Amelia Earhart | Biography, Childhood, Disappearance, & Facts

Historic flights

After the war, Earhart entered the premed program at Columbia University in New York City but left in 1920 after her parents insisted that she live with them in California. There she went on her first airplane ride in 1920, an experience that prompted her to take flying lessons. In 1921 she bought her first plane, a Kinner Airster, and two years later she earned her pilot’s license. In the mid-1920s Earhart moved to Massachusetts, where she became a social worker at the Denison House, a settlement home for immigrants in Boston. She also continued to pursue her interest in aviation.

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During this time promoters sought to have a woman fly across the Atlantic Ocean, and in April 1928 Earhart was selected for the flight. Some speculated that the decision was partly based on her resemblance to Charles Lindbergh, who had become the first man to fly nonstop solo across the Atlantic the previous year. On June 17, 1928, Earhart departed Trepassey, Newfoundland, Canada, as a passenger aboard a seaplane piloted by Wilmer Stultz and Louis Gordon. After landing at Burry Port, Wales, on June 18, Earhart became an international celebrity. She wrote about the flight in 20 Hrs. 40 Min. (1928) and undertook a lecture tour across the United States. Much of the publicity was handled by publisher George Palmer Putnam, who had helped organize the historic flight. The couple married in 1931, but Earhart continued her career under her maiden name. That year she also piloted an autogiro to a record-setting altitude of 18,415 feet (5,613 metres).

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Determined to justify the renown that her 1928 crossing had brought her, Earhart crossed the Atlantic alone on May 20–21, 1932. Her flight in her Lockheed Vega from Harbour Grace, Newfoundland, to Londonderry, Northern Ireland, was completed in a record time of 14 hours 56 minutes despite a number of problems. She notably experienced mechanical difficulties and inclement weather and was unable to land in her scheduled destination of Paris. Afterward she published The Fun of It (1932), in which she wrote about her life and interest in flying. Earhart then undertook a series of flights across the United States.

In addition to her piloting feats, Earhart was known for encouraging women to reject constrictive social norms and to pursue various opportunities, especially in the field of aviation. In 1929 she helped found an organization of female pilots that later became known as the Ninety-Nines. Earhart served as its first president. In addition, she debuted a functional clothing line in 1933, which was designed “for the woman who lives actively.”

In 1935 Earhart made history with the first solo flight from Hawaii to California, a hazardous route of 2,408 miles (3,875 km), which was about 500 miles longer than her 1932 crossing of the Atlantic. She departed from Honolulu on January 11 and, after 17 hours and 7 minutes, landed in Oakland the following day. Later that year she became the first person to fly solo from Los Angeles to Mexico City.

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