Amelia Earhart biography

She recognized her limitations and continuously worked to improve her skills, but the constant promotion and touring never gave her the time she needed to catch up. Recognizing the power of her celebrity, she strove to be an example of courage, intelligence and self-reliance. She hoped her influence would help topple negative stereotypes about women, and open doors for them in every field.

Sometime before their marriage,

Earhart and Putnam worked on secret plans for a solo flight across the Atlantic Ocean. By early 1932, they had made their preparations. They announced that on the fifth anniversary of Charles Lindbergh's flight across the Atlantic, Amelia would attempt the same feat. On the morning of May 20, 1932, she took off from Harbour Grace, Newfoundland, with that day's copy of the local newspaper to confirm the date of the flight.

Almost immediately, the flight ran into difficulty as she encountered thick clouds and ice on the wings. After about 12 hours the conditions got worse, and the plane began to experience mechanical difficulties. She knew she wasn't going to make it to Paris as Lindbergh had, so she started looking for a new place to land. She found a pasture just outside the small village of Culmore, in Londonderry, Northern Ireland, and successfully landed. On May 22, 1932, she made an appearance at the Hanworth Airfield in London, where she received a warm welcome from local residents. Earhart's nearly 15-hour flight established her as an international hero, as she became the first woman to fly solo across the Atlantic. Earhart As a result, Earhart won many honors, including the Gold Medal from the National Geographic Society as presented by President Hoover, the Distinguished Flying Cross from the U.S. Congress, and the Cross of the Knight of the Legion of Honor from the French government.

Several other notable flights followed for Amelia Earhart, including a solo trip from Honolulu, Hawaii, to Oakland, California. This flight established her as the first woman—as well as the first person—to fly both across the Atlantic and the Pacific oceans. In April 1935, Earhart flew solo from Los Angeles to Mexico City, and a month later she flew from Mexico City to New York. Between 1930 and 1935, Amelia Earhart set seven women's speed and distance aviation records in a variety of aircraft. By 1935, Earhart began to contemplate one last fight that would set her apart for all others: to circle the world.

Earhart's Final Flight

In 1935, Amelia Earhart joined the faculty at Purdue University as a female career consultant, and technical advisor to the Department of Aeronautics. This partnership helped finance the purchase of a Lockheed Electra L-10E plane. While she would not be the first person to circumnavigate the earth, she decided she would be the first to do it around the equator. She pulled together a top-rated crew of three men: Captain Harry Manning, Fred Noonan, and Paul Mantz. Manning had been the captain of the President Roosevelt, which brought her back from Europe in 1928, and would become Earhart's first navigator.