Amelia Earhart was the very first female aviator to fly alone across the Atlantic Ocean. She was an American pilot and author who mysteriously disappeared on July 2nd, 1937, and was declared dead on January 5th, 1939 after a period of time of searching for her. Amelia Earhart set a number of records throughout her lifetime and formed the organization “The Ninety-Nines” for female pilots.
Amelia Earhart’s last words were said to be in Morse code where when translated state a set of directional coordinates running through Howland Island. She states, “281 north Howland – call KHAQQ beyond north won’t hold with us much longer, above water, shut off” along with “We are running north and south”.
Amelia Earhart’s mysterious disappearance has led to a number of investigations throughout many decades, and to this day, it is still unknown what happened to the female pilot.
Amelia Earhart: The First Female Pilot
Amelia Earhart was sadi to be a very adventurous and curious child, always being independent in nature. Her father was a railroad lawyer, and her mother came from an affluent family.
Her father became an alcoholic after the death of her grandparents, and the family started to struggle financially among the many losses they had been enduring. The family moved often, and Amelia was able to successfully finish high school in Chicago in 1916.
Her mother received her inheritance and was able to send Amelia off to college in Rydal, Pennsylvania, however, after visiting her sister in Canada, Amelia found an interest in caring for soldiers wounded in World War I.
Because of her newly sparked interest, Amelia left college to become a nurse’s aide in Canada in 1918.
After the war had ended, Amelia decided to go back to college and attended the premed program at Columbia University in New York City. She left the program in 1920 because her parents insisted that she move back in with them.
Amelia moved back to California to be with her parents and went on her first airplane ride across the country. The experience made her interested to start taking flying lessons.
She almost immediately bought her first plane and two years later, officially had earned her pilot’s license. She continued to pursue her interests in aviation after moving to Massachusetts in the mid-1920s to become a social worker.
She was selected to be the first woman pilot to fly across the Atlantic Ocean in April of 1928 by promoters and of course, Amelia was eager to do the job.
On June 17th, 1928, Amelia Earhart departed for the flight across the Atlantic from Newfoundland, Canada. She became an international celebrity after the flight and wrote a short book about her experience titled, “20 Hrs. 40 Min”.
Shortly thereafter, Amelia decided to take a series of flights across the United States and encouraged other women to pursue opportunities that they oftentimes rejected due to constrictive social norms.
She founded an organization known as the “Ninety-Nines” which included other female pilots in 1929, as well as came out with a clothing line and authored more books on her experiences with flying.
In 1935, Amelia flew from Hawaii to California, making history by being the first solo pilot to complete the hazardous route. She also became the first person to fly solo from Los Angeles to Mexico City later that same year.
The Mysterious Disappearance of Amelia
Amelia Earhart set out to fly around the world in 1937 with co-pilot, Fred Noonan. They started their journey on June 1st which was approximately 29,000 miles.
The pair flew an estimated 22,000 miles before starting the most challenging leg of their journey from New Guinea to Howland Island. They supposedly lost their bearings and the U.S Coast Guard had heard sporadic messages from Amelia that they could barrel understand a few moments before their supposed disappearance.
Earhart and her co-pilot were approaching Howland Island when the Coast Guard started receiving messages about them being lost and running low on fuel.
About an hour later, Amelia supposedly stated “We are running north and south” along with a set of directional codes. The radio contact had been lost, and shortly after, the duo was flying straight into the ocean.
After an intensive search by the Coast Guard and the US Navy, nothing was found. There has been no physical evidence of them or of their plane found since.