Biographical Sketches

AMELIA MARY EARHART

Born: July 24, 1898    In: Atchison, KS
Died: July 2, 1937    In: Disappeared at sea

Amelia Mary Earhart was 10 years old when she saw her first airplane at the Iowa State Fair. Contrary to popular belief, it was not love at first sight; it would be more than a decade before her interest in aviation surfaced.

After visiting her sister at a Canadian college, she remained in Toronto to train as a nurse, and served as a Voluntary Aid Detachment nurse in a military hospital until the armistice of World War I was signed. In the fall of 1919 she enrolled as a pre-med student at Columbia University. Several months later, however, at an aerial meet in California, her role in life began to change from nursing to flying. After a 10-minute ride in a biplane, her heart was lost -- "As soon as we left the ground, I knew I had to fly!" Soon after, Earhart began taking lessons from pioneer flyer, Anita "Neta" Snook, earning FAI pilot license #6017.

By October 1922 Earhart began participating in record-breaking attempts and set a women’s altitude record of 14,000 feet. She helped organize the first Women’s Air Derby. In Columbus, the last stop before the finish, Earhart was tied for first place. Co-leader Ruth Nichols crashed on take-off and, behind her, Earhart leaped from her plane and pulled the shaken but uninjured Nichols from the wreckage. Earhart then resumed the race, but arrived in Cleveland in third place. Earhart’s numerous records that furthered the advancement of flying and women’s place in aviation were important to her. In 1928 Capt. H H Railey changed her life forever when he asked, "How would you like to be the first woman to fly across the Atlantic?" Although she was only a passenger aboard The Friendship, on June 17, 1928, she became a first in history books.

Earhart entered three Bendix Transcontinental air races "for fun of it." In 1933 she took the special prize for first female to finish. In 1935 she calculated that the best finish that could hope for with her badly underpowered Lockheed Vega would be fifth place. She cruised in to collect enough prize money to pay her expenses, and fully enjoyed the exhilaration of the cross-country flight.

In the early 1930s, she set a women’s speed record of 181mph and a distance record of 2,026.5 miles. She flew an autogiro, the predecessor of the helicopter, to an altitude record of 18,415 ft. On May 21, 1932, she became the first woman to fly solo across the Atlantic and the only person to fly across it twice, setting records for the longest non-stop distance flown by a woman and for crossing in the shortest time, as well. She set and re-set women’s transcontinental speed records, also claimed many firsts and speed records for point-to-point flights.

After marrying George Putnam in 1931, Earhart accepted a part-time job at Purdue University, counseling female students. Her message to them stressed their entitlement, and near obligation, to break with tradition to achieve goals in life -- to be the first was an honor to be sought, not feared.

On her last flight, to circle the globe at the equator in 1937, she missed tiny Howland Island in the Pacific, but landed permanently in legend when she disappeared. Later a beacon would be constructed in her name on Howland as a fitting guide for others.

REFERENCES:
Amelia Earhart, Donald Goldstein & Katherine Dillon (? 1997)
Amelia Earhart, A Biography; Doris Rich (Smithsonian 1989)
Amelia Earhart, Pioneer in the Sky; John Parlin (Garrard 1962)
Amelia Earhart, Aviation Pioneer; Roxane Chadwick (paperback 1991)
Amelia Earhart Flies around the World; Kath Davies (? 1994)
The Fun of It; autobiography (Brewer Warren & Putnam 1932, ? 1975, Academy Chicago 1992)
Last Flight; Amelia Earhart (Harcourt Brace 1937, Harrap & Co 1938, Crown/Orion 1988)
Letters From Amelia 1901-1937, An Intimate Portrait; Jean L Backus (Beacon Pres 1982)
The Sound of Wings: The Life of Amelia Earhart; Mary S Lovell (St Martin’s 1989)
 The Story of Amelia Earhart; Adele de Leeuw (? 1955)
20 Hours, 40 Minutes: Our Flight in the Friendship; Amelia Earhart (Putnam’s Sons 1928)
Winged Legend, The Story of Amelia Earhart; John Burke (Putnam 1970)

Denotes an individual known to have soloed an aircraft prior to December 16, 1917, whether they were members of the "Early Birds of Aviation" Organization or not.