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Amelia Earhart is probably the
most famous female aviator in history. Earhart was born in
Atchison, Kansas, in 1897. She had her first airplane
flight in California in 1920, with the veteran flier Frank
Hawkes, and knew immediately that she wanted to become a
pilot. Her first instructor was Anita "Neta" Snook who
gave her flying lessons in a Curtiss Jenny. Earhart
received her pilot's license in 1921 and bought a Kinner
Airster. While working at the Denison Settlement house in
Boston, she was offered the opportunity to fly as a
passenger across the Atlantic Ocean. This dramatic 1928
flight in the Fokker Friendship as the first woman
passenger, with pilots Stultz and Gordon, brought her
international attention and the opportunity to earn a
living in aviation. She placed third in the All-Women's
Air Derby of 1929, a race she had organized.
Her own
nonstop solo flight across the Atlantic on May 20-21,
1932, the first for a woman, in the bright red Lockheed
Vega 5B (located in the Pioneers of Flight gallery)
established her reputation as a great female pilot. Other
record flights include: the first solo transcontinental
flight by a woman from Los Angeles to Newark in 1932, the
first solo flight by anyone from Hawaii to the U.S.
mainland in 1935, the first nonstop flight from Mexico
City to Newark in May 1935, and the first altitude record
in the Pitcairn Autogiro. Earhart served as a founding
member and president of the Ninety-Nines (the original
women pilots organization), partner in the
Transcontinental Air Transport and Ludington airlines, and
a designer of clothes and luggage. She tirelessly lectured
across the country on the subjects of aviation and women's
issues and published several books. She was also a
visiting professor and counselor at Purdue University.
Earhart was a two-time Harmon Trophy winner and was also
the recipient of the U.S. Distinguished Flying Cross. On
June 1, 1937, Earhart began an around-the-world flight
from Miami, Florida in a twin-engine Lockheed Electra with
Fred Noonan as her navigator. They reached Lae in New
Guinea on June 29, having flown 22,000 miles with 7,000
more to go. Earhart and Noonan never found Howland Island,
their next refueling stop after leaving Lae and they were
declared lost at sea on July 18, 1937 following a massive
sea and air search ordered personally by President
Roosevelt. Although Earhart's disappearance has spawned
innumerable theories, her true legacies as a courageous
and dedicated aviator and an inspiration to women remain
strong today.
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