Why do we love Amelia?

It takes a special kind of person to look at something no one else has ever done and say "That's where I'm going." The willingness to step into an uncertain void defines a pioneer. Amelia Earhart is one of the prime examples of the pioneer spirit. Not only did Earhart boldly go where no woman had gone before, she helped blaze trails in aviation no man had traveled.

Born to a railroad attorney, Amelia spent most of her young life traveling around the Midwest. After a stint in Canada nursing soldiers returned from World War I, she entered Columbia University as a premed student. Her parents, however, insisted Amelia come live with them in their new home in California. It was there that she began her momentous aviation career. She purchased her first airplane in 1922 with the help of her mother and older sister. Returning to the East Coast to become a social worker, Amelia met her future husband, publisher George Putnam, who was to give her a great boost professionally and help make her name one of the most famous of the 20th century. After becoming the first woman to fly across the Atlantic (as a passenger), Amelia began to tackle other, more active aviation firsts. Eventually, she became the first person to fly solo across both the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans, among many other feats.

Her most ambitious undertaking, the circumnavigation of the globe by air, began in June of 1937. After flying over 22,000 miles (three-fourths of the journey) around the equator with her navigator Frederick Noonan, Amelia's plane disappeared attempting to reach tiny Howland Island in the Pacific. Speculation as to her fate continues to this day, but Amelia Earhart's impact on the history of aviation and the image of what women can accomplish is certain. The sky's the limit.

Biography:

Born - July 24, 1897
Atchison, Kansas
Disappeared - July 2, 1937
Over the south Pacific

Achievements:

• Received pilot's license - May 16, 1922
• Set women's altitude record of 14,000 feet - October 22, 1922
• Became first woman to fly across the Atlantic as a passenger - June 17-18, 1928
• Was the first woman to make a solo round-trip flight across the United States - 1928
• Took third place in the first Women's Air Derby in her Lockheed Vega in 1929
• Founding member of women pilots' organization, the Ninety-Nines, dedicated to fostering camaraderie among female pilots and greater interest in aviation among women.
• Set women's speed record of 181 miles per hour in 1930
• Set autogiro altitude record of 18,451 feet in 1931
• In 1932 became the first woman to fly solo across the Atlantic; received the National Geographic Society's Special Gold Medal; set women's transcontinental speed record from Los Angeles, CA to Newark, NJ.
• Designed flight suit for the Ninety-Nines that was featured in a three-page layout in Vogue
• Broke her previous women's transcontinental speed record from Los Angeles to Newark - July 7-8, 1933
• Became first person to fly solo from Honolulu to Oakland, CA - January 11-12, 1935
• Became first person to fly solo from Los Angeles to Mexico City - April 19-20, 1935
• Became first person to fly solo from Mexico City to Newark - May 8, 1935
• Joined faculty of Purdue University as female career consultant in 1935
• Broke her previous women's transcontinental speed record from Oakland to Honolulu in 1937
• Record flight around the world along the equator, before disappearing with her navigator after covering more than 22,000 miles (two-thirds of her total flight)