second hand Kinner Airster biplane and in 1922 she flew the plane to an altitude of 14,000 feet setting a world record for women pilots and becoming just the 16th woman to earn her Pilot’s License in May 1923.
By 1927, Amelia had accumulated over 500 hours of flying, her skills and professionalism growing steadily. Amelia had quickly acquired a celebrity status for herself as the ‘Queen of the Air’. In August 1928, she became the first woman to fly solo across the North American continent and back. In May 1932, Amelia finally achieve her ambition to fly solo across the Atlantic. Taking off from Newfoundland, 14 hours and 56 minutes later she landed in Derry, Northern Ireland. For this incredible feat she received the Distinguished Flying Cross from the Congress for being the first woman to fly solo across the Atlantic.
Her greatest ambition, however, was to fly across the globe. So, in 1937 she took off with Fred Noonan as the only crew member to complete the great adventure. They made several stops in South America, Africa, India, South East Asia and arrived in Lae in New Guinea having already completed 22,000 miles of the journey with just 7,000 miles remaining – most of which covering the Pacific. The pair set off from Lae on the 2nd of July, 1937 in the Electra airplane. Their destination was Howland Island, but they never reached it. The tragedy resulted in multiple search and rescue operations, but no trace of their plane either existing or crashing was ever discovered.
She was officially declared dead on the 5th of July, 1937, but Amelia Earhart’s disappearance has continued to be the subject of wild speculation for years since. Regardless of the fate of this impressive woman, she still remains an incredible inspiration to women and men the world over and one of the most memorable names in aviation history.
30 Greatest Moments In Aviation – Amelia Earhart – in association with Breitling, celebrating the 30th Anniversary of the timeless Chronomat
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