The Biography of
Amelia Earhart
Amelia Earhart is a name that everyone is familiar with. When people hear her name they think of Americas famous aviator. But she was much, much more. Amelia was born on July 24,1897 in her grandparents home in Atchison, Kansas.
Amelia (a.k.a. Millie) and her sister Muriel (a.k.a. Pidge) were born into a world of privilege and wealth. Her first five years of life were spent with numerous nannies attending plays and eating at only the fanciest restaurants.
In 1905 when Amelia was eight her father and mother left Atchison and moved to Des Moines where her father was to take a new job with the Rock island Line Railroad. Amelia and Muriel were left behind until 1908 when they joined up with their parents.
When Amelia was ten she saw her first airplane at a local fair but was not impressed with it at all. "It was a thing of rusty wire and wood and not at all interesting…."
In 1909 her father began to drink it started after he had been promoted. He would come home night after night dead drunk and her father who was once a quiet man seemed to change overnight into a monster. In 1914 after he had lost his job Amelia and her sister and mother left her father for good.
Amy, Amelia's mother had set away enough money to send the girls to school and so after moving in with friends in Chicago. The girls were sent away.
In 1917 Amelia decided to train as a pre-med. student and served as a voluntary aid detachment nurse at a military hospital. But being a nurse was not at all what she thought it would be. "There for the first time I realized what the World War meant. Instead of new uniforms and brass bands, I saw only the result of four years' desperate struggle; men without arms and legs, men who were paralyzed and men who were blind…."
In 1920 her mother and father reunited and encouraged Amelia and her sister to meet them. Shortly after Amelia and her father went to a "aerial meet" and so began Amelia's love of airplanes. " I knew I had to fly"
Soon after the meet (several months) Amelia met with a woman she heard gave flying lessons the woman was Anita Snook a pioneer aviatrix. Amelia and Anita became very fast friends and learned that they had come from similar backgrounds.
That July Amelia purchased her first plane a prototype of the Kinner airplane and named it "The Canary". Amelia began her lessons no very well having several accidents and Anita began to doubt Amelia's strength as a pilot. A doubt, that would soon be extinguished.
Amelia soon sold her plane and purchased a car, which was bright yellow and caused people to ask many questions. Amelia and her mother drove cross-country to Boston and in autumn, Amelia got a job at the Denson House as a novice social worker but still kept up her flying whenever possible. She was a member of the Boston Chapter of the National Aeronautic association. And her name regularly came up in local newspapers as being "One of the best woman pilots in America"
On April 27,1926 one single phone call changed her life forever this call came from Captain H.H Railey he asked her " How would you like to be the first woman to fly across the Atlantic"
Amelia started training, as she had no experience in multi-engine or instrument flying. But she had excepted the challenge. The day they were set to go Amelia was not quite ready to make the flight on her own she enlisted in the help of Wilmer Stultz and Louis Gordon piloting and Amelia was made "commander of the journey.
On Sunday, June 3,1928 the plane named Friendship left from Halifax, Nova Scotia. They flew through fog most of their journey and landed at Burry Port, South Wales instead of the intended Ireland. But other than that they and made it and had set the record for the entire worlds future woman.
What greatly distressed Amelia was the fact that though Wilmer and Louis had actually done the piloting it was though the press ignored their existence and though Amelia's name was printed in papers all over the world the two other woman were almost never mentioned. " I was a passenger on the journey…. just, a passenger. Wilmer and Louis did everything that was done to bring us across. Any praise I can give them, they ought to have."
Amelia flew her first solo flight from the Atlantic to the Pacific Coast in September 1928 to attend the National Air Races. She was still in great demand to give lectures and she was a face you often would see in the paper.
She had become quite close with George Putman one of the supporters of her first Atlantic flight the only problem was that he was married. He didn't stay that way for long though. In December 1929 Putmans wife divorced him and he asked Amelia's hand in marriage. She denied hem, twice more actually until she agreed to be his wife.
The subject always present when they were together was of Amelia flying a solo trek across the Atlantic. Amelia was properly trained now in every aspect of the airplane and felt quite confident in her ability.
Flying from Harbor Grace. Newfoundland to the British Isles was Amelia's goal as she started her journey on May 20,1932 the only problem was that she did not drink coffee or tea so what could she use to keep her awake? Smelling salts were the answer. She landed safely though again in the wrong spot she landed on Northern Ireland.
Amelia Earhart Had now broken several records: The first woman to fly across the Atlantic, The only person to fly across it twice and the fastest time across the Atlantic that was a large feat and it became bigger because she was a woman.
In fall of 1934, Amelia came up with another goal for herself she was going to fly the Trans-Pacific flight from Hawaii to California. This caused a great deal of worry for George because his wife would be trying something ten men had already lost their lives too. But Amelia was determined and she departed from Wheeler Field on January 11, 1935. Safely to everyone's (especially George's) relief.
No more than two years later, Amelia was going to attempt to fly around the world. On June 1, 1937 Amelia and her trusted navigator Fred Noonan departed from Miami, Florida bound for California. The fist pit stop was San Juan, Puerto Rico from then they made about four more pit stops the last pit stop was made at Lae, New Guinea. They had flown 22 000 miles and only had 7 000 more left. It was estimated that when they left Lae they had 20-21 more hours of fuel left.
The last voice transmission came from Amelia at 7:30 but they were not able to get a Fix on her location because her messages were to brief.
It had been acclaimed that Amelia's plane went down 35-100 miles off the coast of Howard Island. A life raft and emergency supplies had been present aboard but no trace of the plane or remains have ever been found though many people have searched.
I greatly Amelia Earhart for she had the courage and determination to do what she wanted to do and not what people told her she should do. She followed her dreams and in the end did triumph in my eyes. She set three world records that had never even been set and she had a spirit that was both kind, positive and direct Amelia Earhart defiantly was an entrupenur of the twentieth century.
Great Info Links
I got a lot of information from this site it provided some good information on her last flight and gave some interesting information:
http://www.worldbook.com/fun/aviator/html/av14.htm
Another great site gave me some cool pictures and information, go to:
http://www.letsfindout.com/subjects/aviation/earhart.html
Pictures
All pictures were taken from:
![[Image]](pict5.jpg)
Amelia before her first solo flight across the Atlantic
taken from
![[Image]](pict6.jpg)
Picture of Amelia and her husband taken
after their wedding
![[Image]](pict7.jpg)
Amelia in her nurses uniform at the time she was tending
to WW1 patients.
