Quick Facts<\/h4>
| Nationality<\/td> | American \ud83c\uddfa\ud83c\uddf8<\/td><\/tr> |
| Achievement<\/td> | First woman to fly solo across the Atlantic; first person to fly solo Hawaii to California<\/td><\/tr> |
| Atlantic Solo<\/td> | 20\u201321 May 1932, Harbour Grace, Newfoundland to Londonderry, 14h 56m<\/td><\/tr> |
| Aircraft<\/td> | Lockheed Vega 5B (Atlantic); Lockheed Electra 10E (world attempt)<\/td><\/tr> |
| Born<\/td> | 24 July 1897<\/td><\/tr> |
| Disappeared<\/td> | 2 July 1937, somewhere over the central Pacific Ocean<\/td><\/tr><\/table><\/div>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n![\"Amelia](\"https:\/\/upload.wikimedia.org\/wikipedia\/commons\/7\/72\/Amelia_Earhart_standing_under_nose_of_her_Lockheed_Model_10-E_Electra%2C_small_%28cropped%29.jpg\") Earhart had first crossed the Atlantic in 1928 \u2014 as a passenger. She was clear-eyed about what that meant: she had been \"just baggage, like a sack of potatoes.\" She spent the next four years learning to fly properly, accumulating hours in every aircraft she could get her hands on. By 1932, when she made her solo crossing, she was one of the most technically accomplished pilots in America. The Atlantic flight was not a stunt. It was a proof of ability.<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n The records piled up. First woman to fly solo across America, coast to coast. First person \u2014 male or female \u2014 to fly solo from Hawaii to the US mainland (a crossing that had claimed ten lives before her). First woman to receive the Distinguished Flying Cross from the US Congress. She set women's speed records, altitude records, and distance records in almost every aircraft she flew.<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n The Last Flight<\/h2>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\nIn 1937, she decided to fly around the world at the equator \u2014 the longest possible route, 29,000 miles. With navigator Fred Noonan, she departed Miami in a Lockheed Electra 10E on 1 June 1937. They progressed through South America, Africa, and Asia. On 2 July, somewhere over the central Pacific, approximately 100 miles from Howland Island \u2014 a tiny speck of land in the middle of the ocean that was her refuelling stop \u2014 radio contact was lost. Neither Earhart nor Noonan was ever found.<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n The search that followed was the largest in US Navy history to that point. Nothing was recovered. The mystery has generated more theories than almost any other disappearance in history: they crashed into the ocean, they landed on a reef and survived for weeks, they were captured by the Japanese, they went off course and ran out of fuel. Modern expeditions continue searching. The truth remains unknown.<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\n \n \n\u201cThe most difficult thing is the decision to act. The rest is merely tenacity. The fears are paper tigers. You can do anything you decide to do.\u201d\n<\/p>\n\u2014 Amelia Earhart<\/cite>\n<\/div>\n\r\n\r\n\r\n What is certain is what she left behind. Earhart's combination of genuine courage, record-breaking ability, and articulate advocacy for women in aviation created a template for every female pilot who came after her. The Ninety-Nines \u2014 the organisation she helped found for female pilots, named for its 99 charter members \u2014 still exists today, with nearly 6,000 members across 44 countries. The search for her aircraft continues. The search for pilots who embody what she stood for does not need to continue \u2014 because they are everywhere.<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n |