It was her second attempt to become the first pilot ever to circumnavigate the globe. On June 1, 1937, Amelia Earhart took off from Oakland, California, on an eastbound flight around the world. She became the first president of the organization of licensed pilots, which still exists today and represents women flyers from 44 countries.
In 1929, after placing third in the All-Women’s Air Derby-the first transcontinental air race for women-Earhart helped to form the Ninety-Nines, an international organization for the advancement of female pilots. She also became the first person to fly solo from Hawaii to the United States mainland in 1935. She started in Los Angeles and landed 19 hours later in Newark, New Jersey. Later that year, Earhart made the first solo, nonstop flight across the United States by a woman. Upon returning to the United States, Congress awarded her the Distinguished Flying Cross-a military decoration awarded for “heroism or extraordinary achievement while participating in an aerial flight.” She was the first woman to receive the honor. She left Newfoundland, Canada, on May 20 in a red Lockheed Vega 5B and arrived a day later, landing in a cow field near Londonderry, Northern Ireland. In 1932, Earhart became the first woman (and second person after Charles Lindbergh) to fly solo across the Atlantic Ocean. Her first record came in 1922 when she became the first woman to fly solo above 14,000 feet. Earhart’s Aviation RecordsĮarhart set a number of aviation records in her short career. Two days later, she participated in her first flight exhibition at the Sierra Airdrome in Pasadena, California. Earhart played basketball, took an auto repair course and briefly attended college.Įarhart passed her flight test in December 1921, earning a National Aeronautics Association license. She defied traditional gender roles from a young age. WATCH: Women's History Documentaries on HISTORY VaultĪmelia Mary Earhart was born in Atchison, Kansas on July 24, 1897. Her disappearance remains one of the greatest unsolved mysteries of the twentieth century. Her plane wreckage was never found, and she was officially declared lost at sea.
During a flight to circumnavigate the globe, Earhart disappeared somewhere over the Pacific in July 1937. She became the first woman to fly solo across the Atlantic Ocean, and the first person ever to fly solo from Hawaii to the U.S.