BACKGROUND INFORMATION
Born: July 24, 1897 in Atchison, Kansas, United States of America
Died: July 02, 1937
Nationality: American
Occupation: Airplane pilot
Died: July 02, 1937
Nationality: American
Occupation: Airplane pilot
Earhart's place of birth in Atchison, Kansas.
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Amelia Earhart: Life and Disappearance Video
Amelia Earhart was a female aviator during the early 1900s who rose to fame because of her many accomplishments as a female pilot and in the field of aviation. She was a pioneer in the recognition for women's rights because of her successes in a predominantly male profession. Although Earhart is best remembered for a flight she never completed, an attempted flight around the world in 1937 after which she was never seen again, her leadership and legacy throughout her career from the awards to monumental flights she partook in will never be forgotten.
TIMELINE |
AMELIA EARHART, 1897- 1923
July 24, 1897
Amelia is born in Atchsson, Kansas to parents Amy Otis and Edwin Stanton Earhart. She resides with her maternal grandparents in Atchison during the school year and summers with her parents in Kansas City. Amelia shows a love for the outdoors, spending her free time riding imaginary horses, climbing trees, sledding, and hunting. 1908 Amelia's enthusiasm for aviation is sparked when sees an airplane for the first time at an Iowa State Fair after rejoining her parents in Des Moines, Iowa. 1910-1915 The grandmother who helped raise Amelia dies in 1911. Her father struggles with alcoholism, loses his job, and checks into a sanatorium for a month to rehabilitate himself. The Earharts move to St. Paul, Minnesota in 1913. Amy leaves Edwin after he is unable to overcome his addiction and find a job, moving with Amelia and her younger sister, Muriel, to Chicago. June 1916 Amelia graduates from Hyde Park High School in Chicago. Fall 1916-1918 Amelia attends an exclusive finishing school near Philadelphia called the Ogontz School. Instead of graduating despite her success academically and as class Vice President, Amelia elects to volunteer at Toronto's Spadina Military Hospital as a nurse for wounded World War I soldiers. Amelia attends a flying exhibition with a friend while in Toronto. Fall 1919-1920 Amelia enters the pre-med program at Columbia University but decides to leave to join her parents in Los Angeles after only one year. December 28, 1920 Amelia takes her first ride in an airplane, with pilot Frank Hawk, while attending an air show on Long Beach with her father. January 3, 1921 Amelia takes her first flying lesson with pilot Neta Snook. In order to save money for flying lessons, Amelia works several jobs including a truck driver, photographer, and stenographer. Six months later, Amelia uses the money to purchase her first airplane, a yellow Kinner Airster biplane that she names the Canary. December 15, 1921 Amelia passes her flying license tests from the National Aeronautic Association. Two days later, Amelia flies in the Pacific Coast Ladies' Derby in Pasadena. October 22, 1922 After flying her plane to 14,000 feet, Amelia sets an unofficial altitude record for female pilots. May 16, 1923 Amelia is the 16th woman to ever be issued an international pilot's license by the Fédération Aéronautique Internationale (FAI). 1924 Amelia and her mother move to Massachusetts to live with her sister Muriel after their parent's divorce. Amelia returns to New York to reenroll at Columbia but quickly moves back to Boston. In Boston, she works as a teacher and then as a social worker at Denison House, teaching English to Syrian and Chinese immigrants. 1927 Amelia joins the Boston chapter of the National Aeronautic Association. June 17-18, 1928 Amelia, pilot Wilmer Stultz, and co-pilot and mechanic Louis Gordon depart from Newfoundland in a tri-motor seaplane called the Friendship. They arrive in Wales twenty hours later where they are greeted by cheering crowds. However, Amelia does not believe she deserves any recognition for just being a passenger in the plane on a trans-Atlantic flight; she refers to herself as a sack of potatoes and ponders a solo flight of her own someday. Summer 1928 Amelia becomes an celebrity after teaming up with publicist George Putnam to write it her book about the Friendship flight, 20 Hrs. 40 Min. Amelia goes on a national book tour where she endorses products such as Lucky Strike cigarettes and Modernaire Earhart Luggage. Amelia becomes known as “Lady Lindy” because of her resemblance to Charles Lindbergh. Amelia becomes the Aviation Editor for Cosmopolitan magazine. August 1929 Amelia buys a single engine Lockheed Vega airplane. Amelia comes in third place in the Vega in the Women's Air Derby race from Santa Monica to Cleveland. November 2, 1929 Amelia helps found the first organization for women aviators, The Ninety-Nines, Inc which she becomes its first president in 1931. Amelia promotes the growth of American commercial airlines using her celebrity status. July 5, 1930 Amelia sets the women's world flying speed record of 181.18 miles per hour, one of many records to come between 1930 and 1935. February 7, 1931 Amelia finally marries George Palmer Putnam after refusing his proposal six times before. 1932 Amelia writes her second book called The Fun of It. May 20-21, 1932 Amelia becomes the first woman to fly solo across the Atlantic Ocean, earning her the Distinguished Flying Cross from Congress, the Cross of Knight of the Legion of Honor from the French government, and the Gold Medal of the National Geographic Society from President Hoover, becoming the first woman to ever receive this prestigious award. August 24-25, 1932 Amelia becomes the first woman to fly across the North American continent and back solo. 1933 Amelia visits the White House and becomes friends with First Lady Eleanor Roosevelt . Amelia flies across North America for the second time and is able to break her own record with a faster flight time. 1934 For the third year in a row, Amelia receives the Harmon Trophy for America's Outstanding Airwoman. January 11, 1935 Amelia is the first person to fly solo from Honolulu, Hawaii to Oakland, California. April 19-20, 1935 Amelia flies solo from Los Angeles to Mexico City. May 8, 1935 Amelia flies solo from Mexico City to New York. She works as a career counselor to women at Purdue University in between her solo flights. July 1936 Purdue University finances a new plane for Amelia, a Lockhead Electra 10E. Amelia and her husband George plan for her world flight. The two raise money and consult with advisers, mechanics, and navigators in preparation for the journey. March 17, 1937 Amelia, her navigator Fred Noonan, Captain Harry Manning and stunt pilot Paul Mantz, fly the first leg of the trip from Oakland, California to Honolulu, Hawaii in 15 hours and 47 minutes. Three days later, the plane ground-loops during take-off when trying to continue from Honolulu and they have to call off the flight. June 1, 1937 Amelia departs on a second attempt, this time from Miami, Florida with the plan of traveling from west to east. Noonan is her only crew member on this flight. The two complete 22,000 miles of the flight with stops in South America, Africa, India, and Lae, New Guinea. July 2, 1937 Amelia and Noonan depart from Lae for Howland Island but they lose radio contact with the Coast Guard cutter Itasca, who can hear that they are lost but cannot return communication. President Roosevelt issues a massive search for Amelia and Noonan after they disappear over the Pacific Ocean. George Putnam finances his own search until October 1937. January 5, 1939 Amelia is declared legally dead in a Los Angeles, CA court. |
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